Toyota Repair: Re: 2001 EGR Valve, vacuum hoses, toyota camry

Question
Hi Ted,

Thanks for your time. I had a question about my 2001 Toyota Camry LE. About 3 days back I got my "check engine" light come on. I called my mechanic and he told to drive it for a few days to see if the light persisted. Taking a step by as to why he asked me to do it. About 2 months back I had the same light come on and at that time he checked it and told me it was the problem with my some part of my exhaust system (upstream part) I believe. He replaced it with a rebuilt part and it seemed to work fine. Again after about a week the light came on again and I took it back to him again. He told me the part had to be replaced (no charge to me) and it worked fine till about now. This time he checked it and according to the code he told me that the egr valve may have to be replaced........ After my own reading on the internet it seems that it may be the valve or it could be the egr valve switch. So my fear is that if I replace the egr valve it could happen that my problem may not be solved !!!!!!!!!!!!
Could you comment ? Appreciate your help.

Sincerely,

Kerry

EMAIL: ashwina_ok@yahoo.com or ashwina_k@hotmail.com

Answer
It would help me to know what the trouble code number is but since you say it's an egr related code the most common failures are the egr modulator valve and the EGR vacuum switching valve, with the modulator being the most common, the egr valve itself is almost never the problem, the nodulator is located directly on the egr valve, it's that round plastic thing that has three small vacuum hoses on it, the VSV is a little hard to get to as it's located under the intake system near the front of the engine.