QuestionHi Roland,
I think my car needs more help. We took out the EGR valve and cleaned it, it was really clogged. The car ran great for 9 days. On the 10th day, it sputtered and chugged, tryed stalling at each stop i made. Finally i just pulled off the road and it died. Started it and it smoked and rumbled. Settled down after that, and i made it back home with no other troubles, (just bad nerves). Cleaned the EGR valve again, and only gone maybe 20 miles in it since. Do you have any other suggestion, or is it just time to get the for sale sign out. Thanks for any help you can offer. Cindy
AnswerHi Cindy,
I have a couple of suggestions. Did you happen to check the pipes to the which the egr is attached to see if they might also be clogged up? You might need to take a stiff wire and clean those inner tubings. How is the valve stem responding when you rev the engine: does it open and close quickly when you rev the engine to about 2500 rpm and then let it drop back to idle? Then you might just need to change the spark plugs if they have been installed for more than 25,000 miles. Finally you could look to see if the engine controller has detected any faults:
The most useful thing to do would be to try to get the fault codes that may stored in the engine controller memory to readout. Try using the ignition key: turn it "on-off-on-off-on" and leave it "on" (doing this quickly, no longer than 5 seconds). By "on" I mean just the normal position when the engine is running, not the cranking position. The 'check engine'light will remain on when you leave the key in the "on" position with the engine still not running. But then watch the 'check engine' light to begin flashing, then pause, flashing, pause, etc. Count the number of flashes before each pause and keep track of the numbers. Repeat the readout and verify the counts are correct. Then group them in pairs in the order that they came out, thus forming two digit numbers. You may notice that the pause is shorter between the digits of a given number, and longer between the numbers themselves. Then send me a 'follow-up' question telling me the results of your readout. By the way, 55 will be the last number (two groups of 5 flashes each) and that is the code for "end of readout".
I have the troubleshooting manual for several engines and we can look up the possibilities of what is wrong based upon what fault codes you show. When you write back tell me what engine is in the Spirit you are driving.
There is also an essay on fault codes at the site:
http://www.allpar.com/fix/codes.html
which gives the meaning of the code numbers. But then you need to get specific info for what exactly might be the diagnostic tests or parts to replace to complete the repair.
Roland
