Egr at 100% open

[TeaspoonSean]

I know this is an old thread but I did learn some things that might be helpful to others who experience this in the future and thought I should share.

When I got home I pulled the EGR valve and found out why it was stuck open. There were around ten marble sized pieces of carbon inside the valve preventing it from closing. Fortunately its easy to disassemble the spring and work the valve by hand to get it all cleaned out.

Now to continue the story. A week later the egr valve is stuck open again, not quite as many marbles this time but also some oily residue. Yup, leaking egr cooler. Before the stuck egr valve happened I started having to add coolant, about a half gallon per 3000 miles. I didn't think that was bad. But after replacing the egr cooler, I haven't had to add a drop of coolant in nearly a year and no more marbles in the EGR valve.

Now a year later I got the egr stuck open again. I just pulled the valve and it has no obvious blockage, it was just soot around the shaft causing it not to move. I used PB Blaster and elbow grease till it was sliding like new and put it back together. hopefully this won't be a weekly thing now but I'll let you know further down the road.