How-To clean your 1st Gen Mazdaspeed 3 EGR

[Raider]

EDIT: This is for people who want to retain the EGR. You can block it off and clear the CEL through AccessPort if you want. I elected not to, as I do not have an AccessPort.

I got a P0401 CEL at 51K miles on my 2007 Speed 3 the other day after 2 or 3 days of slow starts, where it would crank a while before firing up. Guy at Advanced who read the code said EGR was clogged, a $430 part from the dealer. Having owned a Protege 5, I knew what a stuck EGR was like, and how it can be cleaned, but no how-to posted yet for the Speed3 apparently. I read a few threads online, and here especially, so I am posting here first to share. This is how I did it. Feel free to do it differently if you feel like it. This is probably not the only way to do it. It is just how I did it. Don't like it? Well, sorry I guess. A 10 and 8mm deep and shallow socket, pliers, a 22mm wrench, flat blade and Philips screwdrivers, Brake Parts cleaner, and some coolant will be needed. Oh,and a person with skinny fingers.

1st, it is not that hard to do if you know a little bit on working on our cars already.

1st, where is the EGR. It is here:




Now what to do. To start, remove your OEM TMIC, battery and battery box. Also remove your turbo inlet pipe. loosen the top on the coolant overflow tank. Put a rag in the turbo.
The EGR is the silver thing with the black plastic on top. The pipe with 2 bolts coming out to the left of it is the EGR pipe.

There is a hose coming out of the back of the EGR, held on with a clamp. Pull the clamp back, disconnect the hose from the EGR, and let the coolant drain. You will lose a quart or so, the overflow will be empty.


Remove the 2 bolts holding the EGR on, and pull it out. Here is the EGR with the gasket on it. You cannot see it, but there is carbon inside, Nasty, but comes out easy.


Now go up tho the front to the throttle body. You may make a mess if you have not already removed the coolant lines from the throttle body like I did. If you did not, do it now.


Remove the throttle body by taking out the 4 bolts:


Remove the 2 bolts holding the back part of the EGR pipe on



Now use that 22mm wrench, loosen the bolt holding the front part of the EGR pipe now visible:
[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/JBCcJP3l.jpg/IMG]

remove the pipe:


Admire the nice pile of carbon in front of the pipe.



Feel free to blow compressed air through the pipe while it is removed. If clogged, use a coat hanger or something, and get out as much as you can. You might need to take it to a mechanic to get it dipped in parts cleaner if you do not have it.

Skipped pics, but remove the 4 screws holding the plastic top of the EGR valve. Don't strip or break them. They are as a strong as Dollar Tree trash bags.

There is a plunger. It is stuck. spray with brake cleaner on the holes, until clean, Scrape out carbon if needed.

Then reinstall everything. I ran a Seafoam treatment, and now it runs great, and CEL is gone.

The end.

If this has helped you, and you are not VIP, please donate $10 to the forum. This how-to just saved you $430 from buying a new EGR. Click HERE to donate.

Update 5-24-2011
1) Every 4th drive, the CEL will go off. So if it goes away, it will prolly comeback soon.

2) I have also found a way to check for clogged EGR versus clogged pipe.

Take the 4 screws off the top and remove it, (you might need to remove some electrical connectors) and be careful not to lose the metal gasket. Push down on the plunger for the EGR. See if it sticks at all. Sticky=EGR cleaning too. Hotdog town a hallway, then try cleaning the pipe itself. It might save some time. Not exactly how true this is, but it worked recently for me. pipe was clogged again, EGR was not sticky. Saved a lot of time/mess.


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[silversurfer3]

How many miles have you put on it since then???
Great write up btw

[rodrigo]

take a pair of vise grips to the tube and pinch it!!!

the end.

[Raider]

A whopping 86. I just did it yesterday. The EGR was truly stuck, not moving. Got it to move a little before it was sprayed down with cleaner. We did not stop cleaning until it was not sticking at all. Was moving freely upon reinstall.

Originally Posted by Lenny127 take a pair of vise grips to the tube and pinch it!! the end.

I edited the 1st post. This is for those who want to retain the EGR.

[zfreebird]

Great write up. Glad you did it and not me...haha.

[phillyb]

i have a really stupid question.
if one (yours truly) has egr blocked off, would i still benefit from cleaning egr valve?

[karl-hungus]

did you regularly seafoam her previously?

[phillyb]

47k
seafoamed once

[rodrigo]

Originally Posted by phillyb i have a really stupid question. if one (yours truly) has egr blocked off, would i still benefit from cleaning egr valve?

agreed!!!!


about the really stupid part, nub.

[Raider]

I never Seafoamed it before. Had 2 cans waiting for 6 months, just did not get around to it. zfreebird, it is actually very easy to do, just takes an hour or so. Well worth it.

300 miles, no CEL yet.

I did some research for Phillyb. If the EGR is blocked off, try using muffler bearing lube on it as well. That is only for those with it blocked off, It is NOT for those with the EGR in use.

[flyrevs2]

noob question: If you do the egr blockoff and get the cel, then clear it with the AP will the cel keep coming back ? I don't mind clearing something once but if I gotta do it everyday, forget it. Thanks
By the way OP, excellent write up !!!!!

[superskaterxes]

nice 80's jacket

[i <3 bitches]

great post! a friend with a MS6 got this code, and i told him that his EGR was prolly clogged. i think he has 80k+ miles on his car... as these cars get older, this will be more of a problem. i will point him to this thread. thanks!

would it be wise to seafoam first to try to remove some of that buildup?

[Raider]

As for the jacket, spot on. He also has an original Airborne Express delivery jacket, too. Was cold, and did not want to ruin anything new.

And flyrevs, ATR permanently removes the code.

[nukechemist]

Originally Posted by superskaterxes nice 80's jacket

First thing I noticed when the pic came up.

[Raider]

It is a Charlotte Hornets jacket, actually.

[Docnox]

Thanks, I need to do this in the near future. I continually get this CEL too.

[shpankey]

I did this a few weeks back. It really is an easy job. I could do the whole thing in under half an hour really. Good writeup. Anyone w/ high mileage should definitely consider this. It will help with rough idling too.

[SpdFreak]

Can the EGR pipe on the side of the throttle body (flare fitting side) be removed without removing the throttle body? I'm willing to spend money on a specialty tool to get to it.

[shpankey]

I didn't even mess with the pipe. Just cleaned the EGR and made sure the plunger moved up and down freely.

[NCZ13]

Wow, that is so much more work than doing it on the protege5. That sucks.

[Raider]

I did it on my Protege5. This is way easier, imo. Mainly because I did not have to fight the EGR bolts. That sucked.

As for taking the pipe off, I am not sure, maybe from underneath with a powered slim wrench of some sort, I doubt it. Honestly, the throttle body removal was 2 minutes.

The only reason I did take it off was because I have heard of at least 1 person with a clogged EGR pipe. Mine did have some loose stuff in it, and where it mounted there was a literal pile of carbon.

[MATT DAMOND]

Originally Posted by SpdFreak Can the EGR pipe on the side of the throttle body (flare fitting side) be removed without removing the throttle body? I'm willing to spend money on a specialty tool to get to it.

I've done it before with a pair of vice grips at an angle, channel locks would work too.

But honestly, as ^ that dude said, taking off the TB only takes a few mins.

If you do it w/o removing the TB, you'll jack up the threads on the EGR bolt, and you'll be wasting more time trying to get it out. If you want to save time, take off the TB.

[Raider]

I forgot about how shitty the EGR pipe threads were until you mentioned that. I had a hell of a time on my Protege getting the EGR pipe threaded into a header. Thought it was right nope, needed a new pipe.

[mazdapunk87]

very awesome write up OP ! , i will need to do this in the near future on mine !

[dallasms3gt]

Thanks for the writeup, I just got the CEL Sunday, and will have to do this process this week.

For informational purposes for anyone reading this in the future. Up until the CEL, I did notice each time I cranked the car, the Idle remained High until it got really warm. Typically, the Idle is high when initially cranking, and then settles down very quickly.

[Raider]

I did not get that symptom, but i only had it clogged for 2 days. I am about 1000 miles since cleaning, maybe more. No CEL.

[atlasfiver]

Thanks for the write up. Took this on last weekend after a P0401 search came up with your "How To..." Still no CEL after a weeks worth of driving.
My EGR did not appear to be stuck closed after 39K miles but was somewhat sticky. I used the suggested brake cleaner and an aluminum paddle applicator to remove gunk. The tube wasn't clogged but received some attention too.
I like the pressed in orifice idea and will look for updates to see if that mod continues to allow some flow without the CEL and causes no problems for the EGR valve. The amount of wet gunk noted at the end of the tube and in the IM is disappointing. I imagine the backside of the TB looks similar. I used a 22mm crowfoot and extension to loosen the tube's compression nut so I didn't remove the throttle body.

I want to install a catch can but I need 20 posts to PM the guy selling kits. <sigh>

Mini rant: Why is every electrical connector on this vehicle designed differently? You almost have to nearly reverse engineer each one to disconnect it!

Thanks for reading, 4 posts to go.

[Raider]

I doubt I have 100 posts yet. But I threw some $ at the forum, I got VIP which allowed access to a shit-ton more than those without it see.

Glad it worked!

[soccerballz]

Awesome write up. Unfortunately I am at 27k and I am starting to get this code. I heard the only bad thing that would happen if I just kept clearing the code would be not passing emissions, which I dont have anyways. Is this true?

[Raider]

My car was taking a long time to fire up. Lots of cranking.I got one guy on my CX-7 forum who got the same code and his car will not run at all it is so clogged. Just fix the problem is my advice. I wrote the how to for a reason!

[xcoldricex]

now my egr is off i should just pull the egr valve thing off and block that off too. weight savings of like 1lb. haha.


also that check valve on that line (4) in the picture - i had to replace that line because the stock line wouldn't fit onto the connector whoosh put on the manifold and couldn't take the valve off the hardline. what can i replace it with - do i need to?

[div2]

I started getting the code over 6000 miles ago. I switched from Kroger 93 octane to BP 93. After a couple of tanks of BP the CEL disappeared and hasn't returned; I'm currently at 59K.

[Raider]

might be coincidence, just having a blockage come loose and can breathe. Next time it happens, try even taking the EGR pipe off for a look.

[ChrisK]

I've been getting the code, off and on, for about 5k miles now. I think I clean this sucker on saturday.

[div2]

Originally Posted by Raider might be coincidence, just having a blockage come loose and can breathe. Next time it happens, try even taking the EGR pipe off for a look.

That's the plan...

[Snappy]

Nice story.


Everyone lived hapily ever after, and cost ya ziltch to boot.

[ms_3]

good write up and pics

[RichB]

Originally Posted by Raider Now go up tho the front to the throttle body. You may make a mess if you have not already removed the coolant lines from the throttle body like I did. If you did not, do it now.

There are coolant lines going to the throttle body? If you drained it from the EGR side already will fluid still come out from the TB lines?

[Raider]

Not sure. I bypassed mine. They have it so the people who live where it snows, do not have stuck throttle bodies in the winter.

I would to the rear of the motor first, then the tb. It will not be much thought, is my guess.