EGR - to delete or not delete, plus what happens (if anything) after its removed?

well it seams the EGR is a popular thing people just want to disable and/or delete so I was wondering if the "real" mechanics can explain the actual benefits in doing away with it or the negatives in disabling it?

my thoughts here are, if its not a bad idea to get rid of it, instead of going to the trouble to remove it and capping it off with a plate like some people do, I would just avoid all that work and leave it in place and just cap off the vacuum line going to it, then it will stay closed and be "effectively" disabled (the easy way).

my questions on it are, would this work? and will there be issues with the computer or CEL if it doesn't open as it normally would?

now at this point in time I have no reason to believe mine is bad but who knows if its sealing enough to shut off completely when it should or not. I'm just thinking that like me, most of use are reaching that time in our trucks mileage that we may be needing to address EGR issues and they are very expensive and cleaning doesn't always help or fix problems with them.

 

Often there is an EGR temp switch that will set a CEL if you disable the EGR.

 

And a 10k resistor will fix that

I deleted mine on both my tacos, really no ill effects on performance or mileage.
I made plates out of some thin gauge steel panels left over from residing my shop, honestly I think a pop can would work. Then I just pinched off all the vaccum hoses and zip tied them tat way.. Fixed a hard warm start issue on my 96 and got rid of an egr cel on my current 98 by blocking it off and putting a resistor in line with the temp sensor.

 

ok, the first question has been answered, now for the second question:

but what happens when you delete/disable it? something must change.

older cars used to remove them on engines they built but I think it was just to remove clutter or was it to get 0.000001% more power?

so would there be any reason to remove one if you think its working ok, even if just to avoid the chance in the future that it might go bad?

im not worried about making the polar bears sad because im killing rainbows and all that and they don't emissions test here.

just trying to form an opinion if there is a valid logical reason or benefit to removing it or not

 

I blocked mine off with a piece of can for a while - blocked off the end where it goes into the intake. I noticed an almost imperceptible increase in power on acceleration. It took a few days for the CEL to come on for insufficient EGR flow. I put it back and left it that way - not enough difference to be worth the trouble.

 

If its working fine i probably wouldnt mess with it...
The egr on my 96 had a bad vsv and temp sensor, price for both parts was about $300 iirc..
My 98 had a misfire under load so I blocked it off during my trial, error and parts throwing stage of diagnosis.
Basically your egr recirculates unburnt gas back through the intake to cut down on emissions. By blocking it off your just allowing it to go directly into the exhaust.

I noticed better throttle response on both trucks after doing it as well.

 

ok so I gather from your responses that it has a tiny increase in power (makes sense if you have more fuel/air mix and less exhaust co2 mixed in) but you both agree its not a big difference at all so its something you only delete it if you have issues with it, got it.

it seams you get a CEL if you don't have enough EGR flow but also if you have too much so what do you need to do to disable the EGR from giving a CEL? is it like the o2 sensor where you need something to give a variable signal or is it just a simple resistor you need to add?

you got a link to how to bypass the EGR sensors?

 

Previous posts have already answered these questions. Are you ignoring them?

 

When you block it off it trips the temp sensor, it actually doesnt read the "flow" of the exhaust gas but just the temperature of it. If you block it off the egr temps will be signifcantly lower causing the insuffecient flow cel.
If you plan to do it lmk, i ordered a bunch of the resistors from china.
I think 100 came in the envelope lol for only a couple bucks...
Id gladly send you a few of them.

 

only a fool proceeds with minimal information and a limited understanding of what is required which is why I was curious if there was a link that showed more detail on how it is done correctly plus there is often more ways then one to do the same mod.

so all you need is the one 10k resistor in line with the sensor but you leave the sensor in place? I thought the sensor was unplugged and the resistor would be installed in its place?

so you are saying the 10k resistor added to the resistance of the sensor will give the ECM the correct signal to stop any CEL. is this correct?

by the way, thanks for the offer but I do have a few 10k resistors laying around so im good with that

 

What I did was get a egr temp sensor connector from a salvage truck and solder the resistor to the salvage pigtail, unplugged mine from its temp sensor and put the resistor pigtail in its place. That way your not altering your factory harness and if you want to hook the egr system back up all you do is unplug the resistor pigtail, plug your factory one back in then remove the plates, clip off the zip ties on your vacuum lines and your back to stock.

 

ok, im still not 100% with you here so let me recap so I know we are saying the same thing:

the sensor is still there and plugged into your trucks wiring harness and one wire is snipped on the sensor side of the plug and a 10k resistor is then soldered there to reconnect the wires one on each side of the resistor so the signal goes through the EGR temp sensor and then through the 10k resistor before going back to the sensor plug and the wiring harness correct?

 

He cut the sensor off and soldered the resistor in it's place.

 

ok thanks, that's what I thought I had read about on other forums but for some reason I thought he was saying he used a sensor from the salvage yard and added the resistor to it, I didn't catch the part where he cut that sensor off and just used the pigtail and plug from the salvage yard.

 

My father, a mechanic his whole life, told me a long time ago that the EGR is meant to cool the cylinder temps, mainly for emissions. Just Googled it, looks like its for control of NOx emissions, which is not a greenhouse gas (so no worries for the polar bears!), but does hurt people. Also, it appears that exhaust valves stay significantly cooler with the EGR intact, which would increase their longevity. Do what you want, I'm just bringing some info to the table.

 

Simply removing the EGR and installing a resistor so you fool the computer into thinking it's working isn't a very good idea. When you remove the EGR, you will increase combustion temps, increase emissions output, and cause a lean condition. It will also have timing issues as an EGR equipped engine typically has more advanced timing to deal with slower combustion caused by the system.

Unless you plan on tuning for the removal of the system, don't bother.

 

I havnt thrown any lean codes or had any drivabilty issues since doing them on either truck.
One plus side to it is my throttle body stays alot cleaner than it used to.

 

Just because you're not throwing a code, doesn't mean it's not happening.

 

Just because you say its a big deal doesnt mean it really is either
My last truck was egrless for over 100k and had 317k on the clock when toyota bought it back...
Show me some specifics or proof from someone that has had catastrophic failure frome it?
The obd system will absolutley let you know when a lean condition is present (one that is capable of hurting your engine)..

 

I never claimed catastrophic failure from removing the system. Merely stating the adverse affects removing it will cause when not properly compensated through fuel and timing changes.

Feel free to read up on the numerous sources available online. Here is a wiki link on how they work, and what they really do. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhaust_gas_recirculation

Typically increased combustion temps, higher EGTs, increased emissions output, and too much timing aren't good for an engine, or its efficiency.