EGR Valve

[Tst4Eco]

Hello everyone. I am new to board and was hoping someone would be able to answer a question for me. How long do EGR valves generally last? The reason I am asking is that my wife's tracker's Check Engine Light keeps coming on (we took it into the dealer in September 2005 and they said replaced the EGR valve and a few other components and we went back at total of 5 times in a month and a half for the same code P0400). We found out recently that they removed the check engine light bulb on the fifth time so that we wouldn't go back to them with the same problem. Our mechanic found the bulb missing two weeks ago when he went into to replace the speedometer cable. So, we took it to the emissions referee and he found the EGR valve was stuck solid and wasn't moving properly (our mechanic isn't certified for emissions work so he didn't want to touch anything). Can an EGR valve go bad after a year and a half?

Our thought is that the dealer took our money but didn't actually replace the parts and when we kept going back to them for the light, they just removed the bulb to get rid of us and it wasn't until about two weeks ago that we found the bulb had been removed.

Any information would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

[viperh]

Originally Posted by Tst4Eco

Hello everyone. I am new to board and was hoping someone would be able to answer a question for me. How long do EGR valves generally last? The reason I am asking is that my wife's tracker's Check Engine Light keeps coming on (we took it into the dealer in September 2005 and they said replaced the EGR valve and a few other components and we went back at total of 5 times in a month and a half for the same code P0400). We found out recently that they removed the check engine light bulb on the fifth time so that we wouldn't go back to them with the same problem. Our mechanic found the bulb missing two weeks ago when he went into to replace the speedometer cable. So, we took it to the emissions referee and he found the EGR valve was stuck solid and wasn't moving properly (our mechanic isn't certified for emissions work so he didn't want to touch anything). Can an EGR valve go bad after a year and a half?

Our thought is that the dealer took our money but didn't actually replace the parts and when we kept going back to them for the light, they just removed the bulb to get rid of us and it wasn't until about two weeks ago that we found the bulb had been removed.

Any information would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

First off get all of your paperwork and get three diffrent mechanics from around the area (reputable) to go over and verify that the part is/not new and that the bulb was taken out then take it back to the dealer and show them how they screwed up. Talk to the person highest in the company that you can talk to. but then again they could cop out and say "we didn't remove the bulb derdededeeeee. Removing the bulb is very very bad especially if your state has emission tests. 2nd they dont generally go out after a year and a half.

[HAWG]

There is more to that code than just the egr being bad. The most common problem is carbon build up in the system. if you search, you will find other threads about this problem. You need to clean the carbon out from behind the throttle body, for one thing. had the same problem with mine, and after doing the cleaning light never came back on

[Tst4Eco]

According to the receipts I have from the dealer, they did clean out the carbon in all the tubes. This is a case of the dealer not replacing the EGR valve or replacing it with a used one because the Emissions person said it was stuck solid in the closed position. At the same time that the EGR valve was supposedly replaced, we had the ECM, a Sensor, another valve, the EGR gasket, EVAP Purge Vacuum Switch and Transducer as well as the EGR crossover tube replaced. For the most part, I would say we paid for a lot of work on the vehicle for this one problem.

It is our belief that the dealer didn't replace the EGR valve and then after we repeated took it back to them, they removed the check engine light to get rid of us. My question to this message was if a new EGR valve generally only lasts about 30,000 miles or a year and a half. From the two mechanics we have spoken to here as well as the one post on this message board, it seems as though they generally last 80,000 to 100,000 miles and that this EGR valve was not a new one.

Thanks for the information.