Hello all. I have some questions about my EGR valve. Let me give a little background first. I drive a 95 Accord EX V-6. A little less than a year ago the check engine light came on. I took it to a dealership and they said the EGR valve needs to be replaced. The car has alot of miles on it, so I was ok with that. Then no problems until about a week ago. The check engine light came on again. I took it back to the dealership and they said the error code was:

P0441 - Purge control solenoid fault.

That is the EGR again is it not? The car had been driven about 10k miles since the EGR was replaced with a brand new unit. The guy at the dealership was trying to tell me that it was a different code than last time and the whole thing needed to be replaced again. Does that sound like bullshit to you? Should I try to call the Service Supervisor and see what he says? It just seems like 10k miles is a little soon for a replacement when the original one went 160k miles.

So I was looking around the site and I did a search for EGR problems. As I understand it, you can block the EGR, but you will fail emmisions tests and it really doesn't do much for your car. I also read that you can just take it off and clean the valves and it should be fine. Does anyone have a link for a step by step of that? I looked at my Haynes repair manual, and it shows pictures for the process on a 4 cylinder engine. Mine's the V-6, and I'm not sure if it's any different. Any info is appreciated. Thanks.

Jeff

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jeha &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
P0441 - Purge control solenoid fault.

That is the EGR again is it not? </TD></TR></TABLE>
No, that code has nothing to do with the EGR system. It points toward the purge control valve or circuit. (Part of the evaporative emmission system.)

 

thanks for the clarification. is that vavle difficult to replace? how pricey is it? and could i safely get one from a junkyard or do i need to get it brand new? also, are there any hoses connected to it that might just be leaking and causing the malfunction?

 

ok, i found the purge control valve easily with the diagram under my hood. the valve itself looks very easy to replace. however i have a question about the vacuum hose's that are attached to it. i released the clamp and tried pulling on the hose, but it didn't seem to move at all. are those heat-shrinked on? or should i just be able to pull them off easily?

 

Many rubber hoses almost seize onto the connections. Best way I've found to take them off is to take off the clams, use plyers or vice grip to grab it and first twist the rubber hose around to break it loose. Once it snaps loose from it's position, you can usually wiggle it off from that point. It would be a good idea to replace that hose regardless because they're cheap and any kind of crack or leak in the hose will cause big headaches later trying to find out which hose it is.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jeha &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> is that vavle difficult to replace? </TD></TR></TABLE>
No, it's easy to replace, but you may want to verify it is the problem before replaceing it. Hook up a vacuum pump and see if it holds. Then apply power and ground to see if it opens. Also check the lines.