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EGR Valve Symptoms

20K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  odysseyboys33  
#1 ·
I have a 2002 Odyssey and would like to know some common symptoms of a bad egr valve. Within the past couple weeks, the van lost the ability to pull mountain passes like it always used to. Before, it was no sweat to stay at 65-70 MPH and even more while not hitting 3K on the tach.

Now, it barely can hold 50 MPH at a steady pace. The couple times I have tried to accelerate where it would normally gear down and pull them, it gears down and the rpm's shoot up to 4,500 and the engine light flashes until I let off and it drops out of that gear.

It has gradually lost power under that strain over the last three trips and I am now getting a little hesitations/surging in town between 30-40 mph.

The plugs are good, as are the coil packs. The only other things I immediately would go to would be Fuel Filter/Pump or possibly the catalytic converter.

It idles fine, starts fine and is smooth if I take it up in rpms when in park. Mainly the symptoms are under moderate to high strain like pulling or trying to pass and calling for power.

Lastly, for what it's worth, back in May, I did the get the EGR code, but had it reset at the parts store as it was running fine and all the plugs were good, even though it was giving misfire coeds, as well.

I bought is with 208,000 miles last September and it has performed beautifully since then and now has 235,000.

Any experience with this would be appreciated. I don't have money to put diagnostic machines on it or waste my time at a Honda Dealership, so I plan on replacing the valve tomorrow to see if that does the trick.

Thanks all!
 
#2 ·
Typical EGR symptom is engine miss during steady, level cruising. That could explain the hesitation you mentioned at 30-40 MPH.The EGR valve should not open under heavy load, like passing.

But, since you once had an EGR code, and this generation is known for EGR issues, EGR might be a worthwhile path to follow. Before replacing the EGR valve though, remove the intake manifold cover plate and clean out the EGR passages.

If the EGR valve were seized closed or heavily clogged, it would throw a code. Maybe not so if it were only partially blocked. Anyway, clean the EGR passages first before throwing parts at it.

Have you scanned the PCM for pending codes? It would be valuable to know what causes the CEL to flash when accelerating hard.

Dave
 
#3 ·
Thanks Dave. I was curious if it would even show something on a scan since the CEL is not on and only flashes if I try to push it when going up a grade.

I will open it up and see what the delivery channels look like and see if there is excessive carbon build up. I will be happy as long as it doesn't turn out to be the start of something serious like tranny or torque converter. Personally, based on all the tranny horror stories, I feel I have a good one as there has never been problems and it is well over 200K.
 
#4 ·
I'm usually pretty good with maintenance. But, there was this one year where power was low when towing a boat thru W. Va mountains with the Ody. No codes, pretty smooth, but low power. The air filter was a mess of sticky residue. I let it go far too long.

On EGR; If you can actually clog all the passages, then you have no EGR, correct? But, the issue is that some clog sooner and more completely than others, and you have a few cylinders getting too much exhaust charge, causing roughness. This is just my working theory.
 
#5 ·
On EGR; If you can actually clog all the passages, then you have no EGR, correct? But, the issue is that some clog sooner and more completely than others, and you have a few cylinders getting too much exhaust charge, causing roughness. This is just my working theory.
That's my understanding too.

Dave
 
#6 ·
I had the same problem with my 2004 odyssey and I replaced spark plugs, coil packs, map sensor & the EGR valve...........and still it had no power up hills or when I needed it. Well turns out my egr ports were all plugged up with carbon from a lot of miles. 289k. Pull off your plastic engine cover and remove the plentium plate. Turn the plate over and clean out all the egr channels. After that remove your egr valve and spray throttle body cleaner down through the egr valve tunnel (The tunnel starts on the right hand side of the plentium where you removed the plate . I hooked a pipe cleaner onto my screw gum and ran it up and down until the tunnel became unplugged and throttle cleaner just shot right down and through where the egr valve sits. Be sure to put a large rag or something to catch that fluid you have a lot of important components in that area.