EGR Valve took a dump

Well, it finally happened. My '06 ISX egr valve decided to give up the ghost. Got a fault code the other day, so stopped in my dealership to have the code checked out. Sure nuf, EGR died. Code won't go away until changed.

Well.... since I have a block installed where the EGR tube enters the intake, I never noticed a change in operation except for the fault code. Oh well, looks like I will have a dead EGR valve on my engine for a long, long time. EGR has had no effect on my ISX for about 200,000 miles since I first went the EGR unplug route and then finalized on stopping up the plumbing at the intake. Bill, my very knowledgable Cummins tech at the dealership just chuckled when he told me that the EGR valve took a dump. He has known all along that it wouldn't mean anything to me since he knows what I did to eliminate the EGR problem with the ISX. Told him that the dead EGR will just have to sit and be dead. He agreed, why spend money on something you don't use anyway.

Cummins won't be able to make a buck selling me one of the darn EGR valves!

 

yeah.... just makes me feel all torn up inside. Putting more of that darn NOx in the air, but putting far less carbon since getting average .8 mpg better not having that EGR working. Guess it is just a tit for tat. Sometimes, a body just can't win!

 

Yes. I did the PDI intake manifold and blocked the EGR tube at the intake. Originally, I had the EGR valve unplugged for roughly 180,000 miles. Then I did the intake. When I took the truck into Cummins for another issue, they went ahead and plugged the EGR valve back in. Then it took a dump.

Heat is the big killer of the EGR valves from the first ones until Cummins moved them over to the cool side. The only way to avoid going thru EGR valves is to modify the EGR in such a way, that if the valve does give up, it really doesn't make a difference. Unplugging the valve or blocking the EGR tube, right now anyway, is really the only options so far. There are some complete ECM reprogram methods out there that eliminates the EGR function in the engine computer. I am not totally comfortable at this point with a reprogram of the ECM. And the cost is not cheap. Well over $2000 for this way to do it. The unplug is free and blocking the EGR tube is only a few bucks. I chose the cheaper way. Maybe in the future, when there is plenty of experience with the ECM reprogram and it is shown to not be a problem also, I may go that route. Probably will wait until an engine rebuild.