EGR Parts

[bilbo]

My EGR tube cracked and the fitting on the manifold broke in two. Is there any place other than a wrecking yard to get a new tube and fitting? Also, is there a way to jury rig it to be driveable until I get parts? Or jury rig it permanently if I can't get parts? I was thinking I could use copper tube to repair it if I can get the broken piece of fitting out of the exhaust manifold.

I tried searching; there's lots of threads for people who want to remove it but I don't want to do that. Pinging is what let me know there is a problem this time and I imagine that would be the result if I tried to disable the EGR somehow.

 

[adsm08]

Ebay usually will have NOS units. You may be able to find one after market too.

If you end up unable to find a new one I have used pipe plugs when I needed to close off an EGR port.

 

[bilbo]

I'll keep checking on Ebay. Have you (or anyone else) been able to plug off the EGR without any pinging on the carbed 2.3L? That's what I was worried about. It was pinging with the broken tube, but maybe because of air being brought in instead of exhaust gas when the EGR valve opened up?

 

[tomw]

If you can find fittings that will work in the manifold, you should be able to use copper tubing. I cannot say if it will be long-lived, but at least you can bend it by hand to connect readily.
If the EGR valve opened and allowed air flow, rather than exhaust gas, you would be leaning the mixture from what was expected. The exhaust is effectively 'inert' in that it has been through the combustion process already, and won't burn again. It dilutes the amount of fuel:air mix in the chamber to lower the effective peak temperature and NOx formation, or so I have read.
I think the main problem would be finding fittings, but you may be able to re-use the current ones along with a 'flaring tool' and a chunk of copper tubing.
tom

 

[adsm08]

If you need to delete the EGR due to lack of parts you can probably get rid of pinging by backing the timing off a few degrees, or running 89 instead of 87.

 

[Mark_88]

I made an EGR pipe out of copper pipe and it lasted for three years without any problems...other than the sealing of joints. Solder that you use on copper pipe joints won't stand up to the heat in that area as well as a weld but might hold if you can wrap the pipe with some exhaust tape.

I was planning on doing that some day...but found the tape was actually pretty expensive.

 

[bilbo]

I'm going to try the copper route. I figure if it breaks quickly I can go the removal route. This all hinges on if I can get the half of the fitting out that's stuck in my manifold. It looks like the two parts of the fitting were brazed or swaged together and let loose. I might try to weld a bolt into the fitting so I have something to grip on.

 

[bilbo]

I was able to get the broken fitting out of the manifold and the broken egr tube out. I welded a bolt into the fitting and he combo of heat and being able to get some torque on it did the trick. I am going to plug the ports for now until I can get the right size tube. The local store has 5/8 copper tube but only in 100 foot coils. A bit excessive for this project.

 

[tomw]

If you know a local home A/C or HVAC person, they may have a short length of tubing. It is used for the suction line on many systems. (that's why they have the 100' roll) The tubing is cut to length, and the remainder kept for future use. They may let you have it for low cost as a 2' length is useless to them, for the most part, and could be in their Cu recycle bin.
tom

 

[bilbo]

Good idea, I know of a few I could ask. I'll see what I can find.

 

[WarHawk-AVG]

I have heard of guys shimming off the EGR with a strip of aluminum can...just cut to shape...and sandwitch in the old EGR location like a gasket

Might see if there are any pick a part junkyards for replacement...not sure what your emission standards are like up there...here in Harris County they are freeking exhaust nazi's!

 

[bilbo]

We don't have any emissions testing at the moment here in ND. I was able to get everything removed and the holes plugged; there doesn't seem to be any detonation issues yet, but I'm keeping an eye on it. Provided no issues arise, I'm going to leave it like that until I can get proper parts. There is a guy just outside of town that has a few acres of junk cars. I'm going to try him. I also have a couple photos of the broken fitting and removal. The combination of heat from welding, Kroil, and the ability to apply torque took that fitting right out of the manifold, without having to remove the manifold.

 

[Mark_88]

That's pretty much what happened to my first manifold on my 2.0. It was that repair that had me inside the Canadian Tire store watching the events of 9/11 on their widescreen tv while waiting for them to find the replacement part...

Never did get one...they saw them on their system but couldn't figure out why they couldn't order them...at that time the truck was only 14 years old...

It was then that I decided to remove the old style and put on the shorty header from the 93 2.3...it fit perfectly and had a connection spout for my copper version of the EGR pipe.