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DIY Slide hammer for EGR port cleaning w/ pics

170K views 186 replies 113 participants last post by  omar25  
#1 · (Edited)
I saw a few posts where people were looking for a slide hammer to remove the EGR port plugs. Most people I asked don't even know what a slide hammer was and I didn't see one that would work from harbor freight. I didn't feel like buying the honda one, so I made my own for about 6-8 bucks total from Home Depot and figured I would post up what I did in case someone else wanted to try it as well. I'm also going to include a bunch of pictures from the cleaning since I saw people asking about pics from inside the ports and how they look dirty vs clean. I wish I could have seen some beforehand, but here they are for anyone that wants to see them.

The materials used:
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8" x 1 1/4" pipe, 2 matching caps, 2' or so of 10-24 threaded rod, nuts, and a washer that was bent for strength. This was probably overkill since the nuts would have been strong enough on their own, but I had no idea how much force would be needed to remove the plugs. It really isn't that much. Drill a hole in the center of each cap just slightly big enough so the rod can fit through. I went to the self checkout lane. Probably a better idea since it will keep them from giving you the "you aren't making a pipe bomb, are you?" look.

Assemble as shown:
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The end result. In retrospect the rod was maybe a bit long, but again I didn't know how much force would be needed. If you look closely you can see one of the plugs on the end of the rod.
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The old plugs:
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I bought a pack of 10 plugs just in case I needed extras:
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Comparison shot:
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I wish I had seen a better shot of the old plugs since I figured mine were different. I didn't know they were solid brass instead of aluminum cups like the replacements. Hopefully this will let people see the difference in case they wonder also.

Ok, on to the cleaning...
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I simply removed the EGR valve, IAC valve, FPR, and the fuel rail. A bit of coolant will spill when removing the IAC, but nothing to worry about. Also, it wasn't even necessary to remove the banjo bolt on the fuel rail, you can just remove the three nuts holding the rail on and swing it out of the way.

The two nuts on the EGR were hard to crack loose. I just used a 12mm shallow socket and a swivel with an extension, but ONLY to crack them loose since the swivel was hitting the lip on the EGR valve. Just make sure the socket sits flush or else you could damage the nut. I switched to a 1/4" drive socket and extension and it cleared just fine.

On the IAC there are two 12mm bolts holding it on. A wrench is the best way to get at them. The bottom bolt was hard to get out since it was hitting the fuel rail but with enough wiggling and some magic it came out. The shorter bolt goes on the bottom, the longer bolt goes on top when putting it back on.

The FPR is held on by two small 10mm bolts. I am pretty sure you have to have it out of the way to get at the last nut on the fuel rail. I almost bolted the FPR back down but I realized there was no way to get the nut back on with it in the way.

The fuel rail is held on with 3 10mm nuts and it just lifts off the studs. You can swing it out of the way instead of removing the banjo bolt. I also opted to leave the injectors in and cover them up since taking them out would leave 4 big holes wide open and would be too much work trying to make sure they stayed covered with carb cleaner and compressed air flying everywhere.

As for the plugs, just drill into them with a #25 drill bit like in the TSB, and tap them with a 10-24 tap. You can vacuum away the shavings as you drill. Honestly I don't even think it should be a problem considering the ports are so clogged that the shavings wouldn't even fall down into them, but if you still feel like you should vacuum it won't hurt anything.

The culprit. One engine with filthy EGR ports:
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The engine looks clean, but don't let that fool you...these things were terrible.

Solid carbon buildup:
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Dirty ports even after a bit of cleaning:
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Here's one port after a bit of cleaning with the brass wire and carb cleaner. Looking better but still not good enough yet:
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These should connect to each other, but it took a bit of poking with the wire, blowing compressed air, poking, more air, carb cleaner, poking, more air, etc:
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In the process of cleaning:
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Getting there:
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...aaaaand done:
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As others have said it should look like shiny aluminum with a hole at the bottom. The crossover ports should be clean. You can test this by spraying carb cleaner in one direction down the crossover port and seeing if it runs into the other port. You could also blow compressed air down one port and feel for air coming out the other. That would be much less messy. Also, check to see if its clean between the rectangular part of the EGR and the first port. On mine it was clogged badly and I'm glad I checked before putting everything back together. It took a bit of letting the carb cleaner soak and poking away on the buildup running between the ports.

EGR valve cleaned:
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Plugs installed:
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All the discoloration is the splatter from the carb cleaner mixed with carbon buildup. Spray some cleaner on a rag and it will wipe right off.

The plugs should sit flush with the intake as shown:
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Hopefully this will help someone out who is preparing to do this themselves and wants to see exactly what they will be dealing with. Start to finish you could have it done in an hour if you've done it before, but I think that's really pushing it since to really clean the ports out it takes time. The whole disassembly and reassembly combined took maybe 15 minutes at most. The drilling/tapping took maybe another 10-15. I spent a good 2-3 hours cleaning the ports out since I don't plan on doing this again any time soon. At least not on this lude anyways. I figured since everything was apart, why not clean it out as best I can.

It's really not that hard to do yourself, especially if you are familar with cars. It's just a pain in the ass leaning over the wide fenders trying not to scratch them and not get carb cleaner on the paint when it's flying out of the ports. I covered everything with towels and newspaper just in case. I didn't trust any shop to do this correctly even though I know there are a few that would. I wanted to know that the ports were clean instead of just drilled out, poked with a wire once, and plugged again. Also, there was no worrying about when it would be finished at a shop or if they would scratch the paint, etc.

If this helps even one person then I'm glad I posted it.

-Brad
 
#12 ·
EXCELLENT write-up!! Rep points for you! Also, you did an excellent job cleaning the ports out. As soon as i figure out the problem with my H22A swap im going to be cleaning the engine a bit and this is def a priority!
thanks, man. is your lude silver? i cant quite tell from the avatar. i wonder if ive seen it around town before.

Good Write up on the port cleaning. I bought the plugs but everywhere I went no one knew what a slide hammer was or these were all sold out.. figures.. Imm glad this worked out... I just need to manage some time to get mine cleaned. Thanks again for the write up.
thats the same problem i ran into. instead of spending an hour on the phone explaining what it was to parts places in town i figured i could go make one in half that time. the weight of the pipe and caps was just about perfect for the force needed to get the plugs out. its kinda ghetto, but it worked great.
 
#11 · (Edited)
thanks. it started throwing the CEL at 92 or 93k. judging by how much build up was in there i would say that it wouldnt be a bad idea to do this at 75k or so. unless its throwing a code you could probably hold off, but it wouldnt hurt to clean them early.

Have you noticed any thing performance wise yet?
well since the EGR doesnt function at idle and WOT it might at first seem like this didnt do anything. i forget if it functions before the ECM goes into closed loop or not, but i dont think it does...i could be wrong. however there was an audible difference throughout the rev range once the car reached operating temp, it sounded a bit smoother..especially during highway driving. i just filled up the tank and am going to see if my mileage changes. i was already getting 360 to 380 a tank but i dont know if it will get much higher than that anyways. the 360 was more common, though. i will keep you guys posted.
 
#6 ·
very nice writeup! ive heard of doing this before, but cant exactly remember the point?
 
#10 · (Edited)
thanks. it was your write-up that made me decide to hurry up and get it over with since every time i reset the CEL it would come back on during the very next tank of gas. i figured i would try and get a few pics that i felt might add to the write-up you did. i felt uneasy about using the hammer to pry them out since i didnt want to put a lot of force on those parts but if i couldnt find another way thats what i would have done.

very nice writeup! ive heard of doing this before, but cant exactly remember the point?
if you arent throwing a code for it, then i wouldnt worry about it yet. basically the point is to clean out the ports that allow EGR to flow through the intake. it serves to allow your car to use less fuel during light throttle applications such as doing a constant speed on the highway, etc, by letting the car use a leaner mixture. it wont detonate since the EGR system adds inert gases to the combustion chamber to lower temps. at idle and WOT it stays closed and plus at WOT your computer doesnt even take into account the oxygen sensor readings.
 
#17 ·
what is the point of this??
 
#20 ·
do you guys read at all?
he explains what the point is as well as benefits...
the code is most likely the EGR code... but i'm sure a bit of searching would help you out there... ;)



 
#23 ·
Sorry for the late reply, I was out of town the past few days. I think it would be best to drill completely through them just to make sure you can tap plenty of threads to keep them from stripping. Although if you drilled halfway through it would eliminate the worry of shavings falling into the ports since it wouldn't make a hole all the way through. This might not be a bad idea, actually. If the threads from drilling only halfway down or 2/3 down did strip, you could always drill and tap to the next larger size.

Awesome write up, rep points for you!
Thanks :)
 
#24 ·
Thanks for the reply. I just did this on Sunday. I just drilled through the whole thing because it really isnt that big. I used vaseline on the bit to catch shavings but when i tapped it some shavings got in but i vacummed it out.

Instead of using that big pipe I just used 3/4 X 6 and about 1.5 feet of thread. Everything went really good until I fouled out my sparkplugs.... I guess there was too much carb cleaner maybe.. Who knows its all good now!!

THanks again.
 
#26 · (Edited)
No you dont have to take the hood off.
I drilled all the way through because they are pretty small. I used some vaseline on the bit to catch the shavings and vacummed the rest.
You go buy a tap set. I was lucky enough that my dad had a tap/die set so i was good to go. When you have your correct 10 24 tap you thread it into the hole you drilled. It will then chase 10 24 threads in the plug , so you then can thread in your 10 24 rod. Like Akuma said you need to drill the correct size #25 or 5/32" drill bit so the tap will work correctly.
 
#29 ·
Nice write-up, I did mine about a year ago, and it made a huge difference. May I ask you, though, how the hell are you getting 360 a tank?
At first I thought it was awesome, but it really isn't all that special after I thought about it for a while. 360 miles divided by 13 gallons is around 27-28mpg. It's good, but not phenomenal. I do more highway driving when I get those numbers, but even when I do more city driving I still get 320. I usually do 70-80 on the highway, but I wish we had a 6th gear. I almost always have the AC on, but I leave it on recirculate and it seems to make a little difference since it's not constantly cooling the hot air from outside. I don't know how much of a difference it makes due to it being a manual or not, though.

now can we get a write up on how to get our engine bays looking like yours?
if its really dirty, the initial cleaning will suck for sure. keeping it that clean is easy, though. you could even hit it up with that simple green spray at the car wash. some friends of mine get good results with it, but ive never done that on mine.
 
#35 ·
thanks, but yours looks much nicer IMO :D

were it says EGR...i dont have that black thing with the plug...i jus have 2 screws on my valve cover...so wat do i take off and is that bad?
it might be hard to tell in the picture, but that part doesnt attach to the valve cover. it attaches to the manifold and is held on by two nuts. if yours is completely gone maybe someone did an EGR delete, but i don't see the point of doing one unless they misled to believe it would give them more HP.

well i just went out and looked at mine and i just have a little rounded off bolt. hmmm this gets me wondering also..
im wondering which bolt you are referring to. if you guys want I can go out and take more close up pictures of the parts instead if it will help, but i think it would be kind of hard to miss the EGR valve.

Hey, I just did this. Thanks a bunch for the write up. It def really helped. I can tell that this helped. The idle stays strong at one RPM instead of bouncing and it sounds alot better.
If anyone is about to do this. You honestly don't need to fab a slide hammer. I just drilled a pilot hole through the plug and screwed a self-tapping screw through it and popped it out. Worked just fine.
AkumaR6, I wish I could give you more rep!
thanks! i did notice that mine sounded a little better, also. and thanks for posting about the screw being enough, that might help someone else looking to do this after reading this thread and not wanting to use a slide hammer. as long as it works and nothing gets damaged :Rock: