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EGR Flow Insufficient- Know Why?

3K views 23 replies 8 participants last post by  McFail 
#1 ·
My sedan sucked up some water back in July, bending a connecting rod, and cracking a piston. After reassembling the car and taking it to for a drive, the check engine light came on. No surprise there, I just gutted the engine and put it back together. What surprised me was the error "Exhaust Gas Recirculation System Flow Insufficient." The head gasket promptly blew out, and the car has been taken down again, so I cannot tell you the error code. Is this the EGR valve itself, or the sensor behind it? Would it go away on its own with operation (I assume it is because the presence of water cause corrosion to form) or will I be best served replacing it? Will used work (do these have a tendency for failure) Or is a brand new in order? The car has 254,000, and has been running admirably lately, barring the error, and the bad gasket.
 
#2 ·
There is a history of the sensor giving bad info. I had one DPFE sensor give a code but a JY one fixed that. '01 DOHC.

Having water in the system could get water into the egr tube and maybe the sensor hoses. Best pull the sensor and check for any sign of water. I would blow the tubes out with compressed air. The sensor is delicate so be careful with that. JY finds are good for this.

-chart-
 
#6 ·
Contact cleaner wont help. The DPFE is a pressure sensor, not a switch.

Cut the old hoses off and buy new ones. They are cheap, around $10. Do not replace with vac line. The hoses are high temp silicone hoses.
 
#7 ·
I would also bet on a bad sensor from my past experience. I have one now throwing a code for that where I swapped sensors for evaluation purposes after checking to make certain there was not a bad vac line to the EGR valve which is newer.
 
#8 ·
When i had my intake off, I inadvertently broke my DPFE switch while trying to get the EGR valve off. I barely bumped it and it one of the ends just broke right off with very little effort. Check that out. Its on the firewall behind the EGR area.
 
#9 ·
Sorry I haven't replied the last couple of days, it has been a little hectic. The info has been added, I hope that clears future confusion up. I will never know the error number it put out, since the night I was going to bring it to this site's attention, a hose blew off (unsecured hose clamp) and the engine overheated and blew both head gaskets. I have the car apart now, and I am ready to put it back together. I wanted to bring this up, as I will be dealing with the EGR system as I reassemble.

I found some water in one of the tubes (age actually helped something come apart... will wonders ever cease?) so another sensor is called for. I am leery of purchasing new, as I have exceeded my monthly repair budget (If I go over, why not just ditch this car and get another?). Would a used one be okay enough? Or is that going to continue problems?
 
#13 ·
Welp, I got the car together. Ran like crap, as usual. Cylinder 2 misfiring all over, and a complaint that "HO2S11" was not switching, leading to a lean and rich condition, simultaneously. I put a new harness on, and the misfire stopped, but I don't know where the HO2S11 sensor is. Is it by the radiator?
 
#14 ·
H is heated, O2 is oxygen, S is sensor, 1 is by the firewall, 1 is upstream closest to the exhaust manifold. We usually just skip the technical, "oxygen sensor upstream bank 1". All are heated so it is just jargon. You will have 2 on each bank, one upstream, one downstream and it will be under the car after the cat.

-chart-
 
#20 ·
Any ideas that could cause a misfire? I put a new Motorcraft coil pack on about 8,000 miles ago, I know manufacturing errors are a thing, but I doubt the pack is it. I put a brand new double platinum spark plug in 2, and it continued to misfire. I can't imagine anything other than a plugged injector, but I really have no luck on tracing misfires on this car.
 
#21 ·
Could be a small crack in the head since the #1 rod was badly bent with your previous hydrolock issue. Check compression and do a leakdown test on that cylinder. I have tried to figure out a intermittent misfire on #3 cylinder for nearly two years that pops up every six months. I have replaced plugs coil and wires but it still pops up. I do notice the threads on the plug is a little rusty and misfire goes away for a couple of months when I swap the plug. Compression is ok so I think it is a little crack that drips coolant at startup through the plug threads. On startup water burns off anf every thing is fine.
 
#23 ·
I have to say I am shocked you are still hang in there with this car. Bent rod then back apart again for head gaskets twice would have had me sending the motor at least to the scrap yard.

It is an exercise in futility to chase all these gremlins down if the base motor is junk. I am the guy saying this after having the heads off two different Vulcans in the last year or so. One was for bent valve on a barely running super cheap car I bought and the other for the junk used heads that were on a car I bought without knowing the heads were replaced on a low mile motor for some reason. Some careful clean workmanship has both of them running nice now but there is a limit on the value of saving a cheap car and/or a cheap motor. Now that I think about it I have had the motor apart on every damn Taurus I have owned. One more Vulcan for a piston with a bad skirt from a machining error and a 3.8 for the typical head gaskets.

For the price of fixing those heads or getting remain ones you have to be close with a gasket and bolt set to just getting a lower miles motor.
 
#24 ·
Oh you are right, but my namesake isn't just in humor. I'm either really stubborn, or just plain stupid (it is difficult to tell these days). I feel at this point, it isn't about the cost; this is personal. Mostly just me doing my best at making this thing run right. I suspect I am at the end of a long road here. Cylinders 1 and 2 cranked to 60 psi, 3 ran to 95(new piston rings in a cold engine, this is acceptable). The leak test told the story: hooked up to cylinder 1, and I can feel a breeze coming from cylinder 2 spark plug hole. I am not sure if the cylinder is at TDC, I do not know how to check it(I know the process, but the engine is still together; I have no feedback on the positions).

From what I can tell, the head gasket I installed failed before installation. I got a dud.
 
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