Well, I finally figurd it out! I never would have figured it out if it weren't for this board! I did a search earlier today for "guage fuse" and got a lot of ideas. In one post, somebody had mentioned the EGR valve. I wrote this down and a lot of other things. Anyways, I had no idea where the EGR valve was on this car. I looked it up in my book and it told me where it was on the intake and it had a picture. Then the memories all came flooding back to me. Last month, I replaced the passenger side head gasket. While putting it back together, I smashed a wiring harness. The plastic part. Plugged into some thing under the coil which I now know is the EGR valve. So, I just jammed the wires into their slots on the EGR valve and forgot about it. Last night while driving down a VERY bumpy road, I guess they popped out. One was shorting out on the intake, and this was blowing my fuse! I went through several fuses today trying to figure it out. The fuse would be okay as long as I didn't start the engine. But it would blow as soon as the engine started. So, I pulled the EGR wires away from the intake, put a new fuse in, and it fired up and the guages worked! WOO HOO! I'm excited to figure out an electrical problem by myself! Well, with the help of you guys of course. But it only cost me a few fuses. Anyways, how important is an EGR valve? What does it do? I can't get a new wiring harness until Monday when the store that sells them is open. Can I drive without the EGR valve? I guess I have been. It's been running fine. I went to my moms house today for a big get together. She lives about 20 miles away. I expected to be back before sunset, but I stayed late. My wife was babysitting her sisters 10 month old baby. The baby is teething and got sick. So, the whole way home, I listened to "ding ding ding ding WWAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ding ding ding ding ding WWWWWAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH". You get the picture. Then it was all topped off by the sound and smell of projectile vomit all over my interior. What a night. Thank *** my kid is 5. ONLY kid I'm going to have too! At least I got it fixed! WOO HOO!!! Matt

 

The EGR is the Exhaust Gas Recirculator....it puts exhaust fumes back into the engine for combusting, it lowers your performance but also lowers emmisions. This is a no-go. Unless you live in California or have your emmisions checked then you must take this off NOW.

 

What do you mean? Take the EGR valve off and the EGR silenoid? I live in Oklahoma. We don't even have any kind of inspections. Definately no emissons test! You just pay for your tag every year adn that's it. It's about $20. We used to have a state inspection where they would check your tires, lights, horn, and wndshield wipers. They did away with the whole thing a few years ago. There's some real bombs driving around Oklahoma now. Matt

 

SWEET! Yeah, take it all off! That will even reduce your weight(every pound counts!) The only problem is that you have to get it disabled in the ECM as well, or your check engine light will probably stay on with the EGR gone. But it is a must!

 

The May '03 issue of "Chevy High Performance" has an article on part throttle engine problems and mentions the EGR on '80s and newer vehicles. The article states that when working properly, the EGR is closed at WOT. Problems occur in higher mileage cars (100K miles) because the spring in the EGR is worn or corroded. As far as performance is concerned, they recommend having a functioning EGR because, "If the car is stock or mildly modified, the additional cylinder pressure generated by the lack of EGR could also create part-throttle detonation problems. The best bet is to just replace the valve. Your engine will run better, you'll be on the good side of the emissions program, and your gas mileage will probably improve as well."
Just passing along what I read.

 

wow, that sounds good too. I had no idea...but thats awesome if it stays closed at WOT. With what you said, I would say fix that thing! But on the 350 I'm building from scratch, there will be no EGR! lol