OK I know thats a rather obscure title so heres what happened.Was on the way home from work the otherday and the car all of a sudden lost power.We are talkin from 75 mph to 35 up a short hill.When i fianly could pull over i found that most my vaccume lines were melted.All I could do at that point was limp it to the wifes store (only 10 more miles down the interstate).Where i opened the hood again to find most the vaccume lines burned to nothingness.I replaced the lines.The car made the 10 minit ride to the house fine no more issues.I poped the hood at the house and everything seemed ok.(thinkin ok temp fix till the weekend)
Well drove it to work(72 miles) no probs at all.However on the way home in the am and made it about 15 miles b4 the car was cwraling again.At no time did the temp gage get above 110 120ish.
When i opened the hood i found the egr valve was basicaly melted and that it was passing exhaust thru the 3 solinoid / pistons.I had ta get it off the interstate so i pulled the solinodis off and did 30 mph to the next exhit about 1.5-2 miles away.Called the house and went to the salvage yard.I picked up 4 erg valve setups that tested on the multimeter okbut when i put them on the engine kept dieing.I even tried sliping a quater under the plate over the hole from the manifold to keep the exhaust from burnin the engine compartment up.This made the idle good and solid but when i taped the pedle the car bogged down and died.
After 45 hrs of changin plugs (which needed it)and tryin different things i finally drove it home with the hood slightly proped open tied down so it wouldn't fly up in my face and the egr valve off and hole open venting into the engine compartment.That was over 50 miles suckin fumes.(my head still hurts)Couldn't afford the 150 for a tow truckfrom nashville to clarksville.
Well cars down now and this is where i'm at now.The egr valves test fine /still have to test the wire harness / The car moves ok but not near right with the egr out and open exhaust to engine compartment.Egr in place it shuts right down.put a plate in to stop exhaust and idles great but bogs and stalls with increase in rpm.
Car still has the air pump setup hooked up and all the rest of the emmisions control working.My thought is that there is sumthin in the harness stopin the valve from workin right so still need to check that out.But am thinkin about just removeing all the emmisions control crap.Air pump cap the line to the pump from manifold cap the egr valve hole in manifold.Cap all apropriate vaccum lines for that system.And finally take a hammer to the egr valve as it realy has pissed me off.
I know in my older cars they run fine without the egr valve will this fule injected engine do ok without the egr in the system?
Plan to go thru the engine bay better this weekend and see if anything jumps out at me but have not the time till friday morning due to work.
Input is apreciated.And will do more searchs friday when i actually have time.I'm headed back out the door right now for work.

 

my car never had a working egr valve fromthe day i got it,the plastic lines on the soiliniod were broken,(dam exspensive peice)my car ran fine without it,though it isnt a digital valve.the only annoyance i got from it not working was the occiasional cxheack engine light when i would reach crusing speed ont he highway.

im unsure of the programing for the 3.1 computer,but on the 2.8 it runsa fine without it.

if u just unhooked the valve and left it open,u had amassive vacume leak into the intake.

what i woudl try to do is block off the egr valve were it bolts to the ex mani,and also blockoff the tube that runs into the intake behing the throttle body and see how it runs.

those digi egr valves are pretty pricey lol

 

I would just say get rid of the EGR at least.

Edit: if you want to try to fix it I have a 3.1 EGR valve that you can have. Just pay shipping and its yours. I got this to fix mine but I forgot to tell the guy I got it from that I had a 2.8. Our EGR is vaccum operated not digital. Also I don't know if it works but more than likely it does.

 

Ok THAT was fun.Just pulled the egr assembly and the line to the air pupm.Haven't blocked the openings yet.Thought lets see what happens......So I started the car.Freakin redline surges i mean burry the needle then drop back down then bury it again.Needless ta say i shut her down fast.LOL.So now off to find a bolt ta cap the hole where the air pump hose was and build a plate to cap off hte holes in the intake and exhaust where the egr was hooked up.
On a side note did ya all know that blue lips is a sighn in carbonminoxide posining????

 

Ok does anyone know if removeing the egr setup will adversly effect the 3.1???Thanx for the input so far guys.It is appreciated.Might take ya up on that egr part.Gonna see what can do with spares I have on hand here 1st.
Back to suckin fumes.

 

Hey Bill-

The 3.1's always break/erode the small, 6mm or so bolts that hold the two halves of the EGR valve together, the gasket is "not sold separately"- I have tapped holes out to 1/4x20, made a thick hi temp paper gasket and it worked for a little while, but yeah try finding a good EGR in the boneyard- HA!!

Mine has always leaked a little. I know AIM91RS and Dale have either installed headers that eliminted the valve or made a blockoff plate. You may get a code for EGR though.

The new valves are about two hunderd clams too!

Good luck!

 

Reading the first post where you mention the loss of power, I wonder if maybe the cat started to break up and clogged the exhaust. This would increase the exhaust pressure on the EGR valve, which may be what is causing it to fail.

RBob.

 

Those 3.1 EGR's typically start leaking at the center gasket, which burns through the bolts, then I think in his case the top half of the valve (with the solenoids) just came off, leaving the passenger's side exhaust manifold blasting hot exhaust right into the comparment.

I have heard of a cat getting clogged but have not had it happen to me yet.

 

Hmmnn forgot about the cat.I usually drop all emissions control crap as a rule.But this is my first injected 6 cyl.What happened is..Ya know how the digital egr has 3 solinoids??Well the exhaust was pumpin out those holes.It roasted all the hard plastic vaccum lines in the area.Rubber too.
I now have 4 sets of digital egr valves at 8.00 a piece.But if the catalitic converters blocked they won't be worth crap.So guess i'll drop that and slip in a piece of pipe.
Ya know to be honest the only thing stoppin me from just dropin either the 283 or 403 in the back yard in is the damn electric spedo/tach crap.If it was cable driven i'd just do the work and fab the damn tranny mounts ect.
Right now i have the block plates for the intake manifold/ a cover plate for the egr tower thing (cut the top 1/2 off one from a 2.8) and a plug for where the air-smog pump hooks into the exhaust manifold.As much a pain in the butt as this is might just grab a manifold from a 2.8 and swap em out.I think i'll look into the wirein and hookups for the 2.8's egr setup as well.might be able to swap it out later.
I'm tryin ta just get her back on the road for now and build up the replacements ta restore her later on down the road.She's how i get ta work when it's **** pourin rain and can't take the sportster.Nashville traffic+harley sportster+rider with crappy attitude+stupid drivers=NICE collection of rear view mirrors.Add rain and ya get doctor bills and a nice collection of hood ornaments and rear view mirrors.LOL.

 

P.S. I'd like ta thank BLUE1989RS and FIRSTFIREBIRD. The pix you 2 posted in other threds about egr and exhaust issues were a great help and Blues with the manifold from a S-10 was an insperation.I could kiss ya both.(figureativly speakin of corse.)

 

Pucker up :*, lol. Glad to help.

 

OK update.Finished hack sawin the catt out and str8 pipeing it .Have plans ta use a glass pack to replace the hacked up str8 pipe patch and restore some back pressure.While i was at it i cut some plugs outta some scrap metal and pluged the egr and AIR setups.The car runs better now but seems to stumble when slowin down.I still have to go thru it all and try ta clean the crap out from burnin all the vac lines and where the engine inhaled all that crap.Also need to replace the sparkplug wires since i pulled the tips off of 2 of them while changein plugs at the gas station at exit 40.1 of them doesn't even have a boot coverin the plug at the block now,it burned off due to the heat from the exhaust.
Ohhh yea the catt WAS plaugged up and thats stateing it mildly.put my spotlight at 1 end and looked thru the other.Saw noooo light anywhere.And when i tapped it on the ground everything sortta poured out.
Took er up to 70 mph and she did ok ,smoked like a fiend but with all she been thru not a suprize will see with time.Plan on today replacein all the egr crap and air too and see how she does.
Did search on the sea foam stuff might try that soon and read stuff about lucas.(i love lucas it kept my 70 F-100 with 0 compression running.)
Tryin ta think of what ta use as a gasket for the bottom of the stalk for the digital egr valve where it bolts to the exhaust manifold.Any suggestions?

P.S. if i can get a good pic of the egr valve will post it.The thing is melted down and so is some of the houseing for the heater core and the coil looks like it's case is melted a little bit too.