Oil &EGR problems: Price Quote on Services

[celerygenerals]

1995 Saturn SL2 108,000km

OBD status code 32 (EGR system fault), hopefully I can get away with
getting the EGR valve cleaned.

also

The car is using oil at an alarming rate, this probably means a valve
job and new piston rings.

Could a mechanic in Canada quote a price on the above work so I have
something to go on when I bring it in to Saturn tomorrow.

 

[Ritz]

1995 Saturn SL2 108,000km

OBD status code 32 (EGR system fault), hopefully I can get away with
getting the EGR valve cleaned.

also

The car is using oil at an alarming rate, this probably means a valve
job and new piston rings.

Could a mechanic in Canada quote a price on the above work so I have
something to go on when I bring it in to Saturn tomorrow.

EGR pintle is probably fouled with carbon. They're not THAT expensive.
Just get a new one rather than pay some shmoe to "clean" your old one.
Either way, the part has to come off. So if you're going to deal with
the labour charge to remove and replace an EGR valve, you might as well
just replace it.

Have you tried using synthetic oil? That's rather low mileage to need a
valve job or rings on an engine that was properly maintained.

 

[Blah Blah]

1995 Saturn SL2 108,000km

OBD status code 32 (EGR system fault), hopefully I can get away with
getting the EGR valve cleaned.

also

The car is using oil at an alarming rate, this probably means a valve
job and new piston rings.

Could a mechanic in Canada quote a price on the above work so I have
something to go on when I bring it in to Saturn tomorrow.

The EGR probably clogged up do to the oil consumption from burnt oil.
See if replacing the pcv valve will cut down your oil consumption.

 

[D V Brownell]

EGR pintle is probably fouled with carbon. They're not THAT expensive.
Just get a new one rather than pay some shmoe to "clean" your old one.
Either way, the part has to come off. So if you're going to deal with
the labour charge to remove and replace an EGR valve, you might as well
just replace it.

Have you tried using synthetic oil? That's rather low mileage to need a
valve job or rings on an engine that was properly maintained.

I'd hate to see what you would call expensive. The electric EGR valve in the
95 is almost $400 at the dealer I checked here in Canada. I got one from a
friend at an auto supply store at heavily discounted and it cost me - if I
remember right - $170.

 

[Bob Shuman]

I was able to remove and clean the EGR on my son's '96 (same failure code).
I was amazed at the volume of deposits that had accumulated and needed to be
removed through scraping with a small flat screwdriver and then wire
brushing (I used a dremmel tool). After it was good and clean it no longer
stuck open and opened and closed freely. He has driven the car about 10K
miles since then without re-occurrence.

Total cost was less than three dollars for a new EGR gasket at the auto
parts store. Total time to remove the EGR was ~5 minutes (IIRC, two easily
accessed bolts and an electrical connector) and then about another 30-45
minutes to thoroughly clean the EGR and re-install.

I also agree that the oil burning is a likely contributor here and that
changing the PCV would be a good preventive measure that might help reduce
the consumption.

Good luck.

Bob

 

[Ritz]

I'd hate to see what you would call expensive. The electric EGR valve in the
95 is almost $400 at the dealer I checked here in Canada. I got one from a
friend at an auto supply store at heavily discounted and it cost me - if I
remember right - $170.

That's not that expensive. There are other makes of cars where the EGR
costs 2-3 times that much. Why pay the labour charges to remove and
replace it and then have to deal with whether or not the technician
properly "cleaned" it? That just doesn't make sense to me.

 

[Barry Schnoor]

I bought an EGR from the dealer for $75. Took about 20 minutes to replace.

$400 is insane.