Terraclean problem

working fool

Got my car done today
06 1.9cdti vectra 100k

Before I left the engine management light came on
P0400 gas recirculating fault

Guy said it probably just cleaned the sensors and are readjusting the ecu

Cleared the code and two hours later light came back on p0400 again

Not sure what the problem is ?

toyotaavensis

Does the car have an EGR valve?

working fool

toyotaavensis wrote: »

Does the car have an EGR valve?

Yes it does
I've only had the car a week or so and had no problems with it

toyotaavensis

The EGR valve might have some dirt caught in it. I would give it a clean if you can do it yourself as the cleaner is only 10-15 euro from a motor factors.

working fool

I had the same trouble with an avensis
It had the inlet mainifold clogged up

Strange that the fault on the vectra only came up after the terraclean

Ohh the car is much smoother and accelerates much quicker after the terraclean

working fool

I'm going to open it up at the trottle body this evening and have a look

cletus

Google would suggest that P0400 refers to your EGR valve, as toyotaavensis stated

Gokei

working fool wrote: »

I had the same trouble with an avensis
It had the inlet mainifold clogged up

Strange that the fault on the vectra only came up after the terraclean

Ohh the car is much smoother and accelerates much quicker after the terraclean

Where did you get it done?

B2AUDI80

Common problem the egr sticking on the vectra , take it off and give it a good clean , take the solenoid off it aswell and give the egr a good working to completely clear any crap in it , brake cleaner or carb cleaner will do the job or just use some kero in a tub and use a brush

Strangely I wouldve thought the whole point of the terraclean treatment would be to prevent/cure things like this ??

shamwari

working fool wrote: »

I've only had the car a week or so and had no problems with it

So why did you get it Terracleaned??

working fool

Gokei wrote: »

Where did you get it done?

Done it myself
Fairly easy job about an hour and a half
Just had to remove the 4 injector pipes to get it off
Took about a biscuit tin full of carbon out of it

working fool

shamwari wrote: »

So why did you get it Terracleaned??

Guy I bought it off only drove it the odd weekend short journeys
It's done 4k in a year
Plus my mate knows him and reckons it was been filled from the farm diesel tank

Terraclean really made a big difference on throttle response and it pulls like a train now

Must have dislodged dirt that went into the egr system

B2AUDI80

working fool wrote: »

Must have dislodged dirt that went into the egr system

probably right ,
its more than likely only half cleaned the egr tbh ,,theres normally a fairly thick paste like substance created there from the oil mist coming from the the turbo mixing with the carbon/soot in the system, my guess its only half dissolved this and its now likely now ran in around the shaft for the egr causing it to stick and throw up a code

shamwari

working fool wrote: »

Guy I bought it off only drove it the odd weekend short journeys
It's done 4k in a year
Plus my mate knows him and reckons it was been filled from the farm diesel tank

Terraclean really made a big difference on throttle response and it pulls like a train now

Must have dislodged dirt that went into the egr system

That would be a reason not to buy it. Anyhow, that's the Fiat engine in that. The EGR system on those is easy to work on. The do coke up something fierce. Will check later, there may be a site with a step by step guide to cleaning the system. If you know someone with a scantool, get them to perform an actuation test on the solenoid.

working fool

Right I took it apart

The little plastic inlet manifold pressure sensor was totally clogged with gunk

The egr valve looked ok when I took it off
Inlet and outlet pipes were fine

When I split it from the electric solonoid
The inside was totally stuffed up with carbon
It was caked all around the the valve spring
Cleaned it out with carb cleaner
Took ages to free it from sticking

I cleared the fault codes and no more errors
Soo far

But there's a lot gunk on the inner walls of the inlet manifold

Now it's got hot gasses returning through it from the egr it might shift it .

Truckermal

So much for Terraclean eh....

working fool

Truckermal wrote: »

So much for Terraclean eh....

In fairness it done a great job
Car is far more smooth running and acceleration is a lot better

Just the egr clogging was a side effect
The terraclean only treats the fuel end of things really

B2AUDI80

Inlet manifold is a disaster for clogging up on them , map sensor can be buried completely at times alright , have had to strip a good few of them , astras an saabs too , hate them at this stage !!!

shamwari

This guide is for cleaning the EGR valve. It's in a Fiat but the same valve is used and the same procedures apply

working fool

In retrospect
Considering the state of the egr valve
It's fairly certain the guy I bought the car off knew about it and got the fault codes cleared from the car before he sold it .

cgarrad

working fool wrote: »

Done it myself
Fairly easy job about an hour and a half
Just had to remove the 4 injector pipes to get it off
Took about a biscuit tin full of carbon out of it

Do you have a link to show how to do a DIY version of Terraclean?

I thought you need a machine on a trolley to do it?

working fool

cgarrad wrote: »

Do you have a link to show how to do a DIY version of Terraclean?

I thought you need a machine on a trolley to do it?

Sorry it was the de-carbonising of the manifold that I did myself
The terraclean is by machine only

cgarrad

working fool wrote: »

Sorry it was the de-carbonising of the manifold that I did myself
The terraclean is by machine only

Sorry, read that wrong ;-)

Thanks.