ford f250 egr value work

quick summary of my fix to ford f250 2008,
truck has check engine light cel on, known before the purchase, thought wasn't a big deal.

primary focus on egr valve as cel kept coming back.  truck was running ok, towing lumber for the deck, concrete, garbage dump etc like a work horse.


made first attempt to remove the egr, one of the tabs broke from  pry bar.  wasn't able to take out the egr value.  put all back as I needed the truck for building projects.  made similar second attempt, no success, I had hard time to remove a nut from the egr cooler connecting to the egr housing.  went to oreily and someone suggested a tool that can hammer onto the nut and I used the socket ranch to get the nut out.  Below pic showed the nut being removed. 




Truck did not accerlate well, it's hard to get to 70 mph.  cel kept coming back.  One day car can't start.  tried to charge the battery, then started the car after days of charging,  second day car failed to start again.  just replaced with new battery from Walmart,

I followed instruction provided by sinister diesel.  It was for egr delete, but the steps to remove the egr cooler was the same.  I found that's better than the Haynes manual.  A day went by and here it came out the egr housing with egr, from when the school kids went to school till after their day ends.  I did the work on the street as the new place has parking rule that does not allow for parking on guest area,  wife did not like me working on the truck.  so better off her sight.  Drained coolant, oh my, it filled up 5 gallon bucket.  removed battery and tray,  nut to connect to the herizonal cooler was hard to remove, but was able to slowly turn the screw.  removed air box, removed coolant hoses.  It was accomplishement after the egr housing was taken out. 

The value was still inside the housing.  I decided to use a reciprocal saw, then the blade hit the mating surface.  I realized I need the housing and egr.  I returned the egr valve,  and bought on ebay the housing and egr valve, $399.  It was on December 18. 
The egr valve was broken inside the housing, this was why I couldn't take it out from the housing.



I thought putting back would be easier than taking them apart, so planned half a day.  The nut that connects the egr cooler to egr housing was hard to put on.  went to home depot and someone there helped me find one that fit but rating was less strong.  The day was short and I can't find the clip that connects the coolant hose to the degas bottle / reservoir.  The new egr was redesigned and I have a hard time how the hoses are connected, until later last night I read the instruction from the ebay package. 

went to hd again last night, no avail,  I went to oreily this morning and assured the clip can be found at the ford dealer.  There I had the clip.


All in, hooray:


put back the coolant drain, hand tightened.  then used a socket ranch, one turn, turn more, more, it broke.  There again to the dealership for a new drain plug.  that clip was $14, the plug was $12.  gee, no choice but to buy them. 


moment of truth around 11 am today.  turned car key on, first attempt failed to start, like a dead battery.  Second attempt, started.  Car ran good.  removed the cel light codes.  noticed coolant dropped.  so I turned off engine, and started to refill and then I saw the coolant was actually filling to the top.  took another 10 minutes to manage to draw the coolant above the max line.  pain without a plastic tool, though home is just a few hundred yards away. 
cel light came back again, oh no.


I drove local for about 10 miles, felt engine is more responsive.  I deleted the codes.   again warning msg, driving to clean the exhaust system, and then the cel engine light with work wrench.  gee, what a challenge. 

I got on 580,  the warning sign changed to "clean exhaust system".  The truck ran fine, and for the first time I was able to drive past the 80 mph.  It felt like a beast.

After a overpass, somewhere away from home about 50 miles, a loud bump as if the trump ran into a pot hole.  Saw the exhaust gauge reaching 1600 degree red.  Decided to get off the free way, there I found the hose connecting the egr to the radiator was broken off, some black spill around the engine cover underlayment. 

had a nice lunch, sun was warm.  I even took a nap, what a joy and a day. 


warning msg was gone.  I tighted the screw again connecting the coolant pipe to egr valve. 

consider the fix is done.

happy holidays.