Beware the average user trying to clean EGR pipe and cooler....

Take out the lower egr cooler stud and leave it out. My stud and nut are currently sitting in a drawer in my toolbox.

I agree, that was a very long 2 days when I too removed the original EGR cooler and replaced it with a pre cleaned one sourced off eBay.

Also not fun, laying out over the engine to reach over the engine to get at the rear mounting bolts for the EGR cooler. All while trying not to drop the nuts and gaskets while taking it apart and assembling it.

Other difficult things were wrestling with the hoses and clamps in very tight spaces.



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I have to disagree whether it's needed or not though. My EGR cooler was pretty fouled up and the small EGR passages in the intake manifold were pretty oily and gunked up.

If you wait till the car starts burning oil or losing coolant, then you are too late


Also, I'd advise you to go to 5k oil change intervals, since you are over 100k miles on the odometer. Once the piston rings seize up in the grooves of the pistons, it will be downhill from there.

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You are right.

 

There's a trust-but-verify middle ground possible, where you ask the ECM every now and then for its latest EGR flow test numbers and keep an eye on those over time, combined with now and then taking the intake manifold off for a real look-see at its four small EGR passages, because the ECM's overall flow test can't tell you about those, and because the manifold by itself is a much easier job.

Then you can go through the upstream EGR nightmare just as often as the flow test numbers make you want to.

 

How about some pics of what you guys have taken off in other words the dirty one I know what it looks like clean I want to see how badly clogged up we're talking about I remember the days of citations and some of the GM early cars where that whole port would be completely blocked off you'd be running drill bits and whatnot through there trying to clean that mess out it was all an aluminum and steel there wasn't any plastic yet

SM-A715F ?

 

There have been posts here with people taking coat hanger wires to their EGR cooler passages, kind of the same deal.

For pics, there have been plenty in other threads if you search. I'd be interested to see, beyond that, some kind of reliable measurement of how much the flow is restricted; that's something very hard to eyeball just by looking at a black furry passage and saying "yuck".

The cooler I took off in the summer (replaced with a pre-cleaned one) is still sitting on the counter here, waiting for me to build some kind of reliable flow bench so I can measure its resistance before I clean it, then clean it and measure it again. Then I can post the numbers along with the pics and there will at last be some way to help calibrate eyeballs.

I do know that my flow test results measured by the ECM went from 10 point something with the old cooler to 21 point something with the clean one. But I don't know yet whether those numbers are linear with respect to actual flow. (The ECM results are changes of pressure in the intake manifold resulting from the added EGR flow, so the math model is likely to be messy. Engineers who do fluid flow all day long might be able to tackle it, but I are not one.)

 

If you "leave it alone until you get codes" is like saying I'll change the engine oil
when the engine seizes.....
Yes, with larger hands it makes thing more difficult, but patience the key.
You could also "teach" your daughter how to do it. Certainly she has smaller hands?

Rarely are things easier in real life then in a video. The video's are guides. It's always best
to watch several because each will be different.

I hope you're able to "fight" it back together. I'm certain your daughter will be greatfull for your work!

 

Wholeheartedly second this. And, you can do this before even starting on the rest of the job, get it out of the way.

I’m a bantam-weight, never done anything remotely close to engine pulls. The EGR cleaning took me ages, but I didn’t rush.

You should do the intake manifold too.

there’s some info in my signature.

 

To the OP, the EGR cooler remove and replace job gave me an excuse to buy a bunch of tools. Told my wife that I was spending money to save money.

As hard as the EGR cooler job is on the Gen 3 Prius, I'd rank it behind changing the sparkplugs in my Toyota V6 (2GR-FE), where you also have to disassemble the windshield wiper cowling, but you also have to remove the top half of the intake system down to the intake runners, just to get access to the rear bank of ignition coils and plugs, then moving a harness out of the way because, of course it is routed right over the ignition coils.

Changing the serpentine belt on the same engine in the tight spaces that Toyota leaves you was no joy either. I forced a socket and wrench over the nut on the idler pulley to release the tension on the serpentine belt only to find out that I couldn't remove the wrench from the nut because it was jammed between the fender and the nut. Struggled with it for literally hours trying to get it off. Thought I had to cut the socket, the pin on the wrench off, or cut a hole in my fender to remove the wrench and socket.

In hindsight, I'd rather tackle the Prius EGR cooler removal and replace than those two procedures.

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20 year old gen3 prius with 300,000 miles? i hope i'm alive to see it. all the best!

 

With oil changes every 10 - 15k miles, even with Mobil 1 synthetic oil, if I was a betting man...

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I feel your pain! I'm close to your size and have big hands as well. Prius is definitely challenging but can be done!

-yes pull the lower egr cooler stud out and leave it out
-before I started this project I had a couple of each gasket and some extra bolts/nuts on hand in case I dropped something and couldn't find
-you will use every extension you have at some point, and maybe will need more. Get a set.
-these thumb ratchets came in handy once or twice. 1/4" and 3/8" drive

-I laid across right front fender and got up close when doing the rear part of the egr cooler. Made sure the neighbors weren't looking.
-Putting it back together is way easier than taking it apart!

Cheers
PEH

 

Lots of four letter words and beer in equal measures is par for the course.

I found my magnetic pick-up tool indispensable for holding onto the gaskets and nuts to prevent them from falling down, or retrieving them when they did.

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My egr cooler was totally plugged and required the wire on a drill trick. It is stainless steel so damage is unlikely. Still buying another one and cleaning it first makes sense.

My independent Prius mechanic has a box full of egr coolers ready to go. He does not believe in the egr hg correlation that is big here. Neither do master dealer techs.

There is no question that small hands on this job makes a big difference. Enough where my 4xl fingers specialize in pushing buttons to call him.

 

I dropped the rear gasket on the EGR cooler (who doesn't), was so stoked to finally be getting it out. I suspect with the bottom bolt AND stud off, you can leave the rear studs on, and it's threads will hold the gasket. Why the hell they didn't put clips on that one is beyond me. The front gasket, between EGR valve and pipe, it has great clips.

 

I didn't.

Not sure I remember how I avoided it though.

 

This picture is from my egr cooler and coincidently almost identical mileage as OP’s car. Alone for the sake of fuel economy it was time to clean. Unfortunately no IM pics.

i think 15k is way too long interval for oil change. Previous owner of my Prius had been following 12.5k (20kkm) interval which was a disappointment to me since here winters are freezing and during summer egine has numerous start&stop.

 

Thanks priustus

 

Again, why frequent oil changes are necessary with newer cars with low expansion pressure piston rings.