Specialty tools for intake, egr valve/cooler?

As a long time researcher who lacks much experience with this one, but will soon, I'm asking myself the same question!

Of all the EGR videos I've watched and things I've read my guess is that it comes down to cleaning tools. There so many ways to clean things... Finding your favorite weapon to clean a dirty EGR is my bet on what's most important... Some say do it by soaking and I'd rather do something faster, not sure yet?

 

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The $80 pressure washer from Harbor Freight will be your best friend on this job if you don't have one. I soaked my EGR cooler in purple power and then pressure washed it and it was SO much better than the first time I did it with just a wire on a drill and brake cleaner (the wire will still come in handy though).

A nice small sized non-metal pipe cleaner brush for the intake manifold's EGR holes (not really talked about in the video) helps a lot, those are what was clogged and causing misfires the last time I cleaned mine.

12mm ratcheting wrench, E8 torx socket, various socket extensions, and maybe a deep 12mm socket.

 

Tools I found useful/invaluable to do the EGR cooler and EGR valve:

A telescoping magnetic pickup tool for holding on to nuts and metal gaskets while removing or assembling, so they don't fall. Also handy for retrieving stuff that does fall.

A good hose clamp removal tool. I used a combination of the cable activated one that can reach into tight places, long reach angled needle nose pliers and a smaller size water pump plier with an angled head on all the hose clamps.

You'll be wrestling a multitude of coolant hoses off and on too. So a set of hose pliers and picks are almost a must as well. Some hoses are very difficult to get a hold of because they are in tight spaces with cables and obstructions making it very hard to get any kind of leverage on the hose to get it off or on the fittings. The hoses will invariably be stuck on the fittings pretty good too, so prying them a bit, carefully with a hose pick, will allow some of the slippery coolant to act as a lubricant.

Also necessary is a multitude of wrenches, sockets, and various lengths of socket extensions.

For the small intake manifold cleaning of the clogged up egr passages near each outlet of the intakes, get a set of nylon bristle drinking straw brushes, the kind used to clean out metal drinking straws. They are the perfect size for those passages.



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You need an 8mm e-torx wrench or socket to remove the M8x1.25 studs.

They are used on BMW's. Here is the best deal on a set, although you only need one.

4pc Star/Female Torx/E Ring Spanner Tool Set E6 - E24 Wrench TE541

 

Don't worry about water in the EGR cooler. If you have a heat gun, blow hot air through the cooler, it's stainless steel and can take the heat with no problem. The water will be cooked off and exit as water vapor.

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Yeah the green Portland one, you have to have a coupon for $80, but there usually is one, as there is currently at my store. You could pick up some pipe cleaner brushes and a heat gun (probably just use a blow dryer if you have one) there as well for ultra-cheap.

The wire I used was stripped copper house wire. I tried a coat hanger and it was too thick. Turned out OK without any wire the second time I did my EGR/intake, but it would have been slightly quicker with it, I think. You attach it to a drill and spin it through the cooler fins.

 

I found that the stiff stainless steel strips used to stiffen wipler blade inserts (from old worn out ones) ideal for rodding out the EGR cooler.

Years, ago, anticipating the need for cleaning the egr cooler, I bought a used one off of eBay for $45 delivered when they were really cheap.

Taking my time, I used two rubber stoppers of the appropriate size to hold full strength Krud Kutter inside the EGR cooler, inspected, drained and refilled the liquid every week for six weeks. The sixth week, the liquid was absolutely clear.

At that point, I knew that the EGR cooler was entirely as clean as a brand new one.