Did this to my 2010 last weekend, worked out as described. P406 cleared for a couple of days, then came back. Any ideas? I seem to remember somebody saying something about the ambient temperature sensor?

 

Did mine today had p0404 code. Took about 45 minutes. And that's only because my engine was still a little hot had to wait for it to cool down

 

Thanks for the great write up Mark. Had a P0404 code that kept popping up and this looks to have fixed it. The idle also seems a little smoother as others have reported as well. But man, what a pain to get that one bolt out and back in. Two beers and she was all back together.

Thanks again!!

 

This write-up is exceptional, it really helped me out this past Friday. I was able to replace my EGR Valve in about 2 hours, though roughly 90 minutes of that was spent getting the "hidden" bolt out. Swapping out the valve seems to have cleared my CEL as well as evened out the idle and given the JKU a bit more pep off the line.

Thanks again for the write-up, especially the pictures.

 

would changing the EGR on an auto be easier if i put my JK on a lift? i have access to one at work & im trying to change this asap w/ the least amount of headache.

thanks for all the great write-ups & tips so far!

 

It is much easier with a lift... once the tire is off and the inner fender removed, you can actually get into all of it with a ton less four letter words. Just my opinion though.

 

thanks so much! i have not been looking forward to changing the EGR after reading all these terrible stories about that hidden bolt. i got my replacement fasteners for the fender & replacement gaskets. waiting on the EGR to arrive in the mail. hopefully i can tackle it this weekend.

 

just had same code again, egr 13 months old. so I removed it and cleaned it with carb and coke cleaner,reinstalled and cleared code, so far so good 2 weeks with out code.

 

Hey All

I did an EGR replacement on my stock rubicon (automatic) over the weekend, and will share a few points/lessons learned/tips....

overall it actually wasn't too bad, i actually finished MUCH faster (1.5 Hrs) than i was anticipating, surely due to all of the excellent advice i already received reading this thread and preparing for the worst. here are a few things that i discovered (some by accident) that helped....

1) Do this project on a cold engine...apparently helps remove the bolts easier, and you aren't dealing with the heat and potentially burning your hand/fingers.

2) Remove the entire fender....I know others just removed the inner liner, but i found that without the external fender itself, i had more room for leverage, particularly when you have to contort yourself in awkward ways in order to turn that one hidden 10MM bolt. Removing the fender is fairly simple, disconnect the side turning light, unscrew 5 bolts, and lift/peel away the fender from the body. One note on this, on the front of the fender there is one push fastener that goes through a hole on the fender then into the Jeep body...remove this before pulling away the fender. I didn't realize it based on some instructions i was following that didn't point this out, and broke the hole that the push fastener went through on the fender....not a big deal as the other clips and bolts actually hold the fender in place, but if you know ahead of time, it's always better not to damage anything, no matter how minute. Also, make sure you buy some spare clips from clipsandfasteners.com...i don't recall the exact part number, but its somewhere in this thread. I broke one when removing my fender. box of 15 is $12.

3) Keep the wheel on....I realized this accidentally. I went to remove my wheel, and my wheelock was damaged so i couldn't get the wheelock lug off. Turns out leaving the wheel on gave me something to lean/brace when i was contorted in weird ways while trying to unscrew that damned hidden 10mm bolt.

4) PB Blaster!!! this will be your best friend on the project...go ahead and spray all of the bolts you can get to (the 8MMs and the 10MMs)...you probably don't need to do the 8MM but i don't think it will hurt. Now heres the trick...you won't be able to access the hidden 10MM bolt with the spray can (not enough room)....what i did was soaked a rag in PB blast, then rubbed the rag on the hidden bolt...i used just the corner of a rag, and really saturated it with PB Blaster. then i stuck the little corner up in the small space where the bolt head is, and massaged it in...i did 2-3 soakings, i wanted to make sure enough PB Blast got on the bolt and in between the bolt and the EGR bracket to really do its job and loosen it up...those 10MM bolts are on there EXTRA TIGHT).

5) Removed the 2 8MM bolts with ease. The visible 10MM took some prying, but the PB Blast helped a lot...i had tried turning with the wrench socket prior to PB Blast and though i was going to snap the wrench. Once i got the 3 bolts out, moved the EGR back and forth (turning the valve on the last 10MM bolt) until it moved fairly easy, just back and forth 10-15 times to loosen it up some. Then i put my 10MM rachet wrench on the hidden bolt. If you put it on so that the angle of the ratchet faces the front of the jeep (meaning backwards), you'll have more turning area to work with...just remember doing that will reverse the way you will "ratchet"....you should turn your ratchet setting to "tighten" or clockwise, since you'll really have the ratchet on backwards.....if you are confused think of it this way, on this bolt, you'll want to be turning the ratchet "up" towards the top of the jeep, so that the bolt will be turning counter clockwise to losen. As soon as you feel you can loosen the bolt with your fingers (probably after a few turns of with the wrench) switch over to using your fingers...you'll be able to get the bolt out in a matter of minutes as opposed to using the ratchet at 1/4 turn max for the whole bolt. once the bolt is initially loosened, it should turn fairly easily with your fingers.

6) Once you get that dreaded 4th bolt out, then all you have to do is disconnect the electrical...for that i actually turned the EGR valve in a way that i could see the fastener from above (looking under the hood, up by where the auto tranny dip stick is....i could get a flathead screwdriver down in there and slide the red lock on the electrical connection to "unlock"....from there i was able to use one hand to separate the wire from the EGR value itself.

7) follow reverse steps for new one...although i did put in the easier of the 10MMs first in order to stabilize the EGR valve from movement...l lined it up so that the hard to access bolt was aligned perfectly, so i just used my hand to start the new bolt in the threads....i went by hand until i couldn't turn it anymore (again, quicker than trying to use ratchet the entire time). Besides, because of space limitations, you won't have much luck using the ratchet wrench on the bolt initially because of the bolts length.

Anyways, after the replacement, the change in the drive/feel was NIGHT AND DAY...my jeep felt brand new again, no knocks, no hesitation, much smoother ride...

All in.....$109 for Valve and washers (ordered on autozone for $130 and found a 20% coupon code online with free shipping), $30 for husky ratchet wrench set at home depot, $12 for spare clips (only ended up using one but have 15 spare for down the road).....1 1/2 hrs of labor, piece of mind, PRICELESS!!!

GOOD LUCK

 

I would like to start by giving a big thank you to everyone for the extended instructions and tricks/tips. My story ended a little differently so far. I used Mass Air Flow sensor cleaner and Throttle Body cleaner and didn't need to replace it.
09 JK 40K miles jacked and no fenders so I thought I would get by pretty easy compared to most. P0406 Error, read the forum, started the project, went and picked up the EGR and decided to loosen both bolts on the auto trans dipstick which really helped. I recommend it. My only issue is every bolt came out BUT the short front 10mm. It slipped the first time I put a wrench on it. So after messing around for 30 minutes with that bolt I figured what the heck, and blasted throttle body cleaner and mass air flow sensor cleaner into the port as far into the valve as I could with the red extension tube. Put it all back together and it has been 150 miles and the error has not returned. I tried clearing the error twice before and it would return within 5 miles. Probably on borrowed time, but until I get a gripper wrench to get out that front bolt, this is working.

Might be worth a try first.
-mix