dtenorio

I've been looking around and can't find a good answer for this:

Can I just unplug the EGR motor actuator to disable the EGR or do I need to do the full "California" style procedure (unplug throttle valve, unplug cooler servo actuator and remove the motor actuator plunger)? I don't care if I get the CEL every time I start up.

Thanks!!
Dan T.

dtenorio

Thought I'd give a little background as to why I asked.

My truck has 192k mi, no engine mods, and has some weird behavior over the last couple years. Symptoms were:
- Engine temp swings from 180 to 220/230F, then would correct itself. This could happen in town or on the highway.
- Loss of power from take off or while driving. Could happen on start from stoplight and have had it happen at highway speeds.
- When there was loss of power, It felt like the variable turbo wasn't actuating, but would clear itself.
- Recently on the way to work, had loss of power and knocking sound in engine. Sounded a lot like my old 1997 Powerstroke... I limped home and pulled the codes using the ignition key trick.
P042E
P0489
Both EGR related.

I unplugged the EGR valve only and of course got a CEL, but truck runs amazing... If I do the California style delete, will I need a programmer to drive or will I just get a CEL? Will it hurt the engine if I just leave everything plugged in except the EGR motor unplugged? I just had my emissions, so not worried about that for another year, will probably clean everything out in any case.

xcc_rider

You are fine just leaving the egr actuator unplugged. The cel is a pita so make sure you check for new codes a couple times a month to make sure nothing sneeks up on you.

Cali delete will need a delete capable programmer.

dtenorio

Thank you! I plan on cleaning out the EGR and leaving it uplugged until my emissions test next year.