I just spent most of today in my parents' driveway, working on my car. The EGR valve is a major pain in the ass to remove, and an even bigger pain to put back in. It turns out that my EGR valve is fine; it was rather dirty, but still fully functional. I cleaned it up as well as I could, before I put it in. The important thing to know, if you're looking forward to removing and reinstalling an EGR valve on a Zetec is this: Make sure you have, before you begin, a 22mm or 7/8" ?crow's foot? wrench. Any kind of normal wrench just won't work; there's no room to swing it.
It appears that my problem is the EGR Vacuum Regulator Solenoid. According to the official Ford service manual, the test for this valve is that you should not be able to blow air through it when there is no electrical power applied to it, and you should when there is. Mine seems to be behaving in a manner that I cannot rationally describe, but at times, it is opposite of how the Ford manual says it should behave ? that is, I can blow air through it when there is no power, and I can sometimes not blow air through it when power is applied. It doesn't make sense, and I am sure this means that this part is bad. A check at two online parts sources failed to find anything about an available replacement. I am wondering if I can get a replacement through any aftermarket source, or will I have to get it from Ford; and how much is it likely to cost?
{I do hate spam, but that isn't really part of my email address. Remove the string ?HatesSpam? from the email address ?BobHatesSpam@blaylock.to? to email me. No advertisements. Spammers will be dealt with very harshly!}
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Moonlight Blue 1996 Mercury Mystique GS , Zetec engine, ATX. No mods. (Well, OK, one mod. Before I got rid of my previous car, a 1994 Tempo, I swapped radios. I liked the Tempo's radio better. That counts as a mod, doesn't it? I also kept one of my Tempo's wheels to use as a spare. I hate those stupid ?compact? spares that come with modern cars. Does this count as a mod? If so, I guess I have two mods. Replaced burned/melted blower switch and connector on 19 February 2002 with a 1P3T toggle switch from Marvac and a Molex connector from Rat Shack; I guess this now makes three mods.)
