How To Clean An Auris T180 / Sr180 Egr Valve, This Could Be A Good Ide

[Rick D4D]

The symptoms.

The MPG is disgraceful this time last year we was averaging no less than 38mpg over a tank and around 42-45mpg when driven on a run with cruise control set at 70mph. Over Christmas we did approx 1500miles and have managed best on a run +4oc 31mpg driving with cruise control set at 70mph, when it was cold we was down to 21mpg and have now risen to around 30mpg driving like your gran going to church. These figures are a long way short of the figures that Toyota quote and of what we was achieving this time last year with similar temperatures, it may be worth noting the car makes a pinking sound at around 1800-2300rpm if you put your foot down and there is a small delay / flat spot in throttle response (not turbo lag) when you press the accelerator, I suspect this is the fly by wire throttle system but is it supposed to have a delay?

How to clean, I did have to borrow a few pictures as I had cleaned mine by the time I made this thread.

1. Remove the engine cover, this just pulls up and unclips.

2. Now you can see the EGR Valve, you will need a 12mm socket, Ratchet and extension to remove this.

3. Remove these 2 x bolts 1st for the pipe above the EGR valve.

4. Now undo the other 4 x 12mm nuts and bolts from the EGR valve and unplug this from the wiring loom, this can now be removed.

5. This is now what you will find.

Dirty manifold with 2 x blocked breathing holes.

Dirty EGR valve with restricted air flow.

6. I cleaned these using an old toothbrush, small screw driver, carburettor cleaner, old cloth and a dyson cleaner to suck the muck out. Try to scrape and brush out the thick carbon then use the carburettor cleaner to clean the finish this off.

Now once all this is cleaned out just simply refit, This took me a total of 15 minutes so I assure you this is very easy.

The results

This will vary for everyone but in my experience I did a 360mile round trip the next day with mainly cruise control set at 70mph, going there (more downhill) the roads where very very wet with poor visibility and approx 7oc and we averaged 41.1MPG by the time we got there. When we come home with mainly cruise control set at 70mph, slightly uphill most of the way the roads where dry and approx 3oc the average MPG had dropped to 40.0. When I filled up we got 37.4litres in the tank which I rounded up to 38 and worked out at 43MPG (I always brim the tank). This is now showing a big improvement / approx 20% for a 15minute job of cleaning the EGR valve. I will also note the slight flat spots in throttle response are a lot less than before.

I would like to say a big thank you to cabcurtains for bringing the EGR valve to my attention and to twingo69 as I borrowed a few pictures from his thread to make this guide.

UPDATE

Ok it has been nearly 5 months and around 4k since I did this do this morning I thought I would check the EGR valve. To be honest the manifold was very very clean maybe a small less than 1mm coating of carbon and the EGR valve had a little more, I did clean this again while it was removed but in my opinion looking at what I seen today I would recommend cleaning this around every 12months or 10k.

UPDATE

Well over the next 12 months the MPG just continued to drop, Toyota claimed there was no problems with the car but by Feb 11 we could only manage 28-32MPG at best. I had also noticed the car had started to do a lot of DPF recycle burns and suspect the DPF was maybe on its way out, we had no warrenty left on the car so had a shop around and exchanged for a 5 month old 500 mile CRZ. What can I say but for sure the CRZ is one of the best cars we ever owned and was fantastic on fuel (49MPG average for every turn of the key over 9 months and 9000 miles) but due to the birth of Lewis we needed a bigger car so exchanged this for a CTR (FN2), I will say that so far over 7000 miles this has returned 29MPG for us which puts a quicker petrol car in the same area as the T180 when we traded this in.

What never made sence was when we first bought the T180 we could get 40-44MPG no problem then at around 30'000 miles the MPG just started to drop while nothing really changed, we never found a cure for this or a fault but for sure this is problem and Toyota must know about this because they dropped the 2.2 and 2.0 Auris diesel cars and have now agreed to use BMW diesel engines from 2013. Why the worlds largest car manufacturer would need to use a BMW diesel engine is beyond me unless it shows they are struggling to get a modern diesel to be clean and efficient while being very driveable.

[boozehound]

its a gorgus engine

[illegalhunter]

Well done with the how 2 , seems pretty easy job

[chatman]

Exact same thing is happening to the RAV engines.... Most users have cleaned there's as well (this is for the newer 4.3 model RAV 2.2D4D and T180 models).....

Brillinat clear pictures here....should ask for this to be pinned in the Auris section...

[Rick D4D]

Brillinat clear pictures here....should ask for this to be pinned in the Auris section...

Already pinned, I my opinion for how easy this is to do I would recommend you do this every 10K or 1year as this will save a fortune in fuel if you car was like mine ;) I have just seen your sponsored bike ride, this is about 5 miles from me and a nice place to ride your bike I have also been very charitable and sponsored you as well :)

[boozehound]

a video on youtube would be awesome

[cabcurtains]

Nice one Rick

Our vans 2.2d is identical (EGR wise) so others shouldnt be put off by the title ;)

[Rick D4D]

a video on youtube would be awesome

Great idea, maybe you could clean yours and film the experience.

[boozehound]

my t180 is only 10220miles old and i only use v power :) prob wont be dirty----ish

[Rick D4D]

my t180 is only 10220miles old and i only use v power :) prob wont be dirty----ish

Thats what you think ;) so easy to check so why not?

[dawesy]

common problem. talking to the dealers the other day and they reckon they do around 10 of these a week on average. doesn't just affect the DCAT engine either. most diesels are suffering the same problem although most owners don't realise till the EML comes on.

[daiashthomas]

i wonder if any dealers do this at service intervals....... should be part of every service...... or why is there no self-cleaning process surely manufacturers are aware of these silly little problems.

nice how to! very clean tidy pics too

[Rick D4D]

i wonder if any dealers do this at service intervals....... should be part of every service...... or why is there no self-cleaning process surely manufacturers are aware of these silly little problems.

nice how to! very clean tidy pics too

I agree with this but I am also sure if MR T did this at the service the pleasure would cost you approx £50 +vat, This was one of the reasons why I spent the time to make an easy to follow guide ;)

[boozehound]

so we dont get shafted by mechanics

[delboy85]

The symptoms.

The MPG is disgraceful this time last year we was averaging no less than 38mpg over a tank and around 42-45mpg when driven on a run with cruise control set at 70mph. Over Christmas we did approx 1500miles and have managed best on a run +4oc 31mpg driving with cruise control set at 70mph, when it was cold we was down to 21mpg and have now risen to around 30mpg driving like your gran going to church. These figures are a long way short of the figures that Toyota quote and of what we was achieving this time last year with similar temperatures, it may be worth noting the car makes a pinking sound at around 1800-2300rpm if you put your foot down and there is a small delay / flat spot in throttle response (not turbo lag) when you press the accelerator, I suspect this is the fly by wire throttle system but is it supposed to have a delay?

How to clean, I did have to borrow a few pictures as I had cleaned mine by the time I made this thread.

1. Remove the engine cover, this just pulls up and unclips.

2. Now you can see the EGR Valve, you will need a 12mm socket, Ratchet and extension to remove this.

3. Remove these 2 x bolts 1st for the pipe above the EGR valve.

4. Now undo the other 4 x 12mm nuts and bolts from the EGR valve and unplug this from the wiring loom, this can now be removed.

5. This is now what you will find.

Dirty manifold with 2 x blocked breathing holes.

Dirty EGR valve with restricted air flow.

6. I cleaned these using an old toothbrush, small screw driver, carburettor cleaner, old cloth and a dyson cleaner to suck the muck out.

Now once all this is cleaned out just simply refit, This took me a total of 15 minutes so I assure you this is very easy.

The results

This will vary for everyone but in my experience I did a 360mile round trip the next day with mainly cruise control set at 70mph, going there (more downhill) the roads where very very wet with poor visibility and approx 7oc and we averaged 41.1MPG by the time we got there. When we come home with mainly cruise control set at 70mph, slightly uphill most of the way the roads where dry and approx 3oc the average MPG had dropped to 40.0. When I filled up we got 37.4litres in the tank which I rounded up to 38 and worked out at 43MPG (I always brim the tank). This is now showing a big improvement / approx 20% for a 15minute job of cleaning the EGR valve. I will also note the slight flat spots in throttle response are a lot less than before.

I would like to say a big thank you to cabcurtains for bringing the EGR valve to my attention and to twingo69 as I borrowed a few pictures from his thread to make this guide.

What sort of mileage had the car done to get into this state?

[avensisTR1415]

Excellent thread guys...

Did exactly this procedure 3 months ago on my Avensis TR 2.0 D4D... since then the onboard computer is telling me im getting 580 miles to a full tank of fuel where as before it was 540.... could this really be true??

I used wynns carb cleaner to clean mine... I only had one can at the time found i could have done with another one.

something I'd like to check with you guys... when your cleaning the manifold box i.e. photo under point 5 the part that doesnt remove from the engine... is it ok to let the carb cleaner soak into the opening holes? on the photo where it says there is two blocked holes here!

Reason i asked this is when I went to start the car the 1st time after cleaning the valve it got it much harder to start and alot of white smoke came out the rear... my heart almost stopped to be honest? Is this expected?

[wastedagen]

Great tutorial Rick D4D i'll give it a go as soon as the weather warms up.

Are there any seals or gaskets that have to be renewed while stripping the EGR Valve?

Regards

EDIT

P.S. My dad has just picked up his Diesel 09 Yaris SR. Haven't had a chance to look at it yet, but would this have an EGR Valve in roughly the same place? I ask for future reference...............Thanks in advance.

Regards

[marco polo]

i want to thank you very much for your reply it was most helpfull the pictures showed everything i cant thank you enough cheers pal

[Rick D4D]

Great tutorial Rick D4D i'll give it a go as soon as the weather warms up.

Are there any seals or gaskets that have to be renewed while stripping the EGR Valve?

Regards

Yes there are a few steel type gaskets but I have reused mine as they look like the reusable type etc.

[Rick D4D]

Reason i asked this is when I went to start the car the 1st time after cleaning the valve it got it much harder to start and alot of white smoke came out the rear... my heart almost stopped to be honest? Is this expected?

Yes mine was the same, this will be caused by some of the crap and spray being sucked into the cylinders causing the car to misfire etc for a few seconds. Not to worry as this will be burned off when the car starts ;)

[wastedagen]

Great tutorial Rick D4D i'll give it a go as soon as the weather warms up.

Are there any seals or gaskets that have to be renewed while stripping the EGR Valve?

Regards

Yes there are a few steel type gaskets but I have reused mine as they look like the reusable type etc.

Thanks. Would I be correct in saying then there are 4 seals/gaskets that would need changing. I say changing cos the amount of luck I have i'm bound to tear one. i like to get replacements just in case before cleaning the EGR valve.

Thanks in advance...............

[Rick D4D]

Great tutorial Rick D4D i'll give it a go as soon as the weather warms up.

Are there any seals or gaskets that have to be renewed while stripping the EGR Valve?

Regards

Yes there are a few steel type gaskets but I have reused mine as they look like the reusable type etc.

Thanks. Would I be correct in saying then there are 4 seals/gaskets that would need changing. I say changing cos the amount of luck I have i'm bound to tear one. i like to get replacements just in case before cleaning the EGR valve.

Thanks in advance...............

you dont remove the solenoid in no.2 and I will assure you 100% these gaskets will reseal due to them being of a metal type instead of paper ;)

[wastedagen]

Great tutorial Rick D4D i'll give it a go as soon as the weather warms up.

Are there any seals or gaskets that have to be renewed while stripping the EGR Valve?

Regards

Yes there are a few steel type gaskets but I have reused mine as they look like the reusable type etc.

Thanks. Would I be correct in saying then there are 4 seals/gaskets that would need changing. I say changing cos the amount of luck I have i'm bound to tear one. i like to get replacements just in case before cleaning the EGR valve.

Thanks in advance...............

you dont remove the solenoid in no.2 and I will assure you 100% these gaskets will reseal due to them being of a metal type instead of paper ;)

Ok Thanks...................

[bobbo7070]

Excellent thread!

Thought I'd have a look at mine just out of interest, but I didn't expect to find much because my car has only done 14k and I nearly always run it on BP Ultimate.

To my surprise it was quite bad. Both corner holes were completely blocked and about a third of the main chamber was compacted with soot.

I had about two thirds of a can of carb cleaner kicking around the shed and, as Avensis TR1415 says, another tin would have been useful.

I used that together with the wifes beloved Dyson to suck the crap out (I'm in the do-do's over that, it ruined the hose!!!)

I also had the heartstopping faltering when I came to restart the engine, but no white smoke.

I can't say I've noticed any performance increase, but as I've got one of Kingos 220 bhp boxes fitted and the weather is so rubbish at the mo' I'm loath to give it some real stick in case it chucks itself into the nearest ditch

What I can't understand is why MrT didn't design the chamber and ports with smoothed and rounded edges??? Surely that would have helped to keep the buildup to a minimum

[Rick D4D]

Just strip the dyson down and clean the hose out, maybe wash it in the bath etc, If your car is like mine you will see an increase in MPG and out of curiosity now you have had the box fitted a while how does the MPG compare with before?