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EGR coolers are a well known fragile point on most diesel engines. It is important to take care of your truck's EGR exhaust cooling system and protect your engine.
What Does an EGR Cooler Do?
The cooler in your truck's EGR system works with the EGR valve to create a mix of air, fuel, and exhaust gasses that lower emissions. Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) lowers combustion temperatures by diluting the air/fuel mixture with a small amount of inert exhaust gas. This process has no effect on the performance of your truck but it does reduce the change of chemical reactions that form pollutants. That being said, it is far more effective if the exhaust gas is cool, not hot. That is where the cooler comes in. The flow of exhaust gases through the EGR cooler is controlled by the vehicle’s computer via the EGR valve. Since the EGR cooler connects the exhaust and cooling systems of your engine, failures inside the cooler may lead to coolant loss, overheating, and engine damage, among other issues.
How Do I Know My Cooler is Going Bad?
Complete failure of your EGR’s cooling system could cause major damage to your engine. If you know what to look for, you may be able to spot your cooler’s failure before it becomes disastrous.
The most common first sign of failure is white exhaust smoke. This “smoke” is really steam from boiling water or coolant. This steam can be caused by a head gasket failure, a cracked EGR cooler or condensation inside the exhaust system.
As with any coolant leak, you may start noticing a lack of coolant in your overflow bottle. If you have to keep refilling your coolant system, and you don’t notice any drips on the ground, that coolant may be exiting through the exhaust via a leaking cooler.
Severe failures can lead to more serious problems such as connecting rods to bend, stretch head bolts, or blow the head gaskets, all causing severe engine damage.
How Can I Clean My EGR Cooler?
Replacing a cooler can get expensive. Failure is probably unavoidable, you may be able to extend the life of this part by keeping it clean. Clearing out soot and debris can restore an even flow through the cooler, which can reduce internal pressures and improve cooling performance.
There are several methods for cooler cleaning, but they all boil down to the same steps:
- Remove the cooler from the vehicle.
- Fill the cooler with a detergent.
- Let the cooler soak in the detergent to dissolve deposits.
- Thoroughly rinse the cooler to remove the loose deposits.
- Let the cooler dry, then reinstall it.
To clean really dirty passages, some repair shops place EGR coolers inside an ultrasonic cleaner. The ultrasonic waves vibrate the carbon loss while circulating detergent through the passages. This can speed up the cleaning process.
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Jason Petkov
PERFECT PLACE TO GET SCAMMED. Nearly $500 for a leaky radiator hose, charged for 10 gallons of antifreeze when the truck was almost full of brand new antifreeze which I guess nobody bothered to save, 2 hours of labor when they changed the hose in 10 minutes and a serious attitude problem when we asked about the shady bill. The hose itself costs $35.00 at the local dealer....In the end we just wanted to pay our bill and be on our way but they refused to accept our credit card and insisted on cash payment, fearing a claim because of their shady services. Lost nearly 5 hours and had to get the local police involved so that they would accept a DEBIT card because our driver did not have enough cash on him. STAY AWAY.PERFECT PLACE TO GET SCAMMED. Nearly $500 for a leaky radiator hose, charged for 10 gallons of antifreeze when the truck was almost full of brand new antifreeze which I guess nobody bothered to save, 2 hours of labor when they changed the …More
Battle Buddy Bob
I highly recommend Angels Truck Services! Angles was the only place in town willing to provide immediate assistance for my 6x12 utility trailer.Brett provided a detailed explanation of work required for repair and completed the job under quoted cost. Customer service was beyond reproach. Stop in and get treated like family.I highly recommend Angels Truck Services! Angles was the only place in town willing to provide immediate assistance for my 6x12 utility trailer. …More
Char Maliikapu
Positive: ProfessionalismPaul was friendly and professional and the mechanic that came out to jump me was great and very helpful. I got a jump start at the J which was literally rt across the street! The charge was $125 which I think is outrageous but what really got me is the tax that was added on! Paul you might want to consider a more reasonable price for jump starts, no real labor is done and it took 10 minutes!! Sometimes you need to give a little to get a lot more business! I’m an o/o we all need to help each other out! I am thankful for your help but I doubt I’ll give you more of my business because if you charge that much for a jump start rt across the street, I can imagine what you prices are for any kind of real labor. Which I could be more positive but being overcharged is one of my pet peeves. Btw TA charges $44 for a jump start in there parking lot which is literally the same distance or less.Paul was friendly and professional and the mechanic that came out to jump me was great and very helpful. I got a jump start at the J which was literally rt across the street! The charge was $125 which I think is outrageous but what really …MorePositive: Professionalism