[ifish86]

my 98 vitara j20a engine has had the check engine light come on and off periodically for the last couple of months but recently has been coming up and staying on whilst driving on the highway with speeds over 90kmph and the fuel consumption dramatically increased. i'v done alot of research and seems to be a couple of factors but most likly the egr valve. now before i go spend money on getn the error codes and such forth read i thought i would try cleaning the egr valve. righto so wats the problem??? well i carnt find the bloody thing and to be honest im not sure wat im looking for. from what iv read its near the intake manifold but i still carnt b 100% sure. i beleive its inbetween my head and firewall would neone please be able to verify this before i start. thanks

[royce]

sometime soon somebody (maybe atari) will show you links with how to read codes with a paperclip and that the likely code is for the o2 sensor

unless you find the threads here first

[atari4x4]

sounds like a faulty o2 sensor

at the bottom of my post in this thread is a word doc attached with the diagnostic codes & how to read the. http://auszookers.com/index.php?name=Fo ... 100#331100

[ifish86]

cool thanks mate so with a conductor short terminal 1 and 2? and this will make my check engine light blink depending on code? in the picture it looks like the terminals im ment to short are in the engine bay is this correct? and is the egr valve located inbetween the head and firewall?

[atari4x4]

yeah it will spit out the codes, each error code will flash 3 times via the check engine light (CEL)

the diagnostic plug is on the RHS of the engine bay buy the strut tower, you need to bridge terminals 2 & 3. not all spots are populated so that is the 2nd hole on the top row & the 1st hole on the bottom row (bottom left), from memory the EGR is on the LHS back corner of the head, never really looked for it before.

i'd say it will give you an o2 sensor error going by the conditions it's happening.

[ifish86]

awsome thanks atari

[luke]

ifish 86 the EGR valve is on your left hand side as you open the bonnet, standing in front of the engine bay,it is on the intake manifold underneath the bracing that joins the two front shockers.disconnect the electrical joiner and undo the two bolts that hold it on and clean out the black soot from EGR valve and air intake manifold,try using same gasket again, should be allright, after cleaning out soot from air intake manifold and EGR valve reassemble.On the DOHC engines it is located on the back of the cylinder head,you should clean this even if not the problem as 2 litre engine will run a lot better with it done,it is a simple job, l have a 1999 2 litre vitara not as good as yours atari4x4.Regards .luke.

[ifish86]

thanks luke just pulled it off now couldnt beleive how much junk was in there unbeleivable il post some photo's later. now that i have it removed iv gently scraped it clean but one of the wholes into the intake manifold is nearly completly blocked, is it quite important that i dont push any of this junk further into the manifold ? how should i go about this? im about to go to supaheap and grab sum carby cleaner to polish off this lil sucka. thanks heaps!!!

[ifish86]

well cleaned the egr and ports, with the port just scraped out the top hole that went back into the manifold and vacumed it out ? hahaha and with the bottom one droped the pipe that came out of the bottom and did the same. car seems to be running abit better and so far no check engine light, im going go for a run up the coast this arvo so with fingers crossed no light and better fuel consumption.
thanks everyone for ur help much appreciated.

[atari4x4]

sounds like i should pull mine off & have a look, how many kms has yours done ifish86 & i hope you got some good pics of the operation?

we like pics here.

[luke]

Vacuming out the manifold is a good idea, l dont think it would matter with some going back in the manifold.Mine ran a lot better once cleaned out,my vitara has done 152.000 thousand kilometers.Looking forward to hearing how things go.Atari4x4 what is your top speed that your vitara will do roughly ,ifish86 yours as well if you know ,dont go killing your self,l had mine at 130 km an hour today with some still to go but ran out of road.luke.

[atari4x4]

[luke]

Mine would be flat out at 140 km an hour l think,thanks for the reply. luke.

[ifish86]

yea didnt work check engine light came up and stayed on again the fuel consumption was alot better until the last half hour of the journey... now im trying to source a 02 sensor and read a few other posts about the ntk ones so trying to get one of those from oxygensensors.net??? also be running that diagnostic check tomorrow morning to know for sure. my old gal has 245k on her and quite regularly sits on a dollar 20 but have reached 140 ish down a hill with a backwind and didnt want to push her any more haha. il have a quick search on how to upload pictures onto this forum and with ne luck they should b up soon. thanks

[Moag]

This might be a stupid question, but did you disconnect your battery for a little while and clear the codes?

[ifish86]

yea did that yesterday before taking for a drive and by error again this morning so now im gona have to take it for another run to get the light up and check again

[atari4x4]

i ran the universal bosh 02 sensor & it's lasted about 80,000kms and has only just started playing up, the original failed not long after i got the Vitara at around 80thou.

i think i might give this one a shot next. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Oxygen-Senso ... 35b3cc8aac

[ifish86]

thanks again atari, i got a error code 13, i think il get one of those too but after abit more looking around i found this thread . http://www.auszookers.com/index.php?nam ... gen+sensor
is there any way for me to test my coil packs at home as this may also be a issue considering there dated 5/8.