EGR valve keep or chunk

[oldyeller]

I have an 80 CJ7 AMC 304 58k original miles. I recently resurrected this jeep and one of the biggest most persistent problems besides the steering instability was the fact that it would quit for no reason. After rebuilding the carb 3 times and changing every vacuum line on it and multiple other paths I found by chance that after it died I felt around the egr valve and it seemed to be jammed at an angle. It applied a little pressure to it and felt it spring back. I jumped in and started it right up. I drove it home and saturated the inside of it with hilco lube over night and whamo, no more dying on me. I have and am considering buying a block off plate and removing this seeing as how the smog system has already fallen off. Where I'm going with this is has anyone had any negative results due to removal of this egr valve. Thanks in advance.

 

[Scorzany]

Damn nice Jeep!

I recently put a new EGR valve on mine. Bolts were not on that tight when removing old one and I don't think the bracket that the throttle return spring is attached to which is attached with the EGR bolts was in the right position for proper throttle return spring operation. This may have been your problem. When it "sprang back" it started working right not because you fixed the EGR, it started because you put the bracket back in the right position which effected the throttle return spring function. The spring was what sprang back. There is a tab on the EGR body that a bracket tab is positioned against. Hope I explained all that right. I could be wrong. Just throwing out ideas.

I don't think a bad EGR would cause your engine to just die so I was thinking about different reasons associated with the EGR.

After reading others opinions on various forums, I decided to keep it because the engine was designed to run with that recycled exhaust. I won't discuss it anymore than that! LOL A new one was $50 and mine was original. So......

Again, real nice Jeep.

 

[oldyeller]

Hey thanks Scorzany
I'm not sure that's why I posted this. I don't remember anything on the valve except a vacuum line. I don't recall a spring or mount. I'm sure I have just forgotten it, which is what I do best. I'm not sure if it would cause the jeep to just die but it would cause an extremely rough idle and then it would die. This is why my wife nicknamed it "sputter". And the fact it left me sitting on the side of the road more than once. I just know that since I soaked the diaphragm in lube that it hasn't happened anymore. This jeep was stored in a barn for quite a while and anything is possible. thanks again for the response. Merry Christmas to all who read this.

 

[Scorzany]

Cool. I'll post a pic of what I'm talking about if you want me to. Can't right now.

Don't know if you have mods done, different carb, etc. Mine is stock.

 

[oldyeller]

Right now I'm stock. May put a 280 cam just for a little thump. Santa is bringing a 12000 winch and some other goodies. I'm gonna put a 4" lift and 35 s on it. I know I'm gonna get scolded for the tire size but it's about the fun right? I think that the v8 will have the power to compensate for the upsizing. And if the automatic Transmission can't handle it , there's my excuse to drop a salvage 5.3 and Overdrive Transmission . I don't want to touch the paint yet because it's only original once, there's no going back once you paint it. My immediate goal is fixing the steering drift. I have 6 degree caster shims right now which helped a little but, right now it's not safe for anyone but me to drive at hwy speeds. It's not constantly bad but if you hit bumps it gets fun, also people tend to overcorrect. I would have never guessed this would be such an issue because I wanted this jeep to let may daughter and her friends ride it around. Right now that's not happening. Oh I'm rambling. Here's a couple of pics before the process started......just got to see your jeep....it looks great. Did you luck out and find it in that good shape or did you do it yourself? How do you like the BFG all terrains?

 

[Scorzany]

You did a great job.

Thanks for the compliments on mine. I looked for mine for over 2 years. Found it in it's current shape this past July. Done a few things already. I have a build thread going but not everything I have done is in there yet. Trying to keep it stock as much as reasonably possible.

Runs and drives great. Get lots of compliments. Feel like I'm in a time machine. Looks and runs so much different than anything else on the road.

The BFG all terrains are doing well. Happy with them.

 

[Torxhead]

A properly functioning egr will actually make the combustion temps cooler. This is a good thing. If they stick open it can kill the engine.

 

[oldyeller]

Hey Scorzany,
I relate to what you said as far as waiting. I knew about my jeep for a long time, it was bought brand new and owned the whole time by my friends mom. So it was never abused other than sitting undriven. I waited till he was ready to sell it, and then, it began.
As far as compliments, I have a 21 year old Harley Davidson in really good condition and it rarely becomes a topic of discussion, but I can't go to the gas station in the jeep without someone asking about it. I enjoy working on it. Stress relief.
To Torxhead
I was wondering if there would be some benefit to deleting the egr, like the egr deletes in the diesel world. I am not having any more issues with breaking down so it's really no big deal anymore. Thanks again for the comments, I am always open to suggestions.

 

[Scorzany]

A properly functioning egr will actually make the combustion temps cooler. This is a good thing. If they stick open it can kill the engine.

Thanks for that info. Didn't know that on sticking open can kill the engine.

 

[Scorzany]

This pic shows the bracket that the bottom of the throttle return spring hooks on. This bracket is attached to the engine with the EGR bolt you see (between the spring and the EGR valve). I don't know if you can see it well enough but the bracket has a tang that fits against the EGR housing. It's at about the 2 oclock position looking at the bolt. You need to make sure this bracket is rotated to fit against the EGR housing or your throttle return spring is not how it should be positioned.

But on second thought, maybe this is how you can adjust the trottle spring tension?

 

[Torxhead]

This pic shows the bracket that the bottom of the throttle return spring hooks on. This bracket is attached to the engine with the EGR bolt you see (between the spring and the EGR valve). I don't know if you can see it well enough but the bracket has a tang that fits against the EGR housing. It's at about the 2 oclock position looking at the bolt. You need to make sure this bracket is rotated to fit against the EGR housing or your throttle return spring is not how it should be positioned.

But on second thought, maybe this is how you can adjust the trottle spring tension?

The way I see it, your spring mount and spring are in the right position.

 

[Torxhead]

Old Yeller, why don't you look up removing the egr?

 

[oldyeller]

Hey thanks,
Mine is oriented a little different because mine is a AMC 304 v8. If that is your throttle return spring meaning singular I bought a set of return springs, one inside the other. You can use a different size to increase/ decrease the pull rate. Just a thought. Probably would never be a problem but if it can happen to anyone it will happen to me. If one breaks the other would be a backup.
My egr is on the back of the engine close to the firewall. One bolt is between a rock and a hard place so I will have to use a crows foot to get it off, the other is easy,thats my luck.
The attached pic shows a pic of the engine as it sat in the barn, you can't see but the valve is below the breather next to the firewall.

 

[Torxhead]

If your engine is too far back that could indicate bad motor mounts. This is an issue with the AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l , but I am not sure about the AMC 304 . Anyway, the clutch bellcrank should be perpendicular to the frame. In other words it should not be indicating that the engine has been pushed back. This puts too much load on the frame mounted pivot for the bellcrank and can break it. I like to keep as less load on the return spring as I can so the spring pressure will not tend to elongate the holes that hold the throttle shaft. This has happened to me.

 

[oldyeller]

Yeah I hear you on the return spring but you can buy return spring kits that allow you to pick the size springs you want to set the desired tension and because they are one inside the other they don't take up more room and act as a safety in case one spring breaks.
The motor mounts should be good, there is no problem with the engine being too close it's just that I will need to get the proper tool to get the one bolt out. I got one out no problem but the other is in an awkward area and I don't want to round it off, if you know what I mean. This egr valve is not gonna be any problem. It's just something to talk about.

 

[thundley57]

Where I'm going with this is has anyone had any negative results due to removal of this egr valve. Thanks in advance.

As Torxhead mentioned, your engine was designed to run with the EGR valve and if anything, it probably helps the performance because of the cooling effect it has on the intake gases which can help alleviate pinging issues. It may sound odd that hot exhaust gases help cool the intake gases but higher pressure gases passing through a small orifice into a lower pressure system will cool significantly which is called the Joule-Thompson effect.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joule–Thomson_effect

The engine will definitely stall if you open the EGR valve while at idle and is a good way to test whether the ports are plugged. You can do this by simply pushing up on the diaphram on the backside of the valve which will be under access holes in the body of the valve. Depending on the valve, sometimes the holes are big enough to get your fingers in and sometimes they are too small at which time you can use a couple of small bolts to poke through the holes and reach the diaphram. The diaphram has a metal plate covering it so there's no issue of poking a hole through it. If you test the EGR in this matter while at idle and there is very little or no change in the idle then your passages are likely carboned up and need cleaning.

 

[oldyeller]

I got some really good responses to my question about the pros and cons of an egr valve. youve all been great!