I've been looking around and can't find a good answer for this:

Can I just unplug the EGR motor actuator to disable the EGR or do I need to do the full "California" style procedure (unplug throttle valve, unplug cooler servo actuator and remove the motor actuator plunger)? I don't care if I get the CEL every time I start up.

Thanks!!
Dan T.

 

Thought I'd give a little background as to why I asked.

My truck has 192k mi, no engine mods, and has some weird behavior over the last couple years. Symptoms were:
- Engine temp swings from 180 to 220/230F, then would correct itself. This could happen in town or on the highway.
- Loss of power from take off or while driving. Could happen on start from stoplight and have had it happen at highway speeds.
- When there was loss of power, It felt like the variable turbo wasn't actuating, but would clear itself.
- Recently on the way to work, had loss of power and knocking sound in engine. Sounded a lot like my old 1997 Powerstroke... I limped home and pulled the codes using the ignition key trick.
P042E
P0489
Both EGR related.

I unplugged the EGR valve only and of course got a CEL, but truck runs amazing... If I do the California style delete, will I need a programmer to drive or will I just get a CEL? Will it hurt the engine if I just leave everything plugged in except the EGR motor unplugged? I just had my emissions, so not worried about that for another year, will probably clean everything out in any case.

 

You are fine just leaving the egr actuator unplugged. The cel is a pita so make sure you check for new codes a couple times a month to make sure nothing sneeks up on you.

Cali delete will need a delete capable programmer.

 

Thank you! I plan on cleaning out the EGR and leaving it uplugged until my emissions test next year.