Hi I'm new here,

I have a dilemma right now with my 1995 Camry, so I thought to join up and get some much needed advice/help.

Ok here is my situation,

My car was due for a SMOG check, so I took it in to a SMOG test only site expecting it to pass with out any problems.

The next thing I know one of the SMOG testers tells me that the car is running hot, so he shows me while everything is attached for the SMOG testing process and steps on the pedal while the car is on the dyno and points out how my car's temperature is going to the H Red Line (Hot) instead of staying in the middle section between H & C. He tells me that he doesn't think my car is going to pass the SMOG and gives me a list of repair shops and doesn't charge me.

I was disappointed, but I needed to get my car to remain legal so I decided to take my car in for repairs to one of the places on the list.

The mechanic at the repair shop said my car failed the pre-test and that the problem lies with the EGR. They tell me they will repair it and have my car pass the SMOG test. They call me back after the supposed repairs were complete and tell me my car had passed the SMOG and I can pick up my car. I was glad my car was legal again. But they charged me $250 as oppose to the initial $50 it would of cost me at the test only site had my car been okay to begin with.

But I'm like okay so I had to pay $200 more for a legal car, its bad luck but I need my car for work. Needless to say the check engine light came on the very next morning. I was like what the heck. I went to take the car back but the repair shop was not operating/it was closed for about 3 weeks after I had took the car in for repairs. I thought this was fishy and that maybe these guys were illegally passing cars without truly repairing them. I didn't trust that mechanic shop after the delay and decided I will not bring my car back to them because they could very well make my car worse off or try to charge me for additional repairs in which I don't want to ever give that place my business again.

SO I decided to give it a try myself. I diagnosed my car using the diagnose panel and placing a safety pin to terminal E1 to TE1 and then turn my car on but not the engine and the check engine light flashed 7 times then paused and flashed 1 time, and then paused longer and kept repeating the same cycle so i know I only have 1 trouble code which is 7 + 1 which equals 71. So now I know what is wrong with my car so to speak. I have a trouble code of 71 which means "EGR - gas temperature signal is too low" which makes a lot of sense since I had that temperature issue shown to me at the test only site and how the repair mechanic told me the problem was with the EGR.

From that I concluded I needed to take the EGR valve out and clean it, so I did and doused the valve with carb cleaner & chock by Gumout. A lot of carbon deposits were coming out but not enough that made me think that alone would solve the problem for some reason. I also cleaned the entry to the intake manifold and notice a lot of carbon there and cleaned it out with a brush. But that felt insufficient to me as well. I did notice carbon inside the intake manifold as well but I didn't touch that part, as I'm trying to use fuel injector cleaner to clear that out in time plus I didn't know if it would be a good idea to try reaching in at it. Anyways, I put a new gasket on and put the EGR valve back on post-cleaning. I check the EGR gas temperature sensor and notice brown crust around the metal parts and use my fingernails to scrap away the crust off its metal rod part and then re screw it back into the EGR valve. I inspect the EGR vacuum modulator and notice the filter is dirty, but there really isn't any way for me to clean it other than trying to blow dirt off of it since I don't have a air compressor. I put everything back as it was. But the check engine light still came back on even after my attempts to clean the valve and the sensor tip.

I just diagnosed the check engine light and it's still a code 71.

My question is where do I go from here?

Could my EGR valve be bad? When I was cleaning it I was able to push it up/down which is open/closed and air would come out of the hose on the top of the diaphragm when I did this, so I'm thinking the valve is functional. Although its a bit snug pushing up and down on the valve.

or

Could my EGR gas temperature sensor be bad, since that is what the code is suggesting as a trouble area.

or

Could my EGR vacuum modulator need to be replaced because of the dirty filter.

Should I try a second cleaning?

Should I order a new part or parts and if so which ones? (the valve, the sensor, the vacuum modulator or all of them at once.)

I hope someone can help pin point what needs to be done to my car to get rid of the check engine light, code 71. I'm thinking I might need to buy a new EGR gas temperature sensor, but I want to be sure if that's what I really need because ordering those parts are all fairly expensive separately and certainly when bought together.

Sorry for the long winded story but I could really use some help here. I tried my best as far as cleaning goes but it did not solve the problem for me. I think replacement might be the next step.

Please let me know what my next course of action should be at this point.

 

It appears the mechanic must have cleared the code but not fixed the problem.

Does the engine run hot during normal operation?

See Private Message.