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1997 Corolla Stalling At Idle

by GPS, June 7, 2010 in Pre-1997 Toyota Corolla and Geo Prizm



A few weeks ago I had an exhaust hanger break off the pipe, the hanger near the exhaust flex hose. Patched the hole and drove it like that for a few weeks, the exhaust was hanging a bit low due to no hanger. Started to have trouble with the car stalling when coming to a stop, giving it a bit of gas would keep it from stalling. Some days it ran fine, other days I had to slip it into neutral when I came to a stop and give it some gas to keep from stalling. Check engine light came on. I thought the wires for one of the O2 sensors may be getting pulled on causing the problem. Had the front exhaust pipe replaced, and the car ran fine for 3 or 4 days. Now it is doing the same thing again. I tried to play around with the O2 sensor wires to see if it would run smooth but couldn't get it to run properly. Any ideas what to check next?Thanks in advance. Glen

Checked the codes, 2 misfire codes and 2 EGR codes. Can the EGR be cleaned on a 97 corolla? 1.6 ltr???

Yes, the EGR can be cleaned on that generation of car. There was some extensive DIY and troubleshooting here on this site - just search back on some past posts. Could be a number of things causing the car to run in that manner. From damaged O2 sensing/heater leads, leaking exhaust pipe, vacuum leak in the EGR, clogged EGR, etc. But since the car is "stalling" especially when coming to a stop, that really seems to point at the EGR being the most likely suspect.

Yes, the EGR can be cleaned on that generation of car. There was some extensive DIY and troubleshooting here on this site - just search back on some past posts. Could be a number of things causing the car to run in that manner. From damaged O2 sensing/heater leads, leaking exhaust pipe, vacuum leak in the EGR, clogged EGR, etc. But since the car is "stalling" especially when coming to a stop, that really seems to point at the EGR being the most likely suspect.

Do you think I should try a can of Seafoam to clean out any carbon buildup? It does burn quite a bit of oil, no smoke and no leaks, only 150,000 km. So the EGR needs to be removed to be cleaned? thanks for the info, I have read quite a few old posts on here to try and figure this out. Picked up a service manual at the library yesterday too. i don't have a vacuum gauge though to test things out. Thanks Fish, I see that you post a lot on here, very helpful of you.

Seafoam would help out with the carbon buildup in the combustion chambers, top of pistons, etc. Doubt it will get to the EGR, might even plug things up more - as the Seafoam process tends to send an incredible amount of "gunk" out the exhaust.

EGR doesn't necessarily need to be removed - there is a tube that leads to the EGR that tends to get clogged up with carbon. This happens all the time with my Camry, just got to the point where it was more cost effective (time and effort wise) to just replace the EGR valve. Possible in your case, since it just started to happen, that a simple cleaning will "fix" it. Don't forget to check out all the vacuum lines and the modulator on top - should be illustrated in the service manual you picked up. Good Luck.

Well, last night after work I checked the filter in the modulator, good, checked the vac hoses, all good and clean. So, after talking to a mechanic; I started the car, was running very rough, barely keeping from stalling, and I tapped on the top of the EGR with a hammer to unstick the valve(?), it started running perfectly then, of course when I took it for a drive the valve stuck again and it started stalling again at idle. So he suggested I leave the hose from the modulator to the EGR disconnected and plug it with a screw for now, until I get the parts I need (whatever they are?). Driving to work this morning it was working great for a while, then started doing the same thing. The valve must have stuck open again? So with this hose disconnected I can feel exhaust coming out through the metal tube from the EGR, makes a bit of a ticking sound, I assume this is like an exhaust leak with that hose disconnected? Am I going to hurt anything driving it like this for a few days? And one other thing, he said to use a screw to plug the hose, but do you think he meant to plug it so the hose coming off the bottom of the modulator was plugged and the tube from the EGR is open to the atmosphere, or should I disconnect the hose from the bottom of the modulator and plug it so the hose from the EGR is plugged and the opening on the bottom of the modulator is open to the atmosphere. I am trying to wrap my head around how this whole thing works. Thanks

Mechanic is basically have you bypass EGR operation by plugging the vacuum line running to the EGR modulator. You can cap both ends of the tube, if you like, only need to cap the vacuum side. To find out - just put you finger over the tube as the car is running, if you feel a vacuum - that is the one to plug.

The hose from the EGR itself feeds a chamber under the modulator that uses exhaust pressure to control the EGR ratio. More exhaust pressure = higher engine load = higher the EGR ratio. Leaving that unplugged shouldn't hurt too much, temporarily.

Here is a link to an operational overview of the EGR system - might give you some ideas (PDF format) - http://www.autoshop101.com/forms/h61.pdf

Thanks again there Fish



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