"Holy Blank," I said, but finally the EGR blank is in!

[Mbryant]

This story is kinda long and not very informative (except to demonstrate how I am not a mechanic) So if it is in the wrong place I apologize.

Today was the start of four days off for me so I decided that I would tackle installing the EGR blanking plate. I was a little apprehensive as I have never done anything this mechanical. Armed with wrenches, sockets, and this guide ( http://www.delica.ca/forum/how-to-fit-a ... e-304.html ) I removed the drivers seat and pipes.

Just as I had the seat off my neighbor's boyfriend who is a mechanic came over and said, "Alright what did you break?" I thought to myself how do I explain to him that I was installing a piece of metal for a reason I was not entirely sure of, recommended by someone with a very strange name on the internet? But I threw caution to the wind and said with more confidence than I felt, "I am installing a EGR blankiing plate!" "Oh cool" he responded, "make sure you block off the vacuum hose with a machine screw." Hmm I thought to myself well at least that is a good sign. He then wished me luck and drove off.

Without much hardship I finally got to the EGR valve, removed the two bolts and slid in the blanking plate. So far so good but then I could not for the life of me get the bolts to go back into the holes, I fiddled and fiddled and muttered, "blank blank blank, stupid blank."

Taking a deep breath I decided to relax and try a different tact as something was obviously not right. After removing the bolts the blank fell down into the depths of the engine compartment and I thought, "Oh what have I done?" So I rolled under the van and shoved my hands up into the engine to find the missing part. After about 5 minutes of groping I finally found it.

I slid the plate back into place and started fiddling again but still no catch for the bolts. I pulled out the bolts and immediately dropped the plate back beside the engine. "Argh there is a reason I am not a mechanic," I grumbled to myself. This time after five minutes I could not find the plate at all. I got a flashlight to see inside but I still could see nothing.

At that time my son came out and took one look at me and my grease covered arms and head and said "Dad you look minging!" He lived for a time in England so this is his British term for gross. He then looked at the engine and said, "remember that time I thought it would be a good idea to take my toy AT-AT apart, and how it never got back together? Lets hope this doesn't happen here!"

I thanked him for his support and then decided that I would need to take off the rest of the engine cover to really look down inside. I had read this post ( http://www.delica.ca/forum/drivers-side ... -2125.html ) and I was pretty sure I remembered the pictures. Turns out I did, it came off with out a hitch and I could see the plate which I quickly recovered.

Back to square one, how to fit the plate in and get the bolts to line up. With the engine cover off I could see that when the blanking plate was installed it made the connecting pipe sit at a slight angle so the bolts would not go into the holes straight.

My brain wave was to push the valve down to that it would line up, but I could not get it to line up and all I did was dent the EGR valve. At this point I was considering giving up but I didn't know if a slightly crushed valve would work or not so I decided to consider other options.

During this time of fiddling and trying different approaches I managed to lose the blanking plate 2 more times down beside the engine. I was getting very frustrated and considered taking my big hammer that I was using to lever the valve down and giving myself a few good taps on the noggin.

"OK" I thought, "I need to try a different approach!" Then I noticed that the valve had bolts underneath it. I tried those and they loosened off quite easily. So now I had the entire EGR valve removed which was interesting. It looked like it was gunked shut which I thought was rather ironic, but oh well I was committed. Or perhaps I needed to be committed.

I then got the bright idea to place a rag under the valve so that if I dropped anything more it would catch it. Glad to see 4 years of post secondary education wasn't wasted on me. Anyhow finally after 6 hours of wrestling and covering myself with grease and grime I finally got the piece in. When I got everything back together and the engine started I lifted both arms over my head in a victory salute.

I will take two things away from this experience one is the grease under my fingernails and the other is the confidence to grab a wrench and see what can be done.

I want to thank all the people who posted responses to my queries regarding why install a EGR plate http://www.delica.ca/forum/why-should-o ... -8546.html and to Mystery Machine and FalcoColumbarius for taking time to take pictures and put nice circles and arrows on them.

Cheers

[deli1733]

we did the almost exact same thing today except i removed the whole thing... kinda funny.