Fix Your Egr Pipe In Just 2 Hours.

[clacey]

I've seen alot of posts regarding broken EGR pipes so I thought I'd just make a seperat post. I was able to remove mine, braze it and reinstall it in under 3 hrs total. Alot of that time was some thinking, a trip to home depot for a small oxygen tank, brazing and testing for leaks.

Here is how you do it:

Take a 12mm open/closed faced wrench and tie a 3'-4'string or wire to it. Trust me. Just do it. After you drop the wrench for the 4th time you will know why. You will have to do this blindly. with your hand follow the EGR pipe down until you feel the bracket that connects it to the engine. There is one screw. there is VERY little room and you'll have to reall squeeze to get there. now you know where it is. Now take the wrench to it. put the closed end of the wrench over the bolt and carefully remove your hand leaving the wrench over the bolt. You'll neeed some leverage to break it loose initially. I used another wrench to put the open end of one into the closed end of the other to get more leverage. once you break it loose it's just patience. This bolt alone will run about 30-45 minutes. Once it is off, disconnect the two ends and pull it out the top of the engine.

Once out, I cleaned and preped the TWO LARGE cracks for welding/brazing. I had bought a small Mapp gas and Oxygen set from Home Depot for about $50.00 some months ago and now it was time to get my money's worth from it. If you don't have one of these things, they are very cool and inexpensive. They get VERY HOT You can actually weld with them. I used a Flux coated Bronze rod and brazed the cracks. I put it into water closed off one end with my hand and blew into it to check for leaks. There were none so I reinstalled. I would NOT recommend using JB Weld. It is great for hi-temp but not for vibration.

The only issue is that I have been unable to reconnect the center bolt. I thought that might happen. I'll try again later but I really don't think it is that big of a deal. I have also heard that you can reach the bolt from the bottom of the car as well.

Now that I have done it, it would probibly only take about an hour to do.

How did it work, you might ask. G R E A T! My car is back to sounding like a Lexus rather than a 1973 Ford LTD.

It feels good to finally make a worth while contribution to this great site.

Enjoy,

CL

[JPI]

I'm glad you fix it .

JPI

[tansupplyman]

Clacey--good post; will now try on mine[before I order the new pipe]; it is tight I know.

Did get a price, for info, on this stuff[below]; may stop at the Lexus dealer and get new gaskets for each end.

But may be a while before I do it--will advise here what happens,whenever.

tks again

RICHARD

HERE ARE THE PRICE QUOTES YOU HAVE REQUESTED FOR YOUR 1993 LS400...

EGR PIPE 25601-50010---$116.14

EGR PIPE GASKET 25634-50010---$0.74

EGR PIPE GASKET 25628-50010---$3.37

SHIPPING DETERMINED BY DOLLAR AMOUNT ORDERED. PLEASE SEE SHIPPING

CHART ON ORDER PAGE.

TO ORDER, PLEASE GO TO OUR LEXUS ORDER PAGE www.irontoad.com/l_ord.htm

AND JUST FOLLOW THE PROMPTS TO ORDER.

[99lsguy]

Clacey,

Good job and post. Thanks for the report.

I think JPI mentioned earlier that you could get to the bottom bolt with 1/4" Pivot/flexible ratchet - from underneath.

[wwest]

The EGR tube is stainless steel, at least mine is, and has an "accordian", expansion/contraction, area to relieve the stresses of continuous vibration. You can call me a doubting thomas but I find it hard to believe that brazing the broken joint will stand up for very long.

Just take out the bottom half and use a hammer to flatten and then bend it over so its completely blocked and reinstall.

[clacey]

I believe that you are correct and I think that you could but it seemed to work a little better for me to go at it from the top. I might try to re-install the center bolt from the bottom as JPI mentioned. I'll let everyone know if it works better.

CL

[jzz30]

how thick is the pipe?

[clacey]

My EGR (92 year mod) is not stainless. It's regular steel. It took the weld with no problems.

Pipe Wall Thickness: I'd say that the pipes wall thickness is about 1/16" it thins to about 1/32" in the bendable area which is, of course, where they break.

CL

[jzz30]

hmmm.... bit hard to weld for me then its kind of thin.... well i will give it a try when i get around to it

[clacey]

Yeah, it's not very thick there. That's why I used a small torch and brazed it. Of course, both of my cracks were located in the recesses of the "accordian" area, which makes it a little more challenging. Even with the torch, I did blow a small hole in it but I was able to fill it in. Just be careful with the heat. I don't think that I would weld it with a regular welding machine. It would probably blow a hole in it. Unless you are better at welding than I, which isn't saying much.

My logic to braze it rather than replace it was this:

I suspect that they crack due to the fact that they stay under constant stress and tension when bent into place and bolted along with vibration. when they finally crack, the stress and tension is relieved. By brazing it, it stays in the relaxed state and you just fill in the holes. Less likely to break again because it has already relieved the stress. With a new one, you would bend it which would add tension and it will crack again with some time.

Any input or comments regarding this logic? Does it seem solid?

I guess if the braze doesn't hold, I can just replace it. It wont be the end of the world.

CL

[JPI]

I never try to do this on the top. But if you have a lift, It would be great to do it from the bottom.

www.jpimportz.org

[clacey]

Yeah. I don't have a lift so I had no manuverability from the bottom. If you could get it off the ground, I suspect it would be easier to come from below. Coming from the top isn't fun but it is possible.

CL

[99lsguy]

Clacey,

What about the front wheels up on ramps and using the "creeper". Would that be possible?

99

[chips229]

ive spoken to a lexus fitter about this pipe and hes told me it very very important to put the 10mm bolt back in or the job would need doing again soon.

[SCoupe]

Here's a question for those in the know: Is there an easy way to close off the egr that is reversible for the smog check/inspection? In CA, they will check for a funtioning erg. This would need to be reversible for that event.

[seattle_usa]

I found out my EGR pipe is broken at the end near by top of engine, but don't find a way to take it off the car even though I am able to work underneath the car. I can loose two 12mm bolts at the top of engine but don't see other end of EGR pipe from bottom. Could someone provide the info?

thanks,

[seattle_usa]

I find out my EGR pipe is broken at the end near by top of engine. I'm able to remove four 2 nuts and 2 bolts from the two ends. but won't be able to remove middle one 10mm or 12mm. I guess i have not removed exhuast pipe and sensors to make me able to reach middle one. will try it later. what a tough job that is why they charge more than 5 hours.

lexus diagram does not show a bracket located in middle of the pipe.

thanks,

edited description.

[paulsuerth]

seattle_usa,

could you tell me where near the top you see the bolts? i can get to the bottom ones (1997) from underneathe (floorjack and stands) without removing the cats. i just can't seem to locate by sight or feel the contact point near the top? btw, i'm in knoxville TN in case anybody knows of someone to help...

[seattle_usa]

seattle_usa,

could you tell me where near the top you see the bolts? i can get to the bottom ones (1997) from underneathe (floorjack and stands) without removing the cats. i just can't seem to locate by sight or feel the contact point near the top? btw, i'm in knoxville TN in case anybody knows of someone to help...

Hi, it is right at the middle of back of engine header and near by heat hose and heat valve. there are two bolts (no other bolts neary by) and the pipe is aobut 16mm and is bent 90 degree and point down. The difficult part is to remove the middle 12mm bolt ... email me at seattle_usa@hotmail.com so we can discuss more... Thanks!

[fsuguy]

Just my 2 cents here - after reading a lot about the cracked EGR pipe and other related posts, it appears that the culprit is worn motor/transmission mounts. Once the mounts are worn, the engine movement stresses the EGR pipe, causing it to break in places. Replacing the mounts on these cars works wonders for the ride/vibration as well as for the longevity of the EGR. :D

HTH

fsuguy :D

[z_johnq]

HI,

I know this is not a new subject. But I still have the same problems with my 95 LS400. I remember someone talking about "lower rear engine support" to get access to the upper bolts of the pipe. I'd like to try but not sure how. Can I have some input from you guys who know. I tried from underneath of the car by taking off the converter and so on; I don't want to do it from the top of the engine by taking off the intake manifold, unless I have to.

As I took off the converter, I had to use oxy/acetylene torch to heat up and remove the bolts since impact wrench had no luck. It did not look quite rusty but just wouldn't come off.

Thanks in advance.

[jpram]

is it possible to remove the tower two bolt on the  erg without removing the catalytic convertor?  if so how?

[Yordan Stefanov]

On 10/14/2018 at 6:28 AM, jpram said:

is it possible to remove the tower two bolt on the  erg without removing the catalytic convertor?  if so how?

I realize you asked over two years ago, but for what it's worth... I managed to remove the two lower EGR pipe nuts with only WD40 and a 12mm ratchet wrench.

Also, I confirm that it is possible to remove the EGR pipe and put it (or a new one) back in without disassembling anything, as clasey explains in post 1. As long as your hands are not too large, that is. There is a lot of cursing involved.