Service engine soon light
 

My service engine soon light keeps coming on in my '87 TBI 350. The code that it gives is either 23 or 32. Any way its the code for the emmissions EGR valve. I've checked the valve and its not sticking or anything. When I had the intake gaskets replaced, the guy that did it said he "cleaned" the EGR valve with solvent. Could this have damaged it? What do you all think the problem might be??

One more thing. I don't know if this would be related to emissions or not. When I set the cruise and run down the highway, it feels like the cruise cuts out. It did it 3 times yesterday over about 25 miles. Its not the transmission shifting, its like the cruise shuts off and then re-engages. What would that be?

I have read never use solvent to dissolve deposits on EGR valves unless you are extremely careful not to get any on the diaphragm. I wonder if any debris(carbon) got around the pintle and valve during cleaning. I had a code 32 on my '89 when I first got it. The engine light would come on driving down the highway when I got up to about 40 or 45mph. Cured it by replacing the EGR valve, but that was the only code it was setting. I removed the EGR valve and sucked on the hose(no vacuum gun - yuck!) and the diaphragm didn't move. I bought a new valve at Autozone and decided to check it's diaphragm, just in case. Good thing I did, it was brand new defective. Learned that the hard way yrs. ago when I bought a fuel pump and "assumed" new parts are good. Anyway, went to the dealer and bought a new valve, albeit more expensive, but it fixed that particular problem.

So would you recommend not buying the EGR valve at Autozone?? I was either going to go there or to NAPA. I checked at the Chevy dealership where my wife works; with her being an employee we're supposed to get parts and labor "at cost"(HaHa). The dealership was $40 higher than AutoZone or Napa.

I'd heard the same thing about not using solvent to clean the EGR too. It kinda ticked me off when the guy said he did it. Then when it quit working, I told him and thought he might offer to make it right since it was OK before the "cleaning" but no such luck!!

Every parts store probably gets bad parts from time to time. I have bought many of my parts from Autozone since that time, and I would buy one there now. I went to the dealer that time cause I quess I was in a hurry to get it fixed. I had just bought the suburban and didn't know much about EGR, so the bad part kind'of spooked me into going to the dealer. I recently just started using NAPA and like the one in Denton. I have heard good things about them from these message boards. But I normally also try to avoid paying dealer prices as much as possible. But it might be a good idea to check the new one before you put it on, wherever it comes from.

How old are the various hoses under your hood? Both the EGR and the cruise control use vacuum to operate. You may have some vacuum leaks giving you trouble. It's worth checking out, at any rate...

Good luck!


Kevin