I just replaced the EGR valve in my 99 Suburban (K1500 - 5.7L) ? again. I am wondering if there is something else that I should look at. I would imagine that the new valve could fail as well (because there may be some other problem)
I was getting a P0404 code about 6 months ago (I have a code reader). The car had typical EGR issues (rough idle, surging ?) I removed the old factory original EGR valve and cleaned the mounting area up (it was not particularly dirty) and replaced the EGR valve and gasket with a unit from Pep Boys. The brand was BWD I believe. The truck immediately ran fine and the check engine light stayed out for the last six months. The 99 Suburban uses one of those linear/electronic EGR valves, and they are expensive (~$120 or more depending on which part you buy).
A few days ago the truck turns on the check engine light again. It's that good old P0404 code (EGR Performance). Indeed the truck is again exhibiting EGR like issues (surging, particularly at lower RPMs). The idle was not rough, but the truck was surging just like when the other valve was bad.
I bite the bullet and buy a new EGR valve (since it did seem like the EGR was bad). I removed the 6 month old EGR valve and cleaned the mounting area up (it was still clean) and replaced the EGR valve and gasket with an identical unit from Pep Boys. The truck immediately runs fine again. I don't know whether the check engine light will stay out ? but the truck does run perfectly fine again.
I will search for my receipt for the old valve since I believe it is still under warranty. However, I wonder if there could be something else that could be causing the EGR valves to fail. Any thoughts, cause this could be expensive if I have to put in a new EGR every 6 months.
Thanks, Dan