Tuesday, February 7, 2023

CT200h - Intake, EGR valve and cooler assembly PCV swap & Lessons learned.

Nothing out of the ordinary here, this has been well documented. I didn't however need to take the plastic cowling, wipers and tray off. I was able to get to everything without doing so.  






Lesson learned:

So, this was interestingly annoying! I got the new egr valve with part number 25520-37120 which replaces the part number 25520-37110 that was currently on my car. Well, after swapping everything the car started but the 'Check Hybrid System' warning came on and I couldn't put it into gear and it wouldn't move. I reset the 12V battery and the hybrid battery with no change. On further research I found out that there was a TSB issued, L-SB-0015-16 in regards to the EGR Valve for 2011-2012. The TSB would update the ECU to accept the new EGR part. Considering that my CT has been serviced completely at Lexus till about 2020 I figured it would already be done. Anyway, dismantled my old EGR valve, cleaned it out, pulled the whole assembly out replaced the EGR valve from the assembly with the clean EGR cooler and reinstalled it. Plugged the batteries back up and all is well. 

Also, I didn't fill the coolant back up to 'Full'. Lost some coolant when I pulled out some of the coolant lines connected to the EGR cooler and throttle body. Instead of burping the system I usually just drive it for a bit till it reaches operating temperature and then park it and then next day fill coolant. The 'Check Hybrid System' message came up after about 5 minutes of driving but the car was still drivable so I attributed that to the coolant being low. Filled up the coolant the next day, reset the batteries again drove it around and no more light or issues. All's well that ends well. 



-AJ Abraham


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CT200h - Catch Can Install

 Was swapping out the EGR valve, cooler, intake and PCV valve so was the best time to install a catch can. To prep for this I had already 3D printed out a catch can holder that I found on thingverse, huge thanks to everyone who takes the time to share their work. I'll probably get one printed in carbon fiber later. 

After I found a good placement for it I drilled a hole, touched up the exposed paint with primer and then used a nutsert in the hole to hold the catch can holder. 




I cut the factory U piping from the PCV to the intake and used 3/8 barb fittings to splice into some 3/8" ID fuel hoses.  


The following pictures is just to denote how I routed the hoses  





During the actual install, I found out the front plastic engine cover didn't fit. I ended up trimming it to fit. 



All back together. Happy with how it turned out, will check on it to see how well it actually works over time. 

Tuesday, January 10, 2023

CT200h - EGR & Intake cleaning

When I purchased the CT the carfax reported a history of the head gasket being done 18k mile ago. Although a head gasket was done, there was no history of the EGR valve, cooler or intake being changed out or cleaned. Being serviced at Lexus I was pretty sure no cleaning of these said parts would occur so as preventative maintenance wanted to address all the GR components including the intake manifold. 

I am not not a huge fan of rushing things and knowing how picky I am I chose to just get a used EGR valve, cooler, piping and intake manifold etc. Obviously buying used with current prices online and then working on it seemed non beneficial to me and so was planning on just buying new EGR cooler and clean the valve, and intake manifold when I took it out. I had gone to the local pick your parts but all the Priuses already had the engine removed. Last week they had one listed and the listing was only 2 days old. Rushed to the junk yard after work and luckily everything was still there. Pulled off the EGR valve, cooler, piping, intake manifold, injectors etc. 

There are a bunch of how-tos on removal, cleaning and installation of said components so I don't feel like I need to reiterate it here. Also thank you to the everyone that do videos and guides etc. to make things easier for us. Some things I did do differently though so just wanted to point some things out.


I left the valve connected tot he cooler and blocked off all the open ports and filled it with carburetor cleaner. You can use aluminum tape for this, vinyl tape and paper will not work. I let it soak for a day or so and then started cleaning. 


I bought a brush kit that came in super handy. Wearing a  mask and eye protection I used the brush bits on a drill to clean up the parts. Used a brass brush bit for the intake manifold wherever it would fit, the kit that I got came with a couple of different bit sizes and had one thin enough to fit in the EGR recirculating ports. Did this with the intake manifold dry. Noticed that if it is wet with whatever cleaner the brass brushed clog up. When it is dry it just dissipates the carbon deposits as dust, hence the face mask. 

The intake manifold, cooler, piping, valves etc. were all nasty and definitely clogged up. This was what came out of the initial rinse from just the intake manifold.


With the brush bits I cleaned up all the piping etc. 



For the EGR cooler, leaving it soaked in carberator cleaner I think definitely helped. Used a thin welding road and noticed that it would go through fairly easily from one end to the other so then I used a pressure washer to clean it out. With light coming through from the other side I was very happy with how this turned out. 



As for the EGR valve I ended up disassembling it to clean it out.


Used lithium grease on the shaft under the magnet after cleanup as well.




With everything clean it is ready to get put on once I'm ready with everything else.

-AJ Abraham


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