Hopefully someone sees this. I recently bough a 1997 Lexus ES300 with 144k miles on it. Its been driving well but sometimes it struggles to start. It did have a stored EGR code on it (the shop told me I forgot what it was) and I cleaned the Idle control valve (quick clean by taking air box off) and gave it a seafoam treatment. Everything looks extremely clean but sometimes randomly it struggles to start for no reason then it just goes away. I have not checked anything on the EGR Valve but wondering if anyone else can give some advice.

 

Hello,

An EGR issue can very well result in symptoms you described, it will be quite hard to look for another cause before this one is sorted. Simply spraying Seafoam in the engine will not clean the intake, it's only designed to clean the combustion chamber for the most part, to actually get a result, you will need to take part of the intake apart and physically clean it out. EGR is especially vulnerable, as it is in direct contact with exhaust gasses and temperature fluctuations, if it wasn't serviced for a while, chances are it's completely clogged and is in need of proper maintenance.

With that, even the deepest of cleanings won't resurrect a dead actuator or a torn membrane, so you have to find out what code specifically is stored in the system, otherwise a lot of work may go to waste cleaning the valve that is fried.

Hope this helps and best of luck!