Hello! I'm new to the car scene and I decided to get a 1995 SC300 to work on. It needed to have the exhaust manifold replaced and EGR System cleaned, I was wondering if someone could give me tips on how to do these? I have tools but not much experience working on cars. Would be very much appreciated please :-)

 

Hello reexist,

I have gone through this ordeal before with my Cali SC300. It is a process of elimination to successfully clean the EGR system. I don't remember the exact page I covered this on but I wrote about my saga with 2JZ-GE EGR cleaning extensively (with notes and pictures) here:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/per...ly-solved.html

The most troublesome issue is not the cleaning of the EGR valve itself but the cleaning of the Y-shaped section of the intake manifold which has a cross-through internal EGR pipe at the last leg of the gas stream. This internal section can over a couple of decades become very clogged (your mileage may vary though) and it also needs to be cleaned out of carbon buildup. The trouble is that while there is a freeze plug to access the final route of this internal EGR pipe (inside the Y-manifold) Toyota does not list it as a replacement part, nor do they have a TSRM procedure for cleaning it.

However it can be cleaned and the freeze plug can be replaced with a part from (probably) Dorman. It needs to be a steel freeze plug. I left measurements for replacement in that thread link above but I never went through with the cleaning. I ended up finding a brand new manifold from Toyota to replace my old one with. I am not sure those are still available in national inventory though. Once I replaced my manifold (or had I managed to clean out the old one fully and replace the freeze plug) I passed smog. Although at the time I also did need a new #1 cat.

Everything I tried to clean and replace in order to get my EGR system functioning for more than 100 miles with no Code 71 came down to cleaning that Y-manifold or replacing it precisely because the EGR tract was still clogged up in there. The saving grace for us is that Toyota engineers actually put a removable freeze plug in this critical location even if there is no replacement plug or factory cleaning procedure listed for it.

With any luck you may not need to bother with this in order to pass but I mention all of this to make you aware that it is a possible culprit as you go about diagnosing your issue. My thread shows a lot of detail on how to service the entire EGR system though. You should also get a copy of the SC300/400 TSRM too just to have handy.

Good luck and don't be afraid to learn how to get through this. Just do everything methodically and by the book as the TSRM dictates. Cleaning the 2JZ-GE EGR system isn't rocket science by any means. It's just tedious work unfortunately