EGR Valve Issue
 

I searched and could not find an article or how-to...actually "egr" came up with no results whatsoever. Which is odd...so if anyone can link me that would be awesome. Otherwise:

When I got my Blazer (1995 4x4 LT) the EGR valve was dead. Upon removing it, I found that it was actually stuck open. It was held open with little balls of carbon that had somehow found their way into the plunger. Being I had a new one handy, I put it on anyway. Three days later, it was running the same way. I removed the valve, knocked the carbon deposits out, and then revved the engine without the valve on. A lot of nasty stuff flew out. I was satisfied. Put it back on. All was well for a few months. I then used seafoam in my truck. The EGR is acting the same way. I know when I take it off here in a minute it will have those same little balls holding it open making it run erratically under 1500 rpm. My question is, is there some "standard" way to fix this issue? Should it happen again being I won't be using seafoam again for quite a while? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Seafoam did not cause the problem. The carbon in the EGR supply pipe did. Seafoam helped knock some of it loose. I have used a pipe cleaner in the EGR supply pipe to knock the carbon loose. I used a few different lengths of pipe cleaner. The longest one was a brass one at about 4' total length including the handle. The actual cleaner part of it was only about 6" long. Places like Grainger & McMaster Carr sell them.

if your incredibly lazy (me!) you can always get a set of pipe brushes from harbor freight for like $2. Nip the loop off the end of your favorite, drop it in the handy dandy dremel, and BLAM instant polish :p

Also when you put the ERG valve back on, use a screened gasket to prevent some of the chunkier bits from passing through. Also tape some tubing to a hand vac and clean up the crud you knocked loose before reinstalling.... I doubt any of that REALLY helps, but it makes you feel beter, and every one knows placebo is the best meds :D

Haha....thanks. I found a huge lump of...crap in there. All is well again. For now.