Vehicle: 1995 S10 Blazer LS, 4.3 V6, 4X4

EGR valve (which I have cleaned/replaced many times over the 12 years I have owned the vehicle) now froze up on me. I noticed why after I saw a mixture of oil and water inside it. It also had the typical white "sludge".

I have only ever viewed dry carbon in the valve, until now. Any clues to what it may be? Anyone else have the same issue?

Thanks.

 

just going out on a limb here but have you checked the oil?

 

Yes, the oil is (and always has been) prestine. No accumulation of water/sludge has ever been found.

I'm wondering if the valve froze up first, then that caused the accumulation of water from not allowing the exhaust gases to flow through it on these cold mornings...? Though it just seems natural that the water was present first, and that is what seized up the EGR valve.

 

Since the EGR valve is really only connected to the intake and the exhaust, the oil & water had to come from one of those. Well, that is unless the valve itself has a crack in it allowing it to come in from outside...

How is the vehicle running? How do the plugs look?

 

Plugs look ok. They have about 9,000 miles on them. I'm gonna replace them anyway to see if it gets rid of the skip. When I replaced the EGR valve the vehicle ran better, but still had a very noticeable skip.