RHZ EGR removal/replacement problems

[c.morewood]

My Silver 110 estate 306K has had a hole in the EGR valve and been dripping oil down the back of the engine for about a year. I tried to clean things up in the summer and free up the valve but may only have made things worse as there is now a distinct (oil) burning smell from the exhaust and if manouvering slowly in a car park or slow traffic the Engine K light will come on. It'll clear again after a run. Its got so bad that the cars behind now hang back noticeably.
I'm pretty sure its not rings as the mpg is still very good, it might be oil leaking past the turbo seals. but I can't throw any more money at it until I can get the EGR off and blocked or replaced.
I've had the car up on the lift and my mechanic has attempted to remove the EGR, but one of the bolt heads is rounded and with very little access, with the engine dropped slightly and off the mounts. we're in a dilemma what to try next.
Not enough room for a grinder to grind the top off the bolt. not enough room for a welder to weld another nut on top of the bolt head and heat shock the bolt free.
Any suggestions please?
If the bolt breaks off, I guess that'll be an engine out job which I can't really manage in my garage.

[RichardW]

Is there enough room to get a socket on it? In which case you might be able to use one of these:



Bolt grip set

You might need the extension set, depending on the bolt head size. I bought a set to try and get the torx bolts out of the rear calipers on my 307 - I was between 2 sizes unfortunately, but they made short work of undoing the stubs after I had cut the heads off!

[c.morewood]

Unfortunately no Richard. Only enough room for a spanner. I thought someone might have come across this problem before and have the answer.
Do they make ring spanners with that shape of grip?

[Bob L'eponge]

Grip-Tite spanners would probably do the job.

https://www.mscdirect.co.uk/GRP-10008L/ ... oduct.html

[CitroJim]

Bob, that's an interesting product I never knew existed! Thanks for bringing it to attention

Chris, maybe one Bob's spanners and some heat applied from something like this may do the trick..

Mapp Gas Kit

I have one of these little sets and it can get very highly concentrated heat where it's needed very precisely... They are readily available from lots of places... That link was just the first I found by way of illustration.

I find a bit of heat can work wonders... The old 'hot spanner'

Made doing my rear calipers a breeze...

[Gibbo2286]

I'm a bit unclear about your "hole in the EGR and dripping down the back of the engine." there is no oil in the EGR just exhaust gas passing through for a second burn, oil dripping down the back must be from somewhere else.

[c.morewood]

I'm puzzled as well but its definatelty coming from there... May not be engine oil but a sticky tarry oily substance.

[Hell Razor5543]

I would consider firing some EGR Valve cleaner through it first. I did that on my C5, and it helped a little bit (mind you, having somebody else with better knowledge finding a split in the rubber pipe between the EGR and something else helped a lot more, when it was removed (the split, that is)).

[c.morewood]

Monsieur L'Eponge,
That looks like exactly what my mechanic has been looking for. I'll take it along to him tomorrow.
Many thanks.
Unfortunately the EGR is split it no longer moves up and down with the vaccum as the bellows have a hole in them so no amount of EGR cleaner will work.. only replacement or removal those are the only two options. oh and maybe replacing the engine as a last resort

[c.morewood]

Unfortunately, whilst there's enough space for an ordinary ring spanner the ones above are too thick on the ring. Stumped again. Now if someone made a ring spanner with the spiral groves of the sockets above, that might work.

[CitroJim]

I think a special is needed here Chris..

How badly is the old one mangled? I thinking if a smaller socket could be got onto it - say as a 3/8" will often fit onto a badly mangled 10mm - it might be possible to make up a 'special' by using an undersize socket - or even maybe a star drive (reverse Torx) socket) - welded to a handle and ground down and cut to fit the available space.

That and a bit of heat from a Mapp kit my just do the trick...

[c.morewood]

Sorry Jim, you cant get a socket onto it..there's no room. You can on the other side, but there just no access this side. So it seems once again, I've found something that no one has come across. Of I could only get a small grinder to grind off the bolt head..but a dremmel is the only grinder that would fit!

[CitroJim]

Chris, that's a devil Might it be possible to unhang the mounts and tilt the engine forward to give some more access?

I did this very successfully to replace the exhaust manifold gasket on an Activa TCT engine... The amount of tilt I got gave quite good access down the back...

[c.morewood]

This is what's being done at the moment Jim. That's the only way to aces the EGR at all. But it gives no room for anything more that fingers really. I would really like to just grind the sodding thing off and put a blank in its place.. but theres no room .. looks like it'll be an engine out .. or mostly out for a simple little bolt!!

[myglaren]

Would these or something similar be able to shift it - perhaps file a couple of flats on it if there is access for a file?
James Hellrazer reports a fair amount of success using them (not necessarily this make).