EGR check engine light

Hello . Been told my EGR valve is ok on my 96 accord . But I may have carbon build up in my suction side . I used deep creep for week to loosen up the build up . What else can I do ? Thanks for any help .

What is the error code that is coming along with the check engine light? I mean the specific code as in “P1234”

P-0401

View the EGR as the whole system. There is the valve itself, the vacuum solenoid that allows vacuum to operate the valve, and the pressure sensor that tells the PCM what is happening if it commands the valve open. In addition there is the vacuum line to the solenoid and the solenoid’s wiring. Any or all of these things can have a problem and trigger that code.

The quickest way to find out if the valve itself is operational and allowing flow through it is to manually apply vacuum with the car at idle. If you don’t have a vacuum pump you can actually just do it with a piece of vacuum hose and your mouth (don’t inhale!) or anything else that will pull air. Put some vacuum on it and the car should suddenly run very rough or stall. This would tell you pretty quickly that the issue probably isn’t with the valve or either of its ports (from exhaust or to intake). If you apply vacuum to the port and it doesn’t do much to how the car is running then you need to pull the valve and clean everything out manually. Various cleaners help but for carbon buildup picking and scraping is better. Here’s a video that may help: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq2f4xrqbOU - not the easiest thing to do.

If the valve does actuate when you apply vacuum then check the vacuum supply line. Put some vacuum on it and find out if it holds. If it does, you can do a simple check of the solenoid by briefly hitting it with 12V and it should actuate the valve and stall the car. If so then the solenoid is good. If the valve, vacuum line, and solenoid check out then you need to figure out how to check the sensor. I don’t know or have details for a '96 Accord so I don’t know what the sensor is like or how it it operates. Someone else might or you could get details from a decent repair manual.

Nice . I was thinking I was going to have to tear it apart . Thanks for the advice !

Wow took the fuel rail off and the plate , completely plugged ! Very cool thanks for the advice !!!