Can anyone recommend a place to service my first-gen. Insight on Long Island? I'm hoping for farther East. And I'm worried it might be an EGR valve cleaning and/or replacement. Thanks.
A shop isn't going to be able to diagnose EGR related problems properly - unless you have an EGR related check engine light, which is rare(while EGR problems are not).
Replacing the EGR valve is like replacing your air filter. It should take about 5 minutes and only requires one wrench. Very easy even for someone who has never turned a wrench in their lives.
I understand if you don't have the desire to do it yourself, but when you take an Insight to a shop, you tell them what you want done. Otherwise you're in for a wallet raping.
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Insight #1 - Silver '01 5MT @ 158,388 as of 7/11 - Best Tank: 84.5MPG over 807mi
Insight #2 - Silver '01 5MT @ 450,000 as of 1/12 - Best Tank: 86.0MPG over 800mi
Insight #3 - Silver '00 5MT, MIMA #163P, BCM Gauge, OBDIIC&C Gauge, BetterBattery @ 228,869 as of 1/12 - Best Tank: 78.4mpg over 687mi
Can anyone recommend a place to service my first-gen. Insight on Long Island? I'm hoping for farther East. And I'm worried it might be an EGR valve cleaning and/or replacement. Thanks.
I can recommend places by us, but not in LI. If you want to make the trip, I know a very good mechanic here that has done it before.
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2000 MT #4227 175K miles - Citrus Yellow, BetterBattery
You would be silly to go anywhere to have the EGR diagnosed - the reason is that the diagnosis would cost between $45-75 alone (the cost of the new part), whether it is OK or not. If you have a concern then simply by a new one if you don't want to clean the old one, and clean off your EGR plate. A dealer or indi will not clean the EGR plate unless you specifically ask them to.
Unless of course they're familiar with the Insight. I would go with whatever HBR recommends, as he's in the know in that area.
But yes, I echo Leeper's sentiment (although the EGR valve is ~175, not 75).
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Insight #1 - Silver '01 5MT @ 158,388 as of 7/11 - Best Tank: 84.5MPG over 807mi
Insight #2 - Silver '01 5MT @ 450,000 as of 1/12 - Best Tank: 86.0MPG over 800mi
Insight #3 - Silver '00 5MT, MIMA #163P, BCM Gauge, OBDIIC&C Gauge, BetterBattery @ 228,869 as of 1/12 - Best Tank: 78.4mpg over 687mi
Unless of course they're familiar with the Insight. I would go with whatever HBR recommends, as he's in the know in that area.
But yes, I echo Leeper's sentiment (although the EGR valve is ~175, not 75).
I meant that he has experience cleaning the plate. Changing the EGR is nothing to do, but it probably won't be the cause of the problem. Cleaning the plate isn't hard either, but it is a more advanced repair, and being able to skip the steps of explaining to the mechanic what needs to be done is a big help.
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2000 MT #4227 175K miles - Citrus Yellow, BetterBattery
Thank everyone for the advice. I cleaned the EGR with carb cleaner by removing it, soaking it, etc. as many have advised. It cleared up the herky-jerky. But then, 300 miles or so later, it was back. I cleaned it again, and it didn't seem to make any difference. So it seems my choices are:
a. replace the egr valve, which seems to have helped others
b. try to clean the egr plate, which might be tricky given my limited tools, but has also helped others
c. take it to HBR's guy for help.
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Long Island service
