I have a 2004 Pac with 84k. I recently took a trip and started noticing a slight ping with accelerating on Monday afternoon. By Thursday morning it was full blown left muffler on the road sounding. I stopped at a shop and they are telling me that I have a cracked EGR valve. I have never known an EGR to make this bad of an exhaust sound. I was betting it was manifold.

How hard is this to change? I am the 2nd owner, is this still covered under the Chrysler warranty? The shop wants $186 installed.

To make matters worse, my water pump went out at the same time. We are awaiting an answer from my warranty company on if they will also cover the timing belt at the same time since it's internal. This shop refuses to do the water pump without changing the timing belt.

I'm a single mom that is pretty handy around cars and was wondering if the EGR valve is something I might be able to manage with some help.

Thanks!

 

I forgot to note that my CEL was never on with the noise.

 

There is a little "core plug" on the bottom of the EGR. Sometimes they just pop out. It sounds like your manifold is busted I know...it's loud. They are kind of a pain to get to from the top. I do them from under the car and still not that easy.

Just go ahead and buy the timing belt. Making the car sit and take up someone's stall for days or making them push your car in and out of the shop over a belt is silly, not to mention making you extrememly unpopular with the shop working on it. There shouldn't be any extra labor except maybe .5 hour to get it around the crank pulley. I can tell you from experience... 90% they chance won't cover it.

 

I changed my EGR valve this weekend and it was a pain in the you know what. There is no way I would attempt this yourself. I had stripped bolts and had to buy a special tool (which only worked to remove one of the bolts) then I had to twist and bang on it to get it out.
The next thing to replace on my Pacifica will be the timing belt and water pump. They usually go hand in hand and are replaced at the same time since you are in there and the water pump is driven off the timing belt. I 'm not sure what they would chage to do the timing belt water pump combo on the pacifica. The parts are less that $200 I believe. I paid $39 at Kragen for my EGR valve. I hope this helps. John

 

I wonder if the clamp came loose on the front manifold. There are two bolts holding the front exhaust maniford to the pipe in the front right of the engine (from the top). Just another thought.