P1404 CEL tonight...

[Cobrajet]

My VX popped a P1404 (and another code I don't remember) a week after my trip to North Carolina in September. I cleared the codes thinking it may be due to the constant rain on the drive home. Nope. After only 5 or so miles the P1404 returned.

I stopped by Autozone and bought a can of carb clear to prepare for the first attempt at resolving the issue. But, when I pulled the EGR valve off, if was completely clear. No build up in either the EGR tube or the pintle. Hmmm. I cleared the code again and it didn't return for a few weeks.

Yesterday I finally took a drive to the grocery store and the code returned. I came home, did some research, and chose the NAPA EGR (CRB226154) as my replacement candidate. Sure, it was more expensive, but it looked like really good build quality, it was in stock, and it wasn't Autozone, Pep Boys or Advance Auto Parts! I bought the EGR and five minutes later I was back on the road.

I decided to duplicate my previous trip to see if the code would return. Sure enough, I pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot, read the codes and found a P1404 (pending) code. Damn! I didn't even stop. I drove back to NAPA, explained the situation, and asked if I would be stuck with this EGR. The nice lady told me to bring it back later in the week ("It would look bad if you returned it today") and she would refund my money.

So, I left NAPA, with the scanner still connected, and tried to clear the codes while sitting as a red light. "Confirm key one, engine off". Can't clear the codes while driving. Two minutes later I was home, hit the Read Errors button, and NOTHING! No more codes. I retraced my steps AGAIN, even stopping to shop at Wal-Mart, and codes did not return. Apparently, there were some old fault readings still in the buffer from the old EGR, and the system just had to clear them out before giving a clean bill of health. My VX is back whole again!!

To make a long story short... If you replace your EGR make sure you give it plenty of miles to clear the old fault readings before you read the codes.

[Cobrajet]

My CEL returned on my recent trip to Georgia. I actually got three different codes during my return trip (P1404, P0405, and one other non-EGR related), plus my GPS refused to power back up immediately after I got the first CEL. And then, in the mountains, my tranny/transfer case was acting up, vibrating badly when I dropped my speed from 75 to 65, and then running smooth as I sped up or continued a few miles. All of these concurrent issues made me suspect an electrical problem, and not an EGR issue, which was supported by the the 5 year old battery and corroded battery terminal. Today I replaced both the battery and terminal, but I still got the CEL and code P0405. I cleared the codes several times. As a troubleshooting step, I removed the EGR and reinstalled my old EGR valve, but this time I also replaced the gasket. The old gasket still looked good, but I had a new gasket. Then I took the VX for 10 mile drive, and didn't get a CEL, but I had a "pending" P1404 code, the same code that drove me to replace the original EGR valve. I'm going to drive it a while with the old EGR and see if the CEL pops up. If so, I will reinstall the new EGR with a new gasket and see if that returns a code, same or different. This is very frustrating!