changed timing belt, check engine light now on...

DC_T · Post by **DC_T** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 11:38 pm

Hey everyone. I changed the timing belt and water pump on my daily driver yesterday, a 96 honda accord EX 4 cylinder. started the car up and everything runs great. drove it last night and no problems at all. then today, the check engine light popped on. i took the car up to autozone to have the code read, and it came up as P1491, EGR Valve Lift Insufficient Detected.

anybody had anything similiair to this happen? or any experience with the code?

i've done about 6 timing belts now and never had this problem. i double and triple checked all the timing marks when i was putting it back together, plus, i figured if the timing was off, then the car would run like crap, so i'm pretty confused on what it could be. any ideas are appreciated.

thanks

bildo16 · Post by **bildo16** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 11:44 pm

DC_T;142031 wrote:Hey everyone. I changed the timing belt and water pump on my daily driver yesterday, a 96 honda accord EX 4 cylinder. started the car up and everything runs great. drove it last night and no problems at all. then today, the check engine light popped on. i took the car up to autozone to have the code read, and it came up as P1491, EGR Valve Lift Insufficient Detected.

anybody had anything similiair to this happen? or any experience with the code?

i've done about 6 timing belts now and never had this problem. i double and triple checked all the timing marks when i was putting it back together, plus, i figured if the timing was off, then the car would run like crap, so i'm pretty confused on what it could be. any ideas are appreciated.

thanks

you need a new egr valve. and to clean out the ports. very common for accords. since the older hondas took the exhaust gas from in front of the cat, it was very dirty and clogged up everything (especially v6 accords) but now they all take the gas from after the cat.

DC_T · Post by **DC_T** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 11:47 pm

bildo16;142033 wrote:you need a new egr valve. and to clean out the ports. very common for accords. since the older hondas took the exhaust gas from in front of the cat, it was very dirty and clogged up everything (especially v6 accords) but now they all take the gas from after the cat.

you think its just a coincidence that it came on right after i changed the belt/pump?

bildo16 · Post by **bildo16** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 11:53 pm

more than likely since you didnt touch any wires or plumbing for the egr valve. if something was unplugged, you would probably get a low voltage code anyways.

rickles8099 · Post by **rickles8099** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 11:57 pm

it is possible that a vacuum line or something came loose on it. with it being an obd2 car you have to drive it through two drive cycles before the check engine light would come on.

bildo16 · Post by **bildo16** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 12:01 am

i dont think any vacuum lines run to the egr valve or the egr system, do they?

rickles8099 · Post by **rickles8099** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 12:05 am

bildo16;142041 wrote:i dont think any vacuum lines run to the egr valve or the egr system, do they?

i do believe there is at least one located on the top of it

DC_T · Post by **DC_T** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 2:24 am

thanks for the replies guys. i went outside and noticed that one of my spark plug wires wasn't pushed all the way down. i pushed it back down and reset the ecu, and drove it to go get my dog some food. no light. so i parked it, waited about 10 minutes and drove it around some more. no light still. so, i'm not sure what is going on. i may still clean the EGR valve, but, it seems ok for now. guess i'll find out tomorrow if it decides it wants to come back on. thanks again.