Likes: 
So I changed the EGR valve and have been driving for a few days. In this example it looks like a case of; if you’ve got cold feet, put on a hat.
I believe what first looked like an ECM problem, then a crank sensor and now the EGR valve was really a tale of intermingled sensors. I have a real disdain for all of this complexity that introduces more points of failures for some small incremental gains. I can only suppose this is for fuel efficiency and to reduce “carbon footprint”. When I consider all of the time, effort, parts, testing that went into diagnosing and fixing I wonder if the carbon footprint of fixing these gremlins brings the whole endeavor to a net zero and really has the effect of causing retirement of vehicles early simply due to excessive maintenance costs. If I had to pay someone else to do this I could see the bill well north of $500 and making a less stubborn owner look to scrap the beast. Melting down a decade old, sensor laden “smart” vehicle with gremlins to make a 1% more efficient new vehicle is good. Driving a simple, dumb, older less efficient vehicle for 20 years is bad.
In any case I use a RockAuto, Delphi EGR. It was relatively cheap, and arrived quickly. The valve inlet is via tube that inserts into the valve with a single flange bolt. There was a minor misalignment between the bolt hole and tube hole. This turned another 15 minute job into a couple of hours.
I managed to get it on but was dangerously close to snapping the bolt off. So on and off a couple of times, tapping thread, chasing threads and a bit of mallet persuasion got it mounted. I now have an ever so slight exhaust leak that I’ll need to address before the exhaust cuts a channel in the valve, flange, or overly expensive gasket. Since Covid has rendered me unemployed and inflation has escalated operating costs I’m not going far, or often although a trip to Ottawa has been on my mind.
Anyway I’ll delay dealing with the leak and have reserved my Reynaud prone, numb fingers for changing the auger belt on my snowblower, 4 times. Aftermarket replacement belt “it’s not OEM, but will fit”. Which it didn’t but I wrestled on long enough to plow out my 72 year old neighbor and myself before the “will fit “ belt burned up. The multiple trips to repair shop to get the “will fit” belt, return the “didn’t fit” belt and go back for the replacement belt served as my test drive opportunities for the EGR valve.
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