clogged egr line

[02subyL]

has anybody here had success cleaning the carbon out of the metal line that goes under the throttle cable? i've tried soaking it with solvent, drilling down both ends, but can't clean past the bends. '97 impreza 2.2l

[Legacy777]

Sand blasting is probably the only thing that'll work.

[porcupine73]

Haven't tried cleaning that line; couple possible ideas? Maybe one of those small flexible drill ends that kind of looks like a drain snake with a brush on the end; seems like I saw something like that at the hardware store before,

 

and/or how about pumping some kind of good warm parts cleaning fluid or mineral spirits or something through the line for a few hours to try to melt it out?

 

This guy at work is always telling me how much he loves caustic soda for cleaning stuff but I don't even know what that is. Many years back we used trichloroethane for cleaning parts but I don't even know if you can get that anymore.

[SaltCar]

Caustic Soda is Sodium Hydroxide or Lye. You can buy it as drain cleaner, Red Devil or the equivalent. It is also what gives oven cleaner its kick. This stuff is very dangerous and will blind you or eat holes in your leather boots if mishandled. Don't use it on aluminum, it will eat up the anodization and make the aluminum leak. If you don't want to create a toxic waste dump to get it clean, an automotive machine shop will probably throw that line in their vats for next to nothing.