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I think I need to clean the EGR valve on my 06 Insight. It bucks a bit at some speeds.

I know I heard from someone that the original valve could be cleaned thus avoiding the cost of a new valve, but I cannot find the instructions by search.

Can someone give me a pointer to the link? Thanks as always!

Did you try insightcentral.net? They have instructions there with pictures.

Just remove it and clean with carb cleaner. H

Just remove it and clean with carb cleaner. H

If I recall correctly, it's not quite that easy. I think there was something about the Insight EGR valve that requires drilling a hole-since it is a sealed-unit so that cleaner can get to where the problems are? Also, it may be the EGR plate (located just inside the intake manifold) that can become clogged. As I understand it, the EGR valve allows the gasses into the intake and this plate is there to evenly distribute those gasses because of lean-burn. The hot gasses coming into contact with the relatively cooler intake air basically causes the carbon to condense over time to the point that the passages become clogged and need to be cleaned out. Hopefully these links will help:
http://www.insightcentral.net/forums/mpg-issues/15036-egr-plate-gasket-valve-cleaning-mpg.html
http://www.insightcentral.net/forums/problems-troubleshooting/15204-egr-valve-repair.html
http://www.insightcentral.net/forums/problems-troubleshooting/20252-egr-manifold-cleaning.html

Thanks diamondlarry, I took for granted it would be the same as the HCH unit. H

Harold, I too was a bit surprised as it seems to be much more labor intensive than it was on my Saturn SL cars.

Thanks Larry. That is exactly what I was looking for.

If I recall correctly, it's not quite that easy. I think there was something about the Insight EGR valve that requires drilling a hole-since it is a sealed-unit so that cleaner can get to where the problems are? Also, it may be the EGR plate (located just inside the intake manifold) that can become clogged. As I understand it, the EGR valve allows the gasses into the intake and this plate is there to evenly distribute those gasses because of lean-burn. The hot gasses coming into contact with the relatively cooler intake air basically causes the carbon to condense over time to the point that the passages become clogged and need to be cleaned out. Hopefully these links will help:
http://www.insightcentral.net/forums/mpg-issues/15036-egr-plate-gasket-valve-cleaning-mpg.html
http://www.insightcentral.net/forums/problems-troubleshooting/15204-egr-valve-repair.html
http://www.insightcentral.net/forums/problems-troubleshooting/20252-egr-manifold-cleaning.html

Cleaned the EGR plate as discussed in the links that Larry provided. I gotta tell you, this is not a trivial job. An experienced shade tree mechanic is going to spend an hour getting at the plate and getting it out. Then the fun begins. You have to alternately spray the passages with carb cleaner and scrape with a sharp narrow scraper to get the plate clean. The EGR plate alone took me about 3 hours. Having a friend with a carb cleaner soak tank would make the job much easier.

Haven't tackled the EGR valve yet because of a frozen nut which must soak overnight.

My plate still had a little room left for flow. My car has about 80,000 miles, so I'm going to say that it would have made 90-100,000 miles of the mixed driving that the previous owner and I drove.

I haven't tackled mine but I'm guessing there is a fair amount of carbon in there.