egr clean/repair or replace

Service engine soon light came on today. Went promptly to dealer who after 1/2 an hour and $40 later said the code was a false error but could be the egr valve going bad said they would have to monitor the situation and then clean the egr if / when needed. My question is how hard would it be for me to clean it myself and where on my 2001 venture is it located. Thanks in advance. K. O.

Got a call from my wife this evening and she said the check engine light is back on and that the van died while sitting at stop light. Can egr valve cause this to happen???

My van did the same thing this past summer, and I took it to Autozone, and according to their scan tool my EGR valve was showing a faulty code. I was told it was probably caused by carbon buildup and I could try running a fuel additive to clean up the carbon, or take it to our local Valvoline Instant oil change place for a fuel system cleaning. The guy at Autozone said it was cheaper than having the dealer clean the fuel system, and the feedback he received from other customers had said that it worked for them. I ran a fuel additive for the time being, and the service engine soon light did not come back on, ( after the code was cleared from memory). They quoted me about $105 for the part. If you have a Haynes manual, they outline the location of the EGR valve. If memory serves me correctly,( my manual is out in my van unaccessible to me at the moment, ) the valve is towards the back on the driver's side of the engine. I found it in case I was going to have to replace it. I'm not sure if that caused your van to die, but if the valve isn't the problem, you have the option of trying to clean the carbon by the methods I mentioned above to see if that helps.

Never tried this with newer model vehicles, but used to be you could remove the EGR and use compressed air to blow out any carbon that accumulates in the egr valve or tube. This should apply to all EGR valves, but you can usually only get a way with doing this once or twice before it needs to be replaced. Its alot cheaper than 100 bucks though.....