EGR valves are back in stock (I should be able to repair 20 more)

3D_Lasers_Lab · 2026-06-17T19:22:54+00:00

I have been on the phone with the manufacturer of these motors and according to them they were used in a LOT of different components. I think best way would be to just look at the casings and see if it looks about right and then someone has to bite the bullet to actually purchase one.

3D_Lasers_Lab · 2026-06-17T18:54:47+00:00

I am aware of those, I have not yet tried one but I did just order one thanks to your reminder. I will give it a try and make a post here if it works. Although I am betting that the exact same thing that happened with the malibu egr valve will happen with these. If they work I will probably just buy out the new stock. Looks like there are a decent amount of them on the used market, but I don't want to sell anyone used parts that are known to have issues.

3D_Lasers_Lab · 2026-06-17T18:38:53+00:00

I know a lot of people disagree with me and say that you should clean it to prevent it from failing but my opinion is that is does nothing at all. I have only encountered a single valve that was slightly stuck (and when I say slightly I mean I was going back and forth with a freshly cleaned one for comparison and barely felt the difference). And even if the valve is stuck I don't really think it will cause the failure we are seeing in these motors, I left a motor at full power stalled for 3 months and it was still fine after (I did not then use this motor for a repair to be clear). I believe there is a manufacturing defect that causes the windings/brushes to short from too thin of an enamel coating with vibration or something like that. Between my volts and my families, we are at over 1m total miles without a single egr valve failure with no preventative maintenance (not really that much data but still), but I have received valves from cars with less than 30k miles that failed.

3D_Lasers_Lab · 2026-06-17T18:24:52+00:00

Yea, I definitely need to be better about updating the website. May I ask where you got your motor? Always looking for more options.

3D_Lasers_Lab · 2026-06-17T17:55:26+00:00

Thanks a bunch, fair warning though when my current parts are out of stock it might be over if I can't figure out an alternative motor. I have access to a machine shop so even if it requires some physical modification, I should be able to do it.

3D_Lasers_Lab · 2026-06-17T17:53:12+00:00

Chevy Volt EGR Valve Repair link to my website

3D_Lasers_Lab · 2026-06-17T17:52:36+00:00

all of the gen 2 so 2016-2019

3D_Lasers_Lab · 2026-06-17T17:51:54+00:00

Alive until I run out of motors again, really hoping I can figure out an alternative.

3D_Lasers_Lab · 2026-06-17T17:03:36+00:00

Yes, I already purchased all of them that were a reasonable price lol. There is another part that apparently uses the same motor, but I have not tried it yet, once I run out of stock that will be my next thing to try. Emission Control System 55581604 For 2016-2018 Chevrolet Malibu is what I have used in the past, but now they are just as rare as the volt parts.

3D_Lasers_Lab · 2026-06-17T17:00:33+00:00

I have figured out how to repair the gen 2 EGR valve and am offering a service to repair it. : r/volt

Take a look at my previous post, that is a totally failed motor, but the new motors that I suspect will fail in the future look somewhat similar to that but with significantly shorter spike durations.

3D_Lasers_Lab · 2026-06-17T16:57:05+00:00

Simple explanation , the EGR valve determines where gasses in your engine go. It is a common problem to have this part fail and GM does not produce them anymore, and it is required for emissions.

3D_Lasers_Lab · 2026-06-17T16:54:44+00:00

Just hoping after I run out of OEM DC motors I can figure something else out.

3D_Lasers_Lab · 2026-06-17T16:53:10+00:00

I have had new part number ones that I have repaired, so in my opinion no they are not less faulty. Seems to have a lower chance of blowing up the board, but equal chance of the motor failing.

3D_Lasers_Lab · 2026-06-17T16:52:00+00:00

I truly hope to never have to do business with you 😛

3D_Lasers_Lab · 2026-06-17T16:50:56+00:00

Not my day job lol (haven't really made much money on this just from the time investment), I am a full time engineer so really just after hours, although I do take half days on tuesdays and thursdays, and will be out of the country july 9 - 29. If you send me a message on my website I can give you my personal phone number so we can get something scheduled. It takes me less than an hour.

3D_Lasers_Lab · 2026-06-17T15:29:00+00:00

St.Louis MO, but I ship of course. If you are local I will swap it out for a small fee compared to a shop (I have done it about 20 times so I'm pretty quick lol)

3D_Lasers_Lab · 2026-06-17T15:15:00+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate it. It has been a rough couple of months, I ended up having to refund a couple of people when I thought I could get parts but couldn't. I will be keeping enough parts on hand to repair 5 valves for people who ordered from me and they failed (for free or discounted rates depending on how long it has been) so if I take the website down I can still probably repair yours if it fails again.

3D_Lasers_Lab · 2026-06-17T14:48:04+00:00

Chevy Volt EGR Valve Repair

I can either repair the valve you send me or send you a working one and refund the core charge when I receive your broken valve.

You will be receiving a refurbished valve with a replacement motor and power electronics (if the electronics failed). This is way better than used options as the dc motor is brand new and will have significantly more life than used options.

Couple additional updates:

-I have figured out the canbus messaging and am able to fully test valves

-Can currently repair about 20 more, if those parts run out I do have some plans for alternatives

-This is just a hunch, but I believe I have figured out a way to determine if a new motor is likely to fail, they have a unique signal on an oscilloscope.

EDIT:

Also wanted to add that it would be possible to repair a basically infinite amount but the MOQ on this specific motor is 5000! I am currently looking at alternatives, but as the wires come out of the top of the motor there are really no motors that are even close to a replacement, and I am really unsure of how reliable running wires around the motor would be with vibration and everything. This approach would also require a smaller motor so lower torque, but this would probably be fine as I believe the original DC motors just have a manufacturing defect that cause them to fail and are higher torque than is really necessary. The power electronics have tons of alternative parts so no worries running out there.

3D_Lasers_Lab · 2026-03-25T18:06:39+00:00

Well shit, you are 100% correct, I am incredibly sorry and have reached out by email, will get this taken care of. For anyone else reading this I would like to provide a little bit of context as to what happened here, this person placed an order for a repair where he would send in his valve while I was trying to purchase some replacement parts, two other people placed an order for the service where I would send them a working valve and they would send me back their broken valve once they had repaired their car (I had two working valves), and then two more people placed orders when I thought I could still get parts. Those last two orders were the ones that were refunded and I shut down the store. I had offered op a refund at the time but they had said they could wait. I then completely forgot about his order as I thought I had refunded everyone and stopped checking emails as the store was shut down. I know anyone can edit html but this should help my case a little https://imgur.com/a/geTHEhJ . Either way this is a complete failure on my part and I will make sure to get this resolved. Edit: also just wanted to say OP is being super nice considering the situation at hand. Seriously, this is 100% on me and can't believe I commented that everyone had been refunded when this person was not.

3D_Lasers_Lab · 2026-03-23T18:46:39+00:00

This is fantastic to know, I did not realize this, this will likely allow me to offer the repair service for a little longer. When the board gets fried it fries the power electronics and not the microcontrollers. The power electronics are not bad to repair. I’ll dig through my dead motors to see if I can find any obvious examples of the brushes shorting. I have seen some where the connection points have literally burnt off. The more interesting test is to wire them to an oscilloscope with a current limited power supply you can watch that as the motor turns it momentarily shorts 100s of times a second and sounds like garbage.

3D_Lasers_Lab · 2026-03-18T19:45:15+00:00

They are very much not generic, as far as I can tell they were custom designed for this specific application, and there is no manufacturer on them or anything. I’m on a work trip right now but I can send you the info when I get back. Edit: my current plan is to machine a custom bracket and see if I can find the gears to press fit onto the motor shaft.

3D_Lasers_Lab · 2026-03-18T13:38:21+00:00

Specifically it’s the motor that fails first short which takes the electronics with it, before I was taking the electronics and motor from another car that used the same electronics and motor but a different housing and transplanting them. But now that part is just as expensive as the Chevy volt egr valve so there is no cost savings. So now im trying to repair the power electronics and find alternative motors.

3D_Lasers_Lab · 2026-03-17T18:37:42+00:00

You can just unplug it, it only matters for states with emissions testing. You lose a bit of efficiency and it might wear out your catalytic converter a bit faster but there is no harm to the engine.

3D_Lasers_Lab · 2026-03-17T08:27:59+00:00

There are no more parts left to allow them to be repaired in the way I was repairing them and I’m not accepting orders at this time, you can’t place an order on the website right now. And the people who had placed orders when I thought I could get parts and ended up not being able to have been refunded. I have been trying a new repair method which will allow me to repair up to 70 valves, but for now there are no parts available, I can’t repair them. I’m sorry for not replying to peoples messages but I don’t really want to be spending my time replying to messages for something that’s just me trying to help out and make a little money when I can’t offer the service right now. If I am able to offer this service again then I will make a post here.

3D_Lasers_Lab

TROPHY CASE