i had the SES light on so i went to autozone to get it pulled. the code i got was P0401. was told its the EGR valve. i have longtubes, off road x pipes, and 40 series flows. was told could be from my car running rich. anything i can do to clean it? or is it better to just replace it?

 

P0401 does not necessarily mena the valve is bad, here is what the shop manual says are possible causes...

 

so what do you think it could be? i was reading that about the vaccum and it has me wondering, cause just a few times when i was braking semi quickly my car stalled almost like it was pulling too much vaccum and shut the car off.

 

It's not possible to determine the exact problem via postings on the forum. However, on our cars (assuming you have a '99 to '04 GT) vacuum and braking are unrelated, Our cars use Ford's Hydroboost braking system that uses power steerng system hydraulic pressure for braking assistance--I understand they didn't want to do this, but there was no room left for a braking assist vacuum motor.

It may be that the EGR valve is the problem, but work the suggested causes from top top bottom before just running out an buying a new EGR valve...