EGR help... Options

[brandon702bmx]

Hi. I own a 1994 Celica GT and there's something that's been plaguing my car of recent. I have this problem that is EGR related and I can't figure it out. I get a check engine light that comes on and goes off at random points of time. Really strange. I jumped the terminals (I'm pre-OBD2) and I get 7 flashes with a pause with 1 more flash. Code 71. I did a bit of research on the code and it leads directly to the EGR. I reconnected lines that were disconnected. One thing I particularly noticed was that whenever I hook the vacuum hose from the EGR regulator to the EGR valve, after a while it gets blown off. It's really odd. I've reconnected it about 3 times, so apparently somethings wrong there. I'd also like to list the symptoms of the car to maybe help narrow it down to someone that actually may know what's wrong. When the car gets started after sitting overnight, it runs great. After I drive it a bit pressing the accelerator seems to give it the feeling that it's starving for fuel

Symptoms:
Poor fuel efficiency (100 miles/half tank)
CEL comes and goes at random
Car runs great at first start, after awhile... runs VERY bad kind of like a starve for fuel.

So the one thing I did narrow it down to is a bad/clogged catalytic converter. I've also thought about a bad o2 sensor... but I don't think it would cause the check engine to come on and off and make the car run terribly after a while. Do these symptoms sound about right? I don't want to just replace things for the sake of replacing them. Especially the cat because it's rather pricey.

This post has been edited by brandon702bmx: Apr 18, 2017 - 11:10 PM