Early EGR valve failure - known problem

[Mayor of Newark]

Hi all,

 

Thought it worth starting a new thread because it seems EGR valves are a know problem.

 

Just had the EGR valve on my CR 170 fail at 37,00 miles and 34 months old during an important trip.  Fortunately under warranty as £1600 to change!  

 

According to Skoda Service in Banbury (nice guys, very helpful, possibly give too much company info away), there is a known problem with the internals of the EGR valve in that a small pin works loose damaging a couple of other components.

 

Worth buying the Skoda extended warranty, perhaps!

[Superb170]

Hi all,

 

Thought it worth starting a new thread because it seems EGR valves are a know problem.

 

Just had the EGR valve on my CR 170 fail at 37,00 miles and 34 months old during an important trip.  Fortunately under warranty as £1600 to change!  

 

According to Skoda Service in Banbury (nice guys, very helpful, possibly give too much company info away), there is a known problem with the internals of the EGR valve in that a small pin works loose damaging a couple of other components.

 

Worth buying the Skoda extended warranty, perhaps!

I had to replace an EGR valve on my last (2011) Superb.  I think it was after about 18 months with about 60,000kms on the clock so same mileage as yours as it happens.   It was a known issue then and I imagine it hasn't gone away.  I was well within warranty so wasn't an issue.  I agree though, its one of those jobs that's quite expensive and an extended warranty could pay for itself with something like that.

[Too Tall]

Bought my 3 year old Superb second hand at 40.000 miles (with the extended warranty). I read about transferring the extended warranty contract over to the new owner, so took care of that.

 

"Engine fault - workshop" after 1 week of ownership, and emergency power on the motorway...not very pleasant.

 

Took the car home, made some calls to be ABSOLUTELY sure the warranty contract was switched over to me, then took the car over to the local dealer. 

 

Took 2 days, no extra cost. Cause was a leak in the system somewhere...

 

1 Week later my car was at my tuner, and they disabled the EGR valve. No more issues!

[WaveyDavey]

I had the EGR valve go on mine less than a month after i bought it and the car had done just over 30k miles. As the car had been a motability vehicle for the first three years of it's life i assumed it was just due to it not being given any beans and it clogging up but when i spoke to an AA tech a few weeks afterwards he also mentioned that they had a known issue but seemed to think it was the seals that went on the cooling system therefore leaking coolant into the electronics and frying them.

 

Anyway mine was also replaced under the approved used warranty which is basically the original 3 year warranty but given to used Skodas bought from Skoda dealers. The dealer never mentioned what the cause was at the time and i never asked as i just assumed it was the clogging up problem so didn't ask. They did confirm it would have been an expensive job.... around £1300 if the warranty hadn't been in place.

[silver1011]

£1,600 / £1,300 for a new EGR? Someone is having a laugh.

 

If mine fails the whole lot is coming out for good.

[peterposh]

I had the EGR valve pack up on my mondeo, i was able to buy one from the the motor factors on an exchange for £130

Edited 29 January, 2015 by peterposh

[WaveyDavey]

£1,600 / £1,300 for a new EGR? Someone is having a laugh.

 

If mine fails the whole lot is coming out for good.

 

 

I had the EGR valve pack up on my mondeo, i was able to buy one from the the motor factors on an exchange for £130

 

Where as in the old PD engines the EGR valve was a simple and quick job, (Seem to remember a total cost of £200-300 on the Fabia forums in the past), it is a different story on the new CR engines from what i have been told.

 

The EGR valve is no longer just the valve unit itself but now comes with it's own cooling system and controller unit all incorporated into one unit. Therefore the part price is around £600-700 i believe. Then on top of that the unit is now positioned to the rear and bottom of the engine so the actual replacement is officially a 5-6 hour or so job.... I believe they have to remove the undertray and disconnect the drive shaft from the gearbox so as to get to the EGR unit.

 

This is why the cost is so much more than in the good old PD days.

Edited 29 January, 2015 by WaveyDavey

[ric04vrs]

We're changing EGR valves and coolers on the new Volvo D4 engine, due to clogging up,

so nothing has been learned by designers/engineers that they are a rubbish idea

[Superb170]

Although I had the warranty, I was told the cost would have been around €1,000 (£750) and as WaveyDavey points out above it is a full unit and there is a bit of work to get it out.

[Cown]

Just have the EGR system disabled at Shark Performance or something like that. Cheaper to do and engine will run a lot better and give you better mpg.

[silver1011]

Where as in the old PD engines the EGR valve was a simple and quick job, (Seem to remember a total cost of £200-300 on the Fabia forums in the past), it is a different story on the new CR engines from what i have been told.

 

The EGR valve is no longer just the valve unit itself but now comes with it's own cooling system and controller unit all incorporated into one unit. Therefore the part price is around £600-700 i believe. Then on top of that the unit is now positioned to the rear and bottom of the engine so the actual replacement is officially a 5-6 hour or so job.... I believe they have to remove the undertray and disconnect the drive shaft from the gearbox so as to get to the EGR unit.

 

This is why the cost is so much more than in the good old PD days.

 

Oh, that's progress then.

 

It would be interesting to understand whether the bulk of the failures are down to them clogging up or if it is indeed a manufacturing defect (loose pin).

 

It is important to keep threads like this up to date to document the number of issues. They can be used to disprove Skoda UK customer services when they try to claim that there isn't a probelm and it is one they've never heard of i.e. the same line they roll out to every poor unsuspecting person on the phone with an expensive fault to fix!

 

I have a 2011 CR140 with close to 70K on the clock, it would seem I am in the 'high risk' category.

[JakeBlade]

Just have the EGR system disabled at Shark Performance or something like that. Cheaper to do and engine will run a lot better and give you better mpg.

 

Can this be done at the time that the EGR becomes faulty?  So the faulty EGR would just stay in situ, and the ECU would be remapped to ignore the EGR, is that correct?

[Cown]

Can this be done at the time that the EGR becomes faulty?  So the faulty EGR would just stay in situ, and the ECU would be remapped to ignore the EGR, is that correct?

 

Yes of course. You can do it whenever you want. If you have problems now just have Shark disable it then it drives like a charm again. 

 

You don't necessarily need to have the performance increased. There should be "EGR delete" only mods. Those are also cheaper. Call Shark or whoever you prefer and ask. 

Edited 30 January, 2015 by Cown

[Superb170]

 

 

It would be interesting to understand whether the bulk of the failures are down to them clogging up or if it is indeed a manufacturing defect (loose pin).

 

 Mine was clogged up - I saw it after it was removed

[silver1011]

After 18 months / 38,000 miles.

 

Seems strange for it to clog up. I thought short journey's was the main culprit behind clogged up EGR's?

 

Sounds like you were covering some serious mileage!

[sherlocks VRS]

We are seeing egr units clogging up, but more of them are being changed due to them leaking water internally so yes deleting is a good mod but it wont stop the water leak.

[WaveyDavey]

We are seeing egr units clogging up, but more of them are being changed due to them leaking water internally so yes deleting is a good mod but it wont stop the water leak.

So what seems to be the cause of the leak? Is it the same place each time or various issues etc?

 

Notice you're in Mansfield.... Rainworth? Bought mine from there but the EGR issue was done under warranty at the sister dealership over here.

Edited 30 January, 2015 by WaveyDavey

[Yorkshire]

News Years Eve on the M5 going to South Wales, glow plug light started to flash and car went into limp mode, Skoda Assist confirmed  EGR valve failure, 3 years old and 24,600 miles on clock. Replaced under warranty with only 10 days left on it.

Edited 30 January, 2015 by Yorkshire

[Superb170]

After 18 months / 38,000 miles.

Seems strange for it to clog up. I thought short journey's was the main culprit behind clogged up EGR's?

Sounds like you were covering some serious mileage!

Yeah, 40k kms a year and still doing it more or less. I've 40k kms on my 12 month old L&K..

I was surprised that it clogged as I'm at around 60mph for most of my daily commute.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[peterposh]

I thought short journeys with the engine not heating up fully. Giving the car a bit of "italian tuning" from time to time is recommended .

Ive done 40 k miles in 9 months and so far so good

[JakeBlade]

I have just over a month left on my warranty. Better start that countdown timer for the EGR failure...

[sherlocks VRS]

So what seems to be the cause of the leak? Is it the same place each time or various issues etc?

 

 

Not sure exactly where the leak starts (obviously internal) but we see it in the throat of the egr valve where the link pipe goes to the inlet area, small water droplets inside when removed or staining around the shim gaskets.

[WaveyDavey]

Not sure exactly where the leak starts (obviously internal) but we see it in the throat of the egr valve where the link pipe goes to the inlet area, small water droplets inside when removed or staining around the shim gaskets.

 

Is it something that is being passed back up to Skoda / VAG for investigation and possible redesign that you know of?

Edited 31 January, 2015 by WaveyDavey

[sherlocks VRS]

Is it something that is being passed back up to Skoda / VAG for investigation and possible redesign that you know of?

not sure what vag are doing about it as we just fit new egr units,  all the under warranty units get sent back to skoda so i presume they inspect them. Ive had 3 cr engined skodas and not had a issue with egr faults so i think its the luck of the draw.

Edited 31 January, 2015 by sherlocks VRS

[DavidMHarris]

Hi there,

I own a Skoda Superb and the EGR valve failed in March 2014 at 36,000 miles, and was repaired under warranty.  The same part has just failed again at 67,000 miles and again repaired under warranty as I purchased extra warranty to 80k.

I am seriously concerned this is going to happen every year.

What are other peoples experiences and is there a known problem with this part.

Most of my mileage is up and down motorways.

Any comments would be most welcome.