cleaning EGR valve?

[Ayrshore]

My sister's Fabia I has just failed it's MOT for emissions, check light is on and VAG-com reads EGR valve insufficient flow.

Is there a guide somewhere to cleaning it out, as it's a tight bitch of a place to get to!

Thanks in advance.

[phil_monk]

just unbolt it from the manifold and then from the exhaust. it will just come off then.

Is it a petrol or a derv?

[Ayrshore]

1.4 16v petrol.

It's hidden underneath the throttle body, surrounded by coolant pipes!

[phil_monk]

ok then i have no idea how to get to it as I have a VRS. sorry

[TriggerFish]

1.4 16v petrol.

It's hidden underneath the throttle body, surrounded by coolant pipes!

Are you sure? Either I am heavily mistaken, but it it's near the front of the car (need to remove engine cover) and sticks out the front right (as you look at the car from in front) of the engine by the radiator fans. It should be a greyish colour thing with a clip on plug on the front.

[kwacka]

TriggerFish is right, undo the nuts and remove the studs and it will slide out, I replaced the studs with stainless bolts on replacement, and used new metal gaskets or they may leak and give you a reading of too high a flow and pinking as you drag excess air into the inlet manifold. Also remove the throttle body whereupon you will see the other end of the EGR pipe (do not try to remove the pipe as it's a pig) so you can poke wire/string/carb cleaner or other solvent from one end of the pipe to t'other. May be worth cleaning the throttle body also - it has a square section green 'O' seal which may need replacing also. Top tip - do not remove multi plugs from EGR valve or throttle motor unless you can re adapt them with VAG COM. About a 2 hour job to clean the lot.

[sherlocks VRS]

kwacka is spot on, as a skoda tech we see a lot of these we remove egr and soak it in injector cleaner then we make sure the link pipe between egr and inlet is clear, we also clean the throttle body out and re adapt throttle body, unfortunatly even if you dont remove throttle body wiring connector you will still have to adapt because you have cleaned the carbon away and ecu cant see true position. other poss is egr is knackered but i would first try cleaning!

[LordNikon]

I'm currently needing to do this albeit on an AUB polo, same engine/config though.

The EGR valve doesn't want to seperate from the pipe - its an absolute dog ! :thumbdwn:

Should there be enough play in the pipework or not, feels like something will break and the pipe looks even more hassle to remove ! :(

[kwacka]

Once you have removed the studs it should slide out, try twisting it to break the seal. If someone has replaced it previously and used jointing compound then that may be a problem. The pipe is not easy to remove.

[LordNikon]

Oh i see what is going on now ! The nuts on the end that i have removed were on the studs. The studs also need removing too, this makes much more sense ! lol

Assuming its easier to just use an old metal wire coat hanger or the like to clean out the crappy pipe too ?

[LordNikon]

What should be on the small pipe connector on the egr ??? i have a small run of pipe and then what looks like a 1 way valve connected to nothing

[kwacka]

Use wire/string/pipe cleaner for the pipe with carb cleaner or similar, the pipe on top of the egr valve is a vent with a filter on it.

[LordNikon]

Got all mine off tonight and cleaned it out, pipe, egr and another wipe around for the TB. Restarts ok which is a good sign i guess lol

Seems my little breather/filter thing is missing the filter, will see if i can get one off the bay or something

Thanks to everyone in this thread, yet again forum comes to the rescue !