Just wondering how easy it is to bypass your egr valve altogether.

Searched around a bit and seen a few posts claiming removing the vac hose and inserting a small screw/bolt does the same job.

Anyone got any pointers or suggestions on what the best way to proceed is?

No EGR = much higher fuel consumption on short routes autumn to spring because engine warmup takes forever. Yes I did check it on the Octavia's TDI110 engine, with ECU EGR adaptation, in UK only driving. 15%+ fuel consumption difference in mild winter on short routes.

Not sure if the PD engines have a VAG-COM fix for the EGR, in any case EGR is there not just for emissions, but also to keep engine warm in winter

EGR is there not just for emissions, but also to keep engine warm in winter

You learn something new everyday !!

just thought it was a way of reducing emissions so that the engine would conform to whatever Euro rating !!

You learn something new everyday !!

just thought it was a way of reducing emissions so that the engine would conform to whatever Euro rating !!

Well I found a fair few references regarding EGR just not a huge amount practical about bypassing it. From what I gather removing the EGR basically stops recirculation of prespent fuel/air, so there's less crap going through your engine.

Just wondering how easy it is to bypass your egr valve altogether.

Searched around a bit and seen a few posts claiming removing the vac hose and inserting a small screw/bolt does the same job.

Anyone got any pointers or suggestions on what the best way to proceed is?

I had a 1994 BMW 525TD, I took it to a diesel injection specialist to have a problem sorted out, whislt there the guy pulled off the vacuum hose and inserted a ball bearing and put the hose back on, this disabled the egr valve! The engine then burns clean air, rather than a mixture of clean & exhaust gas, which I was lead to believe should give better performance and have no negative effect on the fuel economy.

I had a 1994 BMW 525TD, I took it to a diesel injection specialist to have a problem sorted out, whislt there the guy pulled off the vacuum hose and inserted a ball bearing and put the hose back on, this disabled the egr valve! The engine then burns clean air, rather than a mixture of clean & exhaust gas, which I was lead to believe should give better performance and have no negative effect on the fuel economy.

The ECU actually looks for a certain amount of this oily, exhaust gas to be recirculated IIRC

Guys, before disputing what I said, try to fully warm up EGR-disabled 1.9TDI on a cold winter day by idling the engine alone. It'll take forever, because the heat escapes with the exhaust, while with EGR active most of the heat is retained (only about 25% of exhaust is made from "fresh" cold air, the rest is from recycled exhaust gas). In driving on a country road, the difference was in having the heated cabin after 1 mile from start with EGR, or after 5 miles from start without EGR. This and the fuel consumption were reasons why I switched EGR back on.

Yes, removing EGR does put less crap in the intake, and in some uses it is beneficial. But it's mostly in countries where fuel quality is an issue (high sulphur content) like it used to be in the US. Nowadays, even the US introduced ULSD.

Also, as long as you use good quality oil (oil is the other part of EGR blockage problems), you will most likely find that the only thing in your EGR is thin oil residue on the walls - I also read EGR scare stories and I checked on my car after 6 years/100k miles. Nothing there.