Hey all

As stated in the title I need to either replace my EGR valve or Delete it and I can't make up my mind :|

The damn thing is leaking, have known about it for a while but as I have spent nearly 2k on fixing the furby recently I was kinda hoping It would jus go away :S

If I go the replacement route its gonna set me back £400 (quoted by vag indi) & the car will be back to normal & its happy days until something else breaks.

Or go the delete route, £80(ish) plus London labour.

But I'm a little hesitant about the delete option as I know little about it & its affects on emmisions, am I gonna have to pay increased road tax & CPZ charges if it reaches the magic 150kg/km mark & there is also the issue of insurance notification with all that it may be cheaper to jus replace????

And thats where you lovely people come in, as many of you have had it done is there any change in emissions??? And also insurance costs, am assuming that it is notifiable (already declared suspension mods with Adrien Flux).

Also insted of starting a new topic....I think it might have a boost leak,?

there is a loud hiss when the car is under boost & the mpg is ****e even though I drive like a granny!

My thanks in advance for any help/input, It is greatly appreciated

PM

Edited 17 January, 201115 yr by pieman[vrs]

Well.. Im undecided too about the EGR.. the concept works very well to decrease emissions, but at the potential expense of ending the life of turbo much sooner.. I cant really quantify at what rate this happens and theres no research done (as apparently the beemers etc newer cars have better egrs which doesn't have this problem?? or rather they dont use VGT??). Do correct me if im wrong though, I would like to know for sure.

As for hissing, it generally = leak somewhere. have a nose around.

Thanks JLneonhug, I did a bit more research on EGR's http://www.asashop.org/autoinc/dec97/egr.htm definatly worth a read if your having trouble sleeping..

Also read that it doesn't increase emissions much on a petrol engine but am yet to find anything on diesels :(

wher is it leaking from?

From the front I think? there is oil there anyhow. Not the best time to go look, will post a pic in the morning

edit: thinking about it now its probably inside, was informed on last service

Edited 18 January, 201115 yr by pieman[vrs]

£400 to replace sounds expensive. Isn't the part about £100 and then it just bolts on? Some of the bolts are awkward to get to but I can't see it being £300 worth of labour.

I'm interested to see what route you take as mine's leaking too and I want to replace it before I put the car up for sale but don't want to pay over the odds!

The EGR also has the anti-shudder valve or something built in doesn't it? So when you turn the engine off it won't shut down as smoothly if you run a delete pipe. Plus you'd need to get it the management light turned off through a remap so that's another cost on top. This is just stuff I think I remember reading so feel free to correct if I'm spouting *******s!

Can't actually find a price for the part, have seen Octavia (£80) & supererb (£200) ones but no fabia yet! Also the labour will be about £65p/h as I live in London & even the dog crap on the pavements here is expensive!

I hadn't thought about a remap (learning more) but was gonna go down that route eventuallys. but for the time being I could probably live with the BEEP or try turning it off with vagcom?

eBay has some available at around £90 for new genuine units. The one I saw recommends checking fitment with them before purchasing so might be worth investigating.

Item number: 380305131713

Mines an 05 so I might be lucky (its a stealer too)

Thanks Schern

Edited 18 January, 201115 yr by pieman[vrs]

' date='17 January 2011 - 23:46' timestamp='1295308017' post='2243742']

Thanks JLneonhug, I did a bit more research on EGR's http://www.asashop.org/autoinc/dec97/egr.htm definatly worth a read if your having trouble sleeping..

Also read that it doesn't increase emissions much on a petrol engine but am yet to find anything on diesels :(

From the research my friends have been doing (we were doing a project on greener HGV for master level elec/mech and aero, Im elec side), its known to have decrease emissions by a large amount (sorry remember the exact figure) but it really got me wondering if I should replug my EGR back in.. :wonder: It is basically a standard for all diesels now for reducing emissions.

I currently have it plugged up, one of the pikey mods. It stops it from working but keeps the antistall thing in place.

Edited 18 January, 201115 yr by JLneonhug

' date='17 January 2011 - 23:24' timestamp='1295306689' post='2243723']

But I'm a little hesitant about the delete option as I know little about it & its affects on emmisions, am I gonna have to pay increased road tax & CPZ charges if it reaches the magic 150kg/km mark & there is also the issue of insurance notification with all that it may be cheaper to jus replace????

Deleting the EGR or any other change to the car's emissions shouldn't make any difference to how much road tax you pay. The DVLA set the amount of CO2 the car pushes out at first registration in conjunction with the Manufacturer, getting it changed later on is damn near impossible as I found out when they got my 5 series CO2 rating wrong.

In theory you could buy a super econ model of a car and then retro fit a much bigger engine and still pay the lower rate of car tax for all the DVLA will know or care about.

Taken from Fabia-vrs.com

EGR DISABLING

With the engine warmed up and running at idle in neutral with all major accessories such as air conditioning turned off, connect the scan tool cable and start the scan tool software.

[01 - Engine]

[Login - 11] and enter 12233 as the access code

[Adaptation] and go to block 3.

Give the accelerator pedal a quick “blip” to ensure that the EGR remains turned on for the next minute while you perform the following steps.

Note that the display shows a default adaptation value of 32768 and shows approximately 250 +/- 20 mg/stroke of air intake volume.

If all is well, enter 33768 as the new adaptation value, and select “test”. Note that the displayed air intake volume changes, usually to about 370 mg/stroke. The specification limit is 370 mg/stroke, so if you want to remain within OEM shop manual specifications for emission control reasons, you might have to enter a number slightly smaller than 33768. (If you don’t care about road-legal NOx emission limits then leave it at 33768. [Depending on the usage cycle, NOx at this setting can be increased by as much as 40%]) If all is well and you have a setting that you are happy with which results in an intake air volume of 370 mg/stroke or just a hair less, enter [save]. The values aren’t exactly the same, but when you enter the value 33768, the ECU will automatically adapt it. In my case it was something like 33628. 370mg/stroke is what your looking for.

So you can turn it down and remain legal, prolonging the life of the turbo, achieving a smoother idle and keeping the intake a little cleaner (less sludge at least.. but not gone).

Of course, the above is based on replacing your leaky one.. I had the same leak and was going to clean the EGR, IC, Manifold and various pipes and have it turned down to see if the leak would at least reduce.. but I got offered a good 2nd hand unit for nothing at the last minute... still got the cleaning and re-programming done though....

Should say though, theres a little debate as to if adjusting the software actually effects the EGR on our cars... I think it has but then I'll never really know.. it does seem to cruise at 1500rpm much nicer though.

Edited 18 January, 201115 yr by Rob.

Hi Guys

My 1st post as I have just purchased a 2006 VRS .

The car I have purchased also has a leaky EGR valve which is going to be replaced under warranty. After reading up on it on here and other sites I would replace it with another EGR valve rather than the delete pipe route.

Reasoning:-

1. The EGR valve is and has been fitted on these type of engines since day dot. The manufacturers spend millions on the design of the engine and also know what parts go wrong through repairs in their garages. Surely if the replacement pipe was a better option they would of fitted it as standard item as it would cost far less to fit!

2. After 6 yrs of Impreza ownership and modifying properly. If you start trying to improve something on the car something else is soon going to break as it will be the next weakest link. 5 gear boxes and and engine rebuild has taught me that .

3. All the gumph on websites selling the delete pipe is worded to sell the item, no where is there a warning about warning lamps, life of turbos or stuttering engines damaging engine mounts.

4. Insurance !!!! tell them and they might not insure you, dont tell them and if you have an accident they wont pay up!

5. If you are happy with the performance of the car stick with it!

6. An unmodified car is easier to sell than a modified one.

Just my 10 pence worth

At the end of the day If you are going to modify a car think about what might break through a result of it! Dont get me wrong I am all for a bit of modifications but just hope your wallet is deep enough to fix the car. I upped the power, clutch and flywheel on my Impreza which then broke numerous gearboxes and reduced the life of my engine, both expensive repairs.

PS Great forum lads

Cheers

Flobadob

Reasoning:-

1. The EGR valve is and has been fitted on these type of engines since day dot. The manufacturers spend millions on the design of the engine and also know what parts go wrong through repairs in their garages. Surely if the replacement pipe was a better option they would of fitted it as standard item as it would cost far less to fit!

Sellers priorities are not the same as users/owners. So their research is geared towards different goals. Cannot assume they are 'doing it for us', or 'know better than us'. Or at least me.

E.g. manufacturer no1 priority is to sell new cars, how? lower emissions, cleaner burn, more reliable over 3-5 years (can neglect the next 5-10 years). Our priority is that it lasts indefinitely with minimal maintenance.

3. All the gumph on websites selling the delete pipe is worded to sell the item, no where is there a warning about warning lamps, life of turbos or stuttering engines damaging engine mounts.

No, they assume people have already done their research on modified parts. Like you, you havent modified your impreza properly because you merely read the description of item on their website, its through experience from yourself and/or others.

Thus hence, I only bunged mine up and not got an EGR delete. When disabling EGR it makes initial pick-up more laggy (unless remapped I assume?).

5. If you are happy with the performance of the car stick with it!

Little to do with performance imo? Yes smoother airflow etc. but I would've thought its negligible

Edited 18 January, 201115 yr by JLneonhug

The EGR valve is purely their to help manufacturers hit emissions targets. In the EGR case I think it helps to reduce NOx emissions. Since the manufacturer has to sell the car with them fitted then they're also going to have to sell replacements. The car would undoubtedly run better without one (as demonstrated by the stutter in BLT engined Fab's where too much exhaust gas is recirculated to allow smooth pickup from part throttle) but the manufacturer has Euro emissions targets to meet which have to take precedence over performance.

The main reason I want to replace my EGR with another one as opposed to a delete pipe is because I don't want (and can't afford) to also pay for a remap and because I want to sell the car soon I don't want to have to explain why the management light is on. If I was going to keep it and map it then I'd definitely delete the EGR. If anything you'd be improving reliability because it would be one less part to go wrong!

Pics of leaky EGR :(

Edited 18 January, 201115 yr by pieman[vrs]

That's nothing mate... No need to panic yet.

Mine was black down the front when it had fully gone.. and also was managing to throw oil over onto the top of the engine, on that little round disc just infront of it.

That doesn't look like it's leak recently, either?

Here... My thread on the exact same subject, asking the exact same question... with a pic of mine.. looking VERY leaky compared to yours.

My pre replace thread.

Now that I know what it does, I really REALLY don't want exhaust gases in the 'clean' side of the turbo anymore. It's just plain grubby!

I have a question:

Is it possible to remove the function re-circulation of exhaust gases element, but keep the anti-stall thing in place, and not have CEL turn on?

I understand the options are:

Full delete kit - remove EGR entirely

Plug vacuum hose - EGR does not open

Plug/plate EGR -> manifold connector - exhaust gas cannot enter EGR

I read somewhere that it's tricky to 'map out' the CEL from EGR on my BLT engine - is this true?

Stumped. But I do know one thing - Elephant hose mod this weekend!!

is this a good mod to do on the blt engine?

as i was thinking about doing it to my fabia which has the blt engine also does having this CEL light up put it into limp home mode?

Euan

Plug vacuum hose - EGR does not open

=

~ CEL light will come on. wont be instant, but will do after a few miles.

~ Will disable your EGR but keep the anti-stall in place (win-win)

~ Elephant hose mod is recommended as-well

~ Will not go into limp mode

~ Will up the emissions, emissions not tested on MOT, but it will be polluting the environment more.

~ Pick up will be more 'laggy'.

~ Reversible (re-plug vacuum hose, CEL light will go off after some miles, pick up will come back, emissions will be low again)

Same applies for BLT engines.

For how-to.... there's detailed threads on here.. somewhere.......... :yes:

Edited 19 January, 201115 yr by JLneonhug

Ok, so I plugged it.

Easy peasy to do - took longer to find a suitable plug (I'm no golfer!) than it did to plug it!

I gaffa taped up the EGR valve inlet too. It feels kinda nice, with no noticable increase in lag. CEL came on though. Which is suppose is justification to go get a remap soon then!

It feels kinda nice, with no noticable increase in lag.

Maybe the difference is less in winter due to cooler temps..? When I first did mine, I plugged it, light came on, test run, 2nd gear and 3rd gear pull from ~2k rpm full throttle, or 1/4 to full throttle. Definitely felt a difference in terms of initial pick up/lag, and it should do. As there is an abundance of recirculated (foul) air/pressure going back in. :p Unless my terminology was wrong.. :|

Edited 20 January, 201115 yr by JLneonhug

£400 to supply and fit an EGR is a joke, should be no more than £250 even at the dealers using a genuine part !

mine looks like yours and isnt causing any problems

My car is getting a different bag of chips tomorrow and the tuner will be disabling the EGR vale (100% shut) in the software (standard procedure they call it)

Would it be wise to replace the valve with a replacement pipe?