Hi there,

My wife has a 2005 ASZ engined Fabia VRS which has covered 90,000 miles - she's the first owner.

I've noticed a drop off in performance and MPG over time and am guessing it's the EGR? No fault codes show btw. EGR has never been touched on the car. MPG is now somewhat less than my Octavia and the performance difference is night and day even though the Fabia has an AMD map.

What is my best option as I see so much info, but it just adds to the confusion?

Should I clean it first and see what happens? I have carb cleaner but not sure how easy it is on a ASZ.

Should I simple replace as Darkside seem to sell a new EGR for £60?

Or am I just best off going to the expense of mapping it out and blanking off, if so what are the best options? Save for cost to wallet, are there any downsides - I've read things about shutter valves without an EGR?

Appreciate any advice, I know there are various threads but some only add to the confusion about what is the best thing to do.

Thanks!

Jez

When mine started weeping gunk everywhere I bought a second hand removed and cleaned EGR from eBay for £10 and had it swapped out back in the summer

Didn't really notice any change in performance but reassuring to see less black sooty ooze under the bonnet!

As you say the alternative is to buy a compeltely new unit from Darkside

With the ASZ engine you can blank it off and not need to map it (as i've just done following fitment of a 'wrong' BLT engine turbo to my ASZ) because youa re retaining the EGR and the vac pipes are remaining conencted the MAF and ECU aren't confused so all the readings stay correct meaning no error light meaning no need to map.

I bought 2 blanking plates from Darkside for a total of £13 inc postage and all is fine.

Obviously as the Egr isn;t operating it isn't getting any dirtier but if you're is blocked anyway blanking it out won't really help :S

Thanks.

So I need to remove it, clean, refit and fit a blanking plate? Forgive my ignorance!

Jez

Do the elephant mod so you don't have oily vapour mixing with sooty exhaust and then the crap won't build up in the egr.

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Can you explain please or link to guidance?

Can you explain please or link to guidance?

Search for the elephant mod, I'll try and find you a link when I have my computer handy.

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do you have any boost leaks? these cause a significant drop in economy and performance.

I would consider looking into the mass airflow sensor and check boost pipes. the maf sensor really makes a huge difference to the performance. vw/skoda are aware of the issue and it is a common fault. especially if climbing uphill and there is no guts. my dad changed his maf (ok volvo estate same idea diesel turbo), it could hardly pull his boat uphill, now all power loss restored. he cleaned it (gave it a wipe with a soft cloth - no wd40 or anything liquid) and hey presto back in business. I haven't tried cleaning my own yet but I am sure someone here could help or give link to another topic. unfortunately skoda will not take part back once opened if it makes no difference. i think they are about £80 (guessing now).

hi there,

Don't know if boost leaks but the garage didn't see anything last time I asked them to check. I'm aware of MAF's, I know they are sensitive things and also can cause issues, but EGR is the main issue on these engines surely?

If you were feeling really daring, you could have a look inside the EGR and see what state it's in, rather than relying on guesswork?

Do the elephant mod so you don't have oily vapour mixing with sooty exhaust and then the crap won't build up in the egr.

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so with the elephant mod, there was no point blanking off as well?

if so, ill take it out as the car warms up quicker....

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so with the elephant mod, there was no point blanking off as well?

if so, ill take it out as the car warms up quicker....

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On my old car once I did the elephant mod the crud stopped building up anymore in the egr valve, I think I did at least 40k miles after doing the mod.

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What about turning the egr down on vcds and then doing the elephant mod? This won't bring up the engine light right?