egr cooler

[zhz]

After driving in the snow the other week the car went into limp mode. Garage has inspected and found that the egr valve and cooler are done. Cooler has cracked and is leaking coolant. 

 

Was quoted an awful lot for replacing them as the cooler requires removal of lots of things to get access. Labour totaling more than the parts. Researched on here and see it is a better option to go over to the darkside and get a delete kit for egr and cooler. Then install a Shark stage 1 with egr delete. My current map is not very progressive in lower gears and failed to throw up any eml when it went into limp mode. 

 

With the delete of the egr cooler what happens to the coolant. Does the egr cooler delete pipe stop coolant circulating through the cooler? I would like to understand whether this delete will fix the problem of losing coolant through the cracked egr cooler. Cheers

[mroberts]

I have done this EGR removal on my BKD Engine. although time consuming, it is not technically challenging. its all about access rather than hard mechanics. it took me like 4 hours start to finish or less.

 

A bit fiddly with re-inserting the screws into the inlet manifold for the Delete pipe. there are some improvements in the Darkside kit that would help the process, though.

 

also at the same time when you have all the parts stripped off such and MAF airbox etc etc its a good time to clean the VNT / Exhaust section of the turbo with Turbo Clean etc etc. as access is easier.

 

When you remove the cooler completely the Darkside kit gives you the fitting to re-route the coolant so there is no loss.

[zhz]

Cheers for the information re the coolant re-routing.

 

In the end I purchased the Darkside kit for EGR delete and EGR Cooler delete.

My local mechanic then fitted the kit and removed the EGR Cooler. 160 labour and about 90 for the parts.

 

Then to the tuner to install the Stage 1 map with the EGR delete. He tried this but has been unable to get a map to work nicely without overboost being an issue. Rolled it back to a stock map with egr delete. Now got EML and Glow Plug flashing. Nice to have some lights on and not just hidden behind a cheap map. Not so nice to need to go shopping for a new turbo before I can get the remapping complete,

 

In limp mode and just hobbling around lamely until pay day :(

[mroberts]

are sharks just bolted on ? or do they copy your map and then re-load the new one. you shouldn't have ny issues with the map unless there are underlying issues that need dealing with first.

 

I need my turbo replaced or cleaned again. so many variables for the turbo too. refurb, new build, hybrid upgrades etc etc

[zhz]

Shark guy collected data from the car and then worked on a map, uploaded it and took the car for a spin before making some changes to the map and uploading again. The issue he had was hardware related as my turbo is knackered, causing it to not come in until higher in the revs and then it was opening fully, causing overboost, which the ecu was reacting to. 

 

I have ordered a replacement GT1749V turbo from AET Turbos who had the best price at £360+vat including gasket kit. 2Year warranty. These are reconditioned turbos. He said he is going to complete the work tomorrow, he has one in stock, and I will have within 48hrs. Price is with my old turbo getting sent to them in exchange. They were slightly (30)cheaper than Turbo Technics for the same service. My other alternative had been a oem replacement from dealer (~900) or a garett from Darkside (750) but my wallet can't cope with that. I had found one at £250 from turbocarparts on ebay but could find no reviews of them. 

 

Should be a lot easier to fit with the egr cooler now out the way. Need to get the oil lines from local motor factors. Going to use this opportunity to put some heavier weight oil in too. Using 5w 30 and will change to 5w 40.

 

Cant wait to get the turbo in and a nice progressive map on the go. My 100 mile round trip commute is painfully slow at the moment up some long steep hills where I am just slowly losing speed until the top. The rest of the time I can cruise fairly smooth up to 70mph just on the gears keeping it below 2k rpm at all times.