Its supposed to make the car run better. Has anyone actually done it ? Where does all the crap go if the EGR is blanked off, and would never cleaning your EGR valve out and letting it get blocked up be the same as blanking it off ?

@JEFF-the-Bowman - It's now an MoT failure (if you get caught anyway).

 

As to where "the crap" goes, down the exhaust pipe! It's "Exhaust Gas Recirculation".

I've sketched a simplified diagram of an EGR system to try to explain and answer some of your questions.

 

Recent engines are designed from the drawing board to work with EGR, in order to satisfy stringent low-NOx emissions targets. Anything you do to change the EGR system (other than cleaning the valve) will increase the NOx  output of your car, and as such is illegal. MOTs don't measure NOx though, so if your conscience allows, you could modify things in a visually unobvious way and get away with it.

 

Lots of people have done it, but mostly on older generation cars where the engine management electronics isn't keeping a close eye on all the sensor readings. Almost certainly on your car, if you disable the EGR somehow, you'll have a permanently lit emissions warning light.

 

If the EGR is blanked off, this tends to mean blocking the 'recirculated flow' path of my diagram. This means that the EGR valve will no longer receive a stream of exhaust gases, including the particulates which tend to combine with oil mist in the incoming air to form the 'crud' that tends to build up over the years and block the airflow through the valve, into the engine. Without the recirculated flow, it will be totally unable to do its job of reducing peak combustion temperatures, and thereby the poisonous nitrogen oxides (NOx) that form at these high temperatures.

 

If you don't clean out the EGR valve the flow of air into the engine will gradually be reduced, google some pictures of blocked EGRs. So not the same as blanking off, at all.

 

 

Edited 6 February, 20197 yr by Wino

4 hours ago, Wino said:

I've sketched a simplified diagram of an EGR system to try to explain and answer some of your questions.

 

 

 

 

With your diagram and explanation it explained it very well.... thanks

Just had a look and it seems like it will be a bit of a bugga to take off and clean,not helped by not being able to but any workshop manuals. This is the first car i have ever had ( and i have had a fair few over the years) where you cant buy a manual. If its VW,s fault they should be ashamed of themselves

 

Edited 6 February, 20197 yr by JEFF-the-Bowman

You can buy a copy of elsawin?

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ELSAWIN6-0-2019-Workshop-Service-Repair-Manual-FOR-VW-SKODA-AUDI-SEAT-VEHICLES/362550825987?hash=item5469b69403:g:TaIAAOSwkjJcVZX9:rk:1:pf:1&frcectupt=true

 

 

3 hours ago, Skoda_newby said:

You can buy a copy of elsawin?

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ELSAWIN6-0-2019-Workshop-Service-Repair-Manual-FOR-VW-SKODA-AUDI-SEAT-VEHICLES/362550825987?hash=item5469b69403:g:TaIAAOSwkjJcVZX9:rk:1:pf:1&frcectupt=true

 

 

Thanks for that Sent them an e-mail and if it's suitable for my car i will get it

Assuming Im doing it right I dont find cleaning the EGR on my 1.9 to much of a problem.

With a thin screwdriver I lift the circlip(slightly leaving it in place)on the hose on the left hand side ,and pull the hose clear. Then with a screwdriver blade wrapped in an old rag ,clean carefully the worst of the muck from the inside of the valve.Then give the inside a good spray of carb cleaner ,and repeat with the rag covered screwdriver, for a final clean.

Then just push the hose back home .Job done.

I may be wrong but i read somewhere that the only sure way to clean the EGR is by taking it out of the car , then every few months clean it out with it still in the car ( like you do ) as a preventative measure

1 hour ago, JEFF-the-Bowman said:

I may be wrong but i read somewhere that the only sure way to clean the EGR is by taking it out of the car , then every few months clean it out with it still in the car ( like you do ) as a preventative measure

 

Sounds like Bobspark's EGR is in a healthy state, hence the preventative maintenance schedule.

9 hours ago, Skoda_newby said:

 

Sounds like Bobspark's EGR is in a healthy state, hence the preventative maintenance schedule.

Dread to think what the inside of my EGR valve looks like I will wait for a sunny ish day and have a peep

53 minutes ago, JEFF-the-Bowman said:

Dread to think what the inside of my EGR valve looks like I will wait for a sunny ish day and have a peep

 

I'm in the same boat, and wonder what the state of my intake pipe is. No ease fix there - have to remove and give it a nice soothing bath of hydrochloric acid.