I tried to remove mine for cleaning today to get ahead of the game and to have an idea of the general state of health of the intake tract.

 

I tried and failed which is unlike me but the hot weather didn't help neither did my failing eyesight trying to peer into a dark recess with blinding sunlight coming in from the side.

 

Photos are beyond my skillset so I will have to try and describe what I thought was the EGR I was trying to remove.

 

After removing the rubber angled pipe from the intercooler that runs in front of the camshaft pulley I was left with a sort of motorised butterfly and behind that what I believe to the the EGR, it has one vacuum pipe leading to the diaphragm, the motorised valve had one connector.

 

It would appear that they can or may have to come off together, one long fixing goes through both of them to the inlet manifold.

 

There would appear to be 3 equi-spaced fixings holding on the EGR, one being the long one mentioned before, I can remove the ones at 60° and 300° and assume there is a third at the bottom but can neither see it nor feel it, if the weather was not so hot then jacking up and removing the undertray would probably reveal the third fixing, as it is through trying to feel my way around my hands are shredded!

 

So is that the EGR and if so how do you get to the 3rd bolt, worryingly I could not feel any pipe coming up from underneath from the exhaust system. Does the motorised butterfly have to be removed if so then how and also what is this device?

 

Many thanks.

 

I had already watched that, mine has another component like a throttle body bolted onto/through that EGR (identical to mine) which obstructs the lower fixing and I cant see how to seperate it from the EGR to give the access.

 

Not knowing what it is doesn't help because I dont know what to call it for searches that brought up the above video.

 

Wotisit?

It is a throttle body. Also known as an anti shudder valve. 

The throttle body is held on by four 5 mm Allen key bolts. Once that is off you have to unbolt the EGR pipe from underneath the EGR valve. Then there are a couple more 5 mm Allen key bolts holding that to the manifold. All done from up top. 

Thanks Techie, I found and removed a couple of them, will have another try when its not so hot.

 

By feel I could not find the pipe at all but I know it must be there.

 

Thanks again and also for explaining what the throttle valve is for, seemed completely out of place on a diesel engine.

It has two functions. 

 

1. At ignition off the flap closes to starve the engine of air and shuts it down. 

 

2. Diesels don’t produce manifold vacuum (hence the need of a vacuum pump). So in the situation where the EGR valve opens (off throttle, coasting etc. ) there is no manifold depression to draw the exhaust gas into the inlet. So the butterfly is fitted (this used to be a vacuum operated flap before Euro4). This partially closes during the EGR cycle causing a depression behind it (right in front of the EGR valve) and gas is drawn in to be re combusted. 

Got it!

 

why dont they partially hobble that instead of using EGR blanking plates etc?

 

I will hazard a guess and perhaps answer my own question, like the heater flaps it has a potenitiometer and the ECU compares the actual position with the commanded one.

 

Maybe a hole drilled in the butterfly but then it might start shaking and running on.

 

Some EGR blank plates arrived today, amazing as I'm sure Iplaced the order last night, will try one of them with a 10mm hole drilled in it.

 

Back out to attack it again now!

Would be easier to pull the vacuum pipe off the EGR valve. System won’t work then. But will flag an insufficient flow fault

All done, orifice from pipe to EGR valve seat was full of what looked like grease, then some water came out so maybe it was emulsified oil but too clean for exhaust gas recirc, gases were getting through a small orifice in the grease, I think someone in the past has used a mityvac or whatever to raise the valve then injected grease underneath to block the port.

 

Anyone else heard of this bodge, it had actually worked because only a 4-5mm diameter air passage had opend though the grease barrier.

 

I used a blanking flange at the other end where its easier to access to remove, I drilled a 13/64 hole through it for the initial tests (1/4" drill bit broken) and will open it out if I get a fault code.

 

Havn't driven it yet but its making some whistling noises.

 

Will post again if anything to report.

 

Came apart easily when i knew what I was looking for, there were 3 fixings on the throttle valve and 4 on the EGR unit one of which was a long bolt passing through the throttle valve so there are a total of 6 fixings not 7.

On the Euro4 BLT in the Fabia we started with a 9 mm hole in the gasket and went out to 14 mm which kept the light off, helped with the turbo stutter issues on the vRS but also still kept it legal. 

Too late, too dark & too hot to try tonight but expect to do some opening out tomorrow.

VAG also do a reduced hole gasket plate - part no 028131547B which avoids the fault code you normally get with fitting a blanking plate.

Good to know, I caused myself some problems by not fully engaging the front joint on the induction pipe that runs in front of the cam sprocket, the gasket had slid forward over the retaining tangs and was no longer in the bore.

 

Caused me a lot of headaches as I had forgotten to bring my VCDS dongle with me, in the interim while looking for where all the power had gone I removed the plate only to refit it again after full boost was returned.

 

Its running OK with the small hole in it.

 

Its sacriledge to say this but while running without any turbo boost or very little the car could maintain 70mph with a little bit in reserve, gutless but around town it was fine, more than fine actually as it drove a lot better with instant and progressive throttle response.

 

It has all the grunt back now but I had not realised how much lag there is between goosing the throttle and getting full power for the RPM.

 

Around town I reckon an SDi might be the better drive.