EGR Valve Fault

Dogtanian1234 · 25 November, 2019

Just had my car diagnosed with a EGR Valve fault. Got a loss of power and going into "limp mode" also got the amber engine management light showing on the dashboard constantly.

Just wondering if anyone has had this issue before to find out if this can be cleaned or it's a new unit that's needed?

Dogtanian1234 · 29 November, 2019

**Update**

Car has now been diagnosed with a failed solenoid valve on the Exhaust Gas Recirculation (ERG) resulting in getting no power down. Manifold has to be stripped down & turbo seals will be replaced aswell as good practice to do this while this work is done. What I understand is this is quite a big job to do.

Had to get the part directly from Skoda as when trying to source the solenoid valve elsewhere the multiplug wouldnt fit despite all my details being inputed correctly when searching with 3rd party suppliers.

Apparently this is a fairly common fault and the garage where my car is being repaired advised me they have replaced quite a few of them before. Still waiting on a quote on the part from Skoda and labour costs but will update this later when I know 👍

Edited 29 November, 2019 by Dogtanian1234

Dogtanian1234 · 2 December, 2019

Well just got the car back, up and running with no issues and engine management light not showing on the dash now. The EGR had to come directly from Skoda in Germany so takes 2 days cause they dont stock it due to cost. Total cost including supply & fit was £710.00

camelspyyder · 2 December, 2019

Ouch. Aren't modern diesels a pain to keep running properly?

Time was when I could put 30000 miles a year on a mechanically injected Citroen or Mitsubishi diesel with no maintenance other than oil and filters every 9 weeks.

Our more modern common-rail Fiat JTD was over sensitive to poor fuels, and had repeated injector, EGR and MAF issues.

It also ate front tyres and springs due to the weight of the Diesel Lump up front.

I'm really not convinced that 44 mpg (vice 32 for the petrol version) was worth all that trouble and extra expense.

So now we both drive petrols again.

Dogtanian1234 · 2 December, 2019

Tell me about it mate I'm definitely thinking about going back to petrol. Had nothing but issues with my diesel Rapid, DPF, rear wiper motor, gearbox failure and now the EGR going after 80k although not all diesel related. The only reason I went for diesel was the fuel economy as I do motorway driving but petrol engines are catching up now and not far behind.

camelspyyder · 2 December, 2019

Currently have a 1.0 petrol that averages 51 mpg year round. Previous 1.2 did 49. Neither had DPF, EGR, or any other diesel gubbins, or the extra 100kg on the front chewing up the tyres. I expect the Rapid 1.6 diesel averages 60 mpg but for all the extra costs, I'll not be bothering. In addition to all that expense, the 1.6TDIs I've driven sound like concrete mixers too! I ran a 20 year old Mitsubishi diesel that was more refined than the brand new Skoda one I tried

delta925 · 2 December, 2019

Dogtanian1234,

Like many 1.6CR owners been there, done that & got the t-shirt with my Fabia :(

Back in 2011 1.6CR diesel was £20 RFL & 1.2TSI £90 ( from memory so maybe slightly out ) so on paper over 10 years £70 difference would nominally pay additional purchase cost and the mpg gain money in my pocket ..... how wrong I was. Mpg is worse than the 1.9PD and I often wonder how different from 1.2TSI, if I end up with one I'll find out. My only hope to recover is if eventually VAG have to pay out over the ' manipulated ' published emissions levels.

Now at 9 years rather than 10 I'm looking to change soon before any more bills. I'll be buying petrol. A 1.0 or 1.2 Rapid is one on the short list.

After a bad experience back in the mid 1990's when cats first were fitted to petrol engines I swapped to diesel for simplicity and reliability first a Rover 200 with the Peugeot derived engine then an Audi A4 1.9PD.

Neither had any engine issues. Now as Camelspyyder says petrol is the better option. If only back in 2010 I knew what I know now about EGR, DPF etc and the costs. How many basically sound cars will go for scrap because the cost of replacing these parts can not be justified ?

Dogtanian1234 · 3 December, 2019

16 hours ago, delta925 said:

Dogtanian1234,

Like many 1.6CR owners been there, done that & got the t-shirt with my Fabia 😞

Back in 2011 1.6CR diesel was £20 RFL & 1.2TSI £90 ( from memory so maybe slightly out ) so on paper over 10 years £70 difference would nominally pay additional purchase cost and the mpg gain money in my pocket ..... how wrong I was. Mpg is worse than the 1.9PD and I often wonder how different from 1.2TSI, if I end up with one I'll find out. My only hope to recover is if eventually VAG have to pay out over the ' manipulated ' published emissions levels.

Now at 9 years rather than 10 I'm looking to change soon before any more bills. I'll be buying petrol. A 1.0 or 1.2 Rapid is one on the short list.

After a bad experience back in the mid 1990's when cats first were fitted to petrol engines I swapped to diesel for simplicity and reliability first a Rover 200 with the Peugeot derived engine then an Audi A4 1.9PD.

Neither had any engine issues. Now as Camelspyyder says petrol is the better option. If only back in 2010 I knew what I know now about EGR, DPF etc and the costs. How many basically sound cars will go for scrap because the cost of replacing these parts can not be justified ?

I had no idea about the issues with diesel as it's my first one but after a bit of research on here & the web im more clued up now & yeah petrol looks the way forward.

Hopefully you dont get as many issues with a petrol Rapid but I couldn't recommend one based on my own experience. Dont know if I've been really unlucky or other owners have experienced similar problems. Which is a pity because without the faults, I get 70mpg (yes 70mpg) theres a huge amount of car for the money and it's a decent drive.

Still weighing up what my next car will be after my Rapid as I've lost a little bit of confidence in the VAG group & will probably buy japanese.

delta925 · 3 December, 2019

Dogtanian1234,

I've never seen close to an average of 70mpg and I don't drive hard.

My daily commute will never give great mpg but in summer on a long clear 100+ mile run sticking to 70mph I just scrape 60mpg.

Maybe doing this at 50mph I would see 70mpg. Overall I was expecting a 10% mpg gain from the 1.6CR over the 1.9PD.

When I bought I did wonder about the durability of Skoda given an Audi A3 Spaceback with the same engine and paper specification was another £8k. The reality nearly 9 years on is no issues with the Skoda specific parts as all have been with the VAG group wide parts. The 1.2TSi of the same era wasn't great either.

From all I've read both the final version of the 1.2TSi and the 1.0 have no underlying issues equivalent to EGR failure to bring an unexpected big bill. The cambelt and water pump at 5 years is £400 ish.

A key factor in considering a Rapid is I have a local VAG independent specialist to look after it. I guess most reputable independents including the one I used for my relatively simple 1.9PD Audi ( the local VAG specialist hadn't opened then and for the first 3 years the Fabia went to the dealer ) could look after a 1.0 Focus but I prefer the interior and luggage space of the Rapid. Initially the Rapid will cost less but in several years time the Focus will be worth more so overall similar cost.

For you at 80k miles with the EGR done the DPF is perhaps the next weak link plus depending on age and where you live so how much salt on the road over a winter the exhaust system overall. Having forked out over £700 hopefully you can get at least another 3 years or 30k miles out of your Rapid with just scheduled servicing.

Dogtanian1234 · 3 December, 2019

16 minutes ago, delta925 said:

Dogtanian1234,

I've never seen close to an average of 70mpg and I don't drive hard.

My daily commute will never give great mpg but in summer on a long clear 100+ mile run sticking to 70mph I just scrape 60mpg.

Maybe doing this at 50mph I would see 70mpg. Overall I was expecting a 10% mpg gain from the 1.6CR over the 1.9PD.

When I bought I did wonder about the durability of Skoda given an Audi A3 Spaceback with the same engine and paper specification was another £8k. The reality nearly 9 years on is no issues with the Skoda specific parts as all have been with the VAG group wide parts. The 1.2TSi of the same era wasn't great either.

From all I've read both the final version of the 1.2TSi and the 1.0 have no underlying issues equivalent to EGR failure to bring an unexpected big bill. The cambelt and water pump at 5 years is £400 ish.

A key factor in considering a Rapid is I have a local VAG independent specialist to look after it. I guess most reputable independents including the one I used for my relatively simple 1.9PD Audi ( the local VAG specialist hadn't opened then and for the first 3 years the Fabia went to the dealer ) could look after a 1.0 Focus but I prefer the interior and luggage space of the Rapid. Initially the Rapid will cost less but in several years time the Focus will be worth more so overall similar cost.

For you at 80k miles with the EGR done the DPF is perhaps the next weak link plus depending on age and where you live so how much salt on the road over a winter the exhaust system overall. Having forked out over £700 hopefully you can get at least another 3 years or 30k miles out of your Rapid with just scheduled servicing.

I mostly do motorway driving and yeah your right I have to set cruise control at 50mph. This must be the sweet spot for the 1.6 TDI & returns 70mpg. If I go above 50mph even slightly then it drops to around 60mpg due to the engine working harder at higher revs. I've had it up to 80mpg once but again the car has got to sit at 50mph & driving for a long period on the motorway but it can be done.

The Rapid is a good car if you can find the right one without issues, personally if I had the choice again I would go with the petrol versions. And as you say the luggage space and cost of the Rapid is a plus & hard to beat in its class.

The DPF is a concern as I've started to see issues with it and it's starting to regen more than it ever did before. Recently the DPF light came on the dash & wouldnt go off. Had to get the garage to reset it to clear the fault but hopefully wont fail completely which will be costly.

Heres hoping I can get some more years use out of it as I do take care of my Rapid and get it serviced every 10k 👍

delta925 · 3 December, 2019

Dogtanian1234,

For me the intervals between DPF regens has gradually decreased. My car has 62K on the clock now and down to around 250 mile intervals plus take three commute trips to complete. When new only two trips and as I recall around 400 mile intervals. If you do mostly motorway driving this ought to be better for running efficiency and hence the DPF than me. 50% of my commute on town / city roads. The other 50% is national limit dual carriageway but the traffic flow speed is often under 60mph not to mention a crawl for miles at the slightest incident or obstruction.

I've never had the DPF light come on. To be honest I've expected it if a regen starts or is part though over a weekend of several short trips. A sensor fault would be a relatively low cost fix while diagnostics should show if any anomaly of readings. I had a sensor fail at around 15 months but swapped in the work car park by Skoda Assistance back when operated by RAC.

Worst case find an independent who will remove DPF and clean it. How it will behave after is debatable so logical next step is to sell while all the dash lights stay off.

Back to mpg my longer trips with lower average and maximum speeds are cross country hence through villages and towns plus slowing for junctions and roundabouts. Hence at best 55 - 60 mpg.