Hello again, start-up from cold on my 110 bhp Tdi Octavia has become laboured and idle is rough up until engine temp is truly warmed up. Also engine sometimes revs up briefly on start up. I have replaced the glow plugs which has improved start up somewhat but still not as good as it used to be. Changed air filter and fuel filter and ran some injector cleaner through but no major improvement. Engine goes into a rocking mode (slight misfire) when left at idle for a few seconds, a dart of the throttle tends to shake it out but it reverts back again after a minute or so. The power curve has also got lumpy with a fair amount of turbo lag now apparent. A few weeks back also noticed oil weeping from the breather pipe coming of the rocker cover. Have check out different threads on EGR blocking up. Could this be the problem or is 120K miles the wrong side of engine life expectancy for this unit. If it is the egr any good links to photos and instructions would be much appreciated.

PS What is an EGR bypass and is it a worthwhile mod. :confused:

do a search for Allard pipe and there's a thread on removing/cleaning out the EGR. Probably worth doing in any case.

Also cage mod it...

HTH

Bas

Thanks Bas, checked out the thread, looks like a messy job, although I cant see how this could have just occurred in the last 10 K miles. If it was due to this build-up surely I should have encountered engine trouble before this , engine was fine up to this

mate, I had some pretty bad gumming up of the EGR after only about 15K miles - admittedly remapped ones. It is messy, which is why I've read that the official VAG fix is to replace, not to clean.

Worth doing if you're over 120K miles I'd imagine....

If gumming after 15K is a problem how often do you clean yours out and what are the symptoms of blockage and how have I survived up to this with no problems. Lots of questions, not that I am trying to avoid destroying myself and the neighboring wild life with black crud. Will have a look at it on the weekend if I get a chance, u reckon about 2 hours for the egr, do the rest of the pipes need to be cleaned.

Actually just replaced it with an Allard pipe - cleaned out the intake manifold just for the sake of a 'proper job'. That was messy...

Think that you can just unclip the hose that attaches to the EGR and peek inside to get an idea of how gummed up the EGR might be....

You can unlug the MAF and see if the probs go away - which points to a dodgy MAF. In that case you could try cleaning the MAF (search) and replace it if that fails....

Cage mod does work...

If all this doesn't work - better see a mechanic to have a proper evaluation...

Good luck mate

Bas

Took a look into the EGR, what do you think, from comparisons to other posts it looks pretty bad, are there any care points when doing the cleaning, could a power hose be used, does the mushroom piece (assume it is some sort of actuator) on top need to be dismantled and cleaned also. I think Ill give it a go next weekend so any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Dskoda