Fun with EGR valves!

"ASheep" (ASheep) 08/11/2013 at 07:58 • Filed to: None

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Also known as I MENDED A THING!!!

My TDI has had some cold starting problems, and stumbling idle when cold for a little while now, but it hasn't been too bad really. I started poking around, looking for a fuel leak or something similarly nasty, but I was faced with a horrible mess underneath the EGR valve. I didn't take a photo of it because I had a derp moment and forgot... Let's just say it was a big oily sooty mess.

One of the gasket seals on the EGR valve had blown, and it had been spraying deliciously oily soot everywhere for what appears to be some time...

Knowing that a clogged EGR valve can be fatal and very expensive, I pulled it out to give it a clean. Here's what it looked like:

The butterfly didn't look too bad here, but it was almost completely seized.

The exhaust inlet valve on the other hand was disgusting! It couldn't move throughout its full travel and wasn't sealing properly due to the huge amount of soot buildup.

After several hours of scrubbing in a Kerosene bath, and a hit with a pressure cleaner, and another hit with a kerosene soaked scouring pad, the EGR valve looked much better!

The butterfly freed up almost instantly, but the inlet valve only freed up once I had finished the cleaning. After a quick function test, I put it all together and fired it up. It started first go, no sooty exhaust and no stumbling. There was a bit of Clarkson style "I MENDED A THING" celebration, before I realised I had to clean up the mess I made!

VW charge a hell of a lot of money to do this, although their usual solution is to just flat out replace the whole valve and inlet manifold. In a few months I'll probably rip the manifold off and clean that out too, because it's most likely in the same state as the EGR system!

DoctorNine > ASheep 08/11/2013 at 09:36

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It's amazing how often something on a car can be fixed by just taking it apart, cleaning it, and putting it back together at specified tolerances. Does give one a sense of accomplishment, doesn't it?

ASheep > DoctorNine 08/11/2013 at 10:04

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It is indeed amazing how often a good clean fixes mechanical things. The real sense of accomplishment came from seeing my neighbour's face when I fired the engine back up. Earlier in the day he'd seen me in the garage, elbow deep in the engine bay, and commented something along the lines of "You idiot, you're just going to break it, these new cars can only be fixed by dealers!"

desertdog5051 > ASheep 08/11/2013 at 10:11

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Nice job and great pics.

ZeroOrDie - Powered By MZR > ASheep 08/12/2013 at 10:20

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Good for you man. My egr valve on my mustang was stalling it out. It would get stuck full open at idle and stall the engine. A similar action was taken rather than replacing everything. A good clean feeling.