Should I do egr delete? And or a tune

While I was doing my timing belt I noticed it was all black and gummy in there. The guy cleaned it right before I bought the car. I saw it was clean with my own eyes so this happened in about 5k miles. Is there a vcds setting I can mess with? Any positives or negatives to any of this? I don’t really want to hurt mpg as it’s the whole purpose for this car.

I was also thinking of getting a tune as from what I can tell on here I’ll get more power and fuel economy. I believe it’s stock clutch so I’d rather not have to replace that at this time. Any recommendations on that?


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Stage 2 tune with EGR optimization helps warm up faster and decreases the amount the EGR functions limiting the gunk.

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I'm in the delete camp. Tales of slow warmup are overblown in my experience.
Just make sure you've got a good thermostat and temp sensor.
A catch can is a big help to keeping the intake and turbo cleaner.
Stage 2 tune is all you need. IIRC you're in CT? Should be a Malone
dealer handy.

I also live in ct and deleted my egr in February. I saw no noticeable difference in warm up time, though that’s most likely based on your driving style.

So is this all I need?


https://www.ebay.com/itm/VW-TDI-1-9...rentrq:47db6c8c1720aade0357574affaf342a|iid:1


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Yes. When you delete the egr, you will have a check engine light. If and when you get a tune, just let them know it’s gone and they’ll tune it out for you.

Can you pass emissions without an egr? I think they just hook up to the obf 2 port normally: I’m not sure what they do on diesels as this is my first. I’m in Connecticut.


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I took my car through emissions before I started my mods. You will need a cat to pass and as I said earlier, a tune to eliminate the cel or you will fail. They won’t be physically looking under the hood for the egr system though.

My cat is there is just has no insides so it looks fine.


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What are you goals/plans for the car, how much $ you got, and are you willing to do the work or have someone do it for you?
IMO clean things up, make it all work nicly and keep it stock and slap a tune on it and call it good. otherwise buy a car that does what you want!

I do everything myself. I don’t want to try to make it something it’s not. If I could get more power without sacrificing fuel economy that would be nice. If I wanna go fast I’ll drive my hellcat. This car is a fuel saver for me. I do like to mess with all my cars a bit though.


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So my ahu mk3 Jetta ended up putting down about 230hp on some 764,s, a gt2052, a stage 6 tune, cam, valves, and a ton of bolt on parts and mostly internal stock block. It didnt last too long with my high egts but, while it did, I could get lip into the average of 62 to 63mpg, with a confirmed 72mpg of 99.9% highway 80mph on cruise control going cross country. But that was an outlier!
However I have a confirmed 8mpg when o go do autocross and track days with an average of 18mpg going to the track and doing the event. If I drive it the way I normally do, about 40mpg is about right but all that backroad power!
Diesel power is made by making the same fuel burn better! In a bit shell!

Deleting things wont really get you any mpg better. The only things that will are improved nozzles and more air. Not nessaserilu more fuel, just a better spray pattern and what not.

Trakpak said:

So is this all I need?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/VW-TDI-1-9...rentrq:47db6c8c1720aade0357574affaf342a|iid:1

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I'd recommend metal barbs for the hose connections, ez to find at a good
plumbing supply or one of the big box stores, liner SS hose clamps, and a
t-bolt clamp for the intercooler connection.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Billet-Alu...691035&hash=item46740c881f:g:rqMAAOSwp-RaUGhz


Here's the catch can I used, search in the MkIV forum for a couple threads
on installation.

Trakpak said:

Can you pass emissions without an egr? I think they just hook up to the obf 2 port normally: I’m not sure what they do on diesels as this is my first. I’m in Connecticut.


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No, you will not pass emissions if you have EGR delete .

You can pass if its deleted via a tune but it technically wont pass if it's missing, but inspection/emissions dont know these things. Like you said, they do just plug into the obd2 port and check it. Imo, leave it in place and get it working properly. A catch can when done properly will help big time keeping things clean. You can also get a soft egr tune to help with soot build up. It's not going to rob or gain any mpg doing either delete or leaving it in place.
It does help out a lot to have it functional though. Unless your going full race car, leave it in place and make it work

When mine was tuned, the duty cycle of the EGR was turned down to the lowest point, at least that is how it was explained to me, to minimize the sooting up of the intake. The tune also was tweaked so the EGR could be removed, and no CEL. When I did all the mods, I made thin block off plates from 1/16" aluminum and sandwiched them in between the EGR parts. So the EGR is installed, looks completely normal to even a trained eye, but completely inoperative. I do think the car takes longer to warm up in winter setup like this however. I also run with no cat, it gets installed for inspections, every two years and then removed again. Why? I can feel the difference in the car with and without. I've never had a problem with inspections, with cat in place, and no CEL, breezes right through.

You can do the stealth mod( remove the guts of the egr ) leave everything there so you still have the ASV function and it looks like it’s still installed. Get a tune so the cel isn’t on.

So if a nosey inspector is looking it will look like it’s still there functioning.

You will still need to make block off plates if your cooler is removed.

Depending on your state it’s either a full blown ( let’s see what we can get them on) to just an OBII connection and no CEL. New Jersey used to be like the first, I couldn’t get my cars to pass on the first go around, usually something stupid would fail, and that usually was a bulb, to now everything could be broken, falling off the car, rusted through but by GOd the CEL light is off and the OBII is good....next please.........

Tuners can set up your car to show readiness even with the EGR and cooler deleted. And some states don't plug in older cars. In MA if your car is over 15 years old it's inspected for safety only. Don't know if CT has that rule. I wouldn't worry about the visual check: when it comes to diesels most inspection stations don't know what they're looking at. I removed the EGR and cooler from my car in 2007 and have never had a problem.

CT checks for CEL and readiness. For an EGR delete you will need a tune. They have never checked for an EGR or CAT on my car. I am in Fairfield county if you want to check my set up.

Lex4TDI4Life said:

CT checks for CEL and readiness. For an EGR delete you will need a tune. They have never checked for an EGR or CAT on my car. I am in Fairfield county if you want to check my set up.

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Interesting, I thought the cat was something they actually checked for. Good to know.

I used to take the cat off my 03 ram and put it back on for inspection. One year I said the hell with it and went in with no cat. I always ran the non fouler trick so I had no light. The guy failed me because he visually didn’t see a cat under the truck although technically it passed all their tests.


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Mongler98 said:

You can pass if its deleted via a tune but it technically wont pass if it's missing, but inspection/emissions dont know these things. Like you said, they do just plug into the obd2 port and check it. Imo, leave it in place and get it working properly. A catch can when done properly will help big time keeping things clean. You can also get a soft egr tune to help with soot build up. It's not going to rob or gain any mpg doing either delete or leaving it in place.
It does help out a lot to have it functional though. Unless your going full race car, leave it in place and make it work

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When you do EGR delete in Tune , Monitor will be always Not Ready and it will fail OBD emission.
For visual check you never know , this is gamble every time , you can have expert for Diesels , or you can have guy form street that has no idea about anything inside engine.

03Wagn said:

Yes. When you delete the egr, you will have a check engine light. If and when you get a tune, just let them know it’s gone and they’ll tune it out for you.

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does it usually cost more money to have them tune out the CEL?

No , it didn’t for me and I’ve done 4 tunes….all of them have the egr delete with various tunes.

Mine was included with the tune.

csstevej said:

No , it didn’t for me and I’ve done 4 tunes….all of them have the egr delete with various tunes.

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nice! thank you