Engine full of soot! Cracked EGR Pipe the culprit?!

I have an engine bay full of soot (see pictures below), primarily in the rear passenger side! It has been like this for quite a while now... almost a year so I figured I'd finally do something about it. I did some research and came to a possible conclusion that the upper EGR pipe is to blame. I took a look today at the EGR top pipe, however I could not get a too good of a look since I couldn't get the whole pipe off. The pipe has a lot of soot on it as well as a lot of soot on top of the EGR cooler. Additionally, I have the typical squeel and interior exhaust smell (including soot on the inside!) and I have a turbo underboost/overboost CEL code. Would a cracked EGR pipe cause all of this, or is there something bigger to blame? Also, I cannot block off the EGR due to emissions where I live.

Car in question is an '04 Golf TDI PD w/65,000 miles and Upsolute chipped.

They normally break where the accordian part of the pipe is.

I would say a broken EGR pipe is the sole culprit of this. Did the dealer perform the EGR cooler replacement under the recall? This is usually what causes the failure, faulty dealer recall work. Usually it is the lower pipe that breaks at its flex joint. If it was replaced, the dealer should replace it again for free. If you take it in, I would skip the part of the story about how long ago the failure occurred.

--Nate

This looks like a good mod to keep the intake clean, I might crack mine this weekend.

Nah. That only works to keep the EGR plumbing clean. They'll leave the intake at least as clogged as when you brought it in.

Oops - did you mean to keep soot from going through to the intake manifold via the EGR?

Well, yup. That works.

PDJetta said:

I would say a broken EGR pipe is the sole culprit of this. Did the dealer perform the EGR cooler replacement under the recall? This is usually what causes the failure, faulty dealer recall work. Usually it is the lower pipe that breaks at its flex joint. If it was replaced, the dealer should replace it again for free. If you take it in, I would skip the part of the story about how long ago the failure occurred.

--Nate

Click to expand...

Agree, you might want to check the lower pipe as well. With the car up on ramps, look up from underneath between the firewall and the engine and you should be able to see the lower pipe. I'll almost bet a 20 ounce coca-cola that its broken as well.

Thanks for everyone's input. Last weekend I got my car up on a lift and replaced the lower EGR pipe. That pipe must have had a really bad leak because when I took it off, it came off in two pieces! My car runs a hell of a lot better now and the soot/diesel smell has ceased in the inside of the car. Now, if only that damn CEL will go out...

Make sure all of the EGR cooler bolts are in too. And if the EGR cooler was ever replaced, the lower pipe must be replaced too, with a pipe of a different part number. They look alike, but vary slightly. The new part number pipe is made to fit the new cooler.

If the dealer replaced the cooler under the recall, they should have installed an "M-6 Campaign" kit, that has all of the goodies that are needed.

The original cooler pipes rarely break before the dealer messes with them. Usually, the dealer does not install the cooler properly, or fails to use the proper lower pipe when they do. There is a very detailed installation procedure listed in Bentley AND in the M-6 campaign instructions that must be followed to take all stress off of the EGR cooler pipes, or they will break.

--Nate

Yep, I followed the instructions step-by-step according to the M6 campaign and I had my Bentley just in case. I replaced the gaskets on the upper pipe as well as installed the lower pipe with new gaskets. I ordered the lower pipe from tdiparts.com and it matched with the part number on the campaign. The whole process took me 5 hours! I ended up losing one of the bolts for the upper pipe so I had to wait for my wife to pick up some new bolts from the dealer and bring them to me. It was fun doing the job and I surely do not miss that squeel.

Wanna bet you can bypass it and still pass emissions? I ended up doing that about 6 months ago when I decided I was done replacing the pipes. With a good tune and running your engine cover you will pass, no problem