Passat B5.5 BHW - EGR Delete and Tune Questions

kentonsj · Oct 22, 2013

Hi Guys,
I've been researching what's required for an EGR delete on my car now for a while. I'm a little confused by what's required and I'm going to summarize what I think is the process. I want to physically remove the EGR valve and cover with a blank off plate or EGR delete pipe. Then I need to get a RC1 or RC2 tune done and specify that I want an EGR delete. I'm at 100K miles and I'm going to pull the intake manifold off and clean the gunk out. I don't want the problem to come back, hence the EGR delete. I'm up in Canada, Saskatchewan, so I'm probably going to have to send my ECU to Jeff at Rocketchip. Any comments on whether I should get the RC1 or RC2 tune? I'm mostly after fuel economy, but it's hard to not want as much power as I can get. The general consensus seems to be the RC2, but at what fuel economy sacrifice does this extra power come with. I suppose if I can drive it nice, it shouldn't really effect economy. Any advice on blank off plate vs EGR delete pipe? What have people done with the EGR cooling lines, just connect them up together?

Thanks.

aja8888 · Oct 22, 2013

RC 2 may be a bit much for the Passat. Jeff (Rocketship) has recommended that if you go that tune, you need a boost gauge and/or a turbo upgrade. I had him tune a RC 1.5 on my Passat a few years ago and it was great. I have no guidance on the EGR delete however.

oilhammer · Oct 22, 2013

I have had an RC1 tune now for about 70k miles, everything else stock, with no chain. Runs great. I do have a restrictor plate EGR gasket in place.

vwztips · Oct 22, 2013

I have the coolant pipe removed and block off plates in their place. The short coolant pipe from the temp sensor housing to the coolant pipe is removed. The long coolant pipe from the heater core which normally would go to the EGR cooler pipe is routed to the temp sensor housing. Mine is running the stage 2 from TDTuning but I also have a 5 speed manual conversion.

peiphil · Oct 22, 2013

kentonsj said:
Hi Guys,
I've been researching what's required for an EGR delete on my car now for a while. I'm a little confused by what's required and I'm going to summarize what I think is the process. I want to physically remove the EGR valve and cover with a blank off plate or EGR delete pipe. Then I need to get a RC1 or RC2 tune done and specify that I want an EGR delete. I'm at 100K miles and I'm going to pull the intake manifold off and clean the gunk out. I don't want the problem to come back, hence the EGR delete. I'm up in Canada, Saskatchewan, so I'm probably going to have to send my ECU to Jeff at Rocketchip. Any comments on whether I should get the RC1 or RC2 tune? I'm mostly after fuel economy, but it's hard to not want as much power as I can get. The general consensus seems to be the RC2, but at what fuel economy sacrifice does this extra power come with. I suppose if I can drive it nice, it shouldn't really effect economy. Any advice on blank off plate vs EGR delete pipe? What have people done with the EGR cooling lines, just connect them up together?

Thanks.

you might consider one dissadvantage of doing this delete.
With you living up there in Saskabush your going to freeze your arse off
Your heater gets a lot of heat from there!
Used to live in Alberta been there done that!
The egr is closed at full throttle any way so removing it will not net any power gains
The restricter plate might help tho if milage is your main goal.

DeliveryValve · Oct 22, 2013

oilhammer said:
... I do have a restrictor plate EGR gasket in place.

What is this EGR restrictor plate you speak of? Home made? Or something we can buy?

.

johnboy00 · Oct 22, 2013

kentonsj said:
Hi Guys,
I've been researching what's required for an EGR delete on my car now for a while. I'm a little confused by what's required and I'm going to summarize what I think is the process. I want to physically remove the EGR valve and cover with a blank off plate or EGR delete pipe. Then I need to get a RC1 or RC2 tune done and specify that I want an EGR delete. I'm at 100K miles and I'm going to pull the intake manifold off and clean the gunk out. I don't want the problem to come back, hence the EGR delete. I'm up in Canada, Saskatchewan, so I'm probably going to have to send my ECU to Jeff at Rocketchip. Any comments on whether I should get the RC1 or RC2 tune? I'm mostly after fuel economy, but it's hard to not want as much power as I can get. The general consensus seems to be the RC2, but at what fuel economy sacrifice does this extra power come with. I suppose if I can drive it nice, it shouldn't really effect economy. Any advice on blank off plate vs EGR delete pipe? What have people done with the EGR cooling lines, just connect them up together?

Thanks.

These PD motors do not have the same clogged intake problems of the ALH and other Pre-PD, Pre-USLD engines. Very few BHW owners have cleaned their intakes and I can't recall a singe instance of anyone noting that they had a badly clogged intake.

So unless you have a leaking EGR cooler, I would motor on and leave everything as is.

kentonsj · Oct 22, 2013

Great input and discussion!

oilhammer said:
I have had an RC1 tune now for about 70k miles, everything else stock, with no chain. Runs great. I do have a restrictor plate EGR gasket in place.

I'm not sure I really understand what the restictor plate does. Is it a total EGR blank off, or does it install before or after the EGR to limit it's use? Did you still do the EGR delete in the tune?

DeliveryValve said:
What is this EGR restrictor plate you speak of? Home made? Or something we can buy?
.

Great minds think alike

johnboy00 said:
These PD motors do not have the same clogged intake problems of the ALH and other Pre-PD, Pre-USLD engines. Very few BHW owners have cleaned their intakes and I can't recall a singe instance of anyone noting that they had a badly clogged intake.
So unless you have a leaking EGR cooler, I would motor on and leave everything as is.

I should have included a little more background. I have a P0401 and P0402 CEL code when I read with OBDII. They are EGR - Low Flow and EGR - Excessive Flow respectively. I thought it might be an indication my EGR valve is stuck in some middle position as a result of being gummed up. I thought doing the EGR delete, ECU tune and intake manifold cleaning would take care of all those issues in one maintenance blitz. I'm not against leaving the EGR valve in place, especially if it doesn't cause intake issues. The assumption these intakes gummed up was the primary reason to explore the EGR delete.

peiphil said:
you might consider one dissadvantage of doing this delete.
With you living up there in Saskabush your going to freeze your arse off
Your heater gets a lot of heat from there!
Used to live in Alberta been there done that!
The egr is closed at full throttle any way so removing it will not net any power gains
The restricter plate might help tho if milage is your main goal.

vwztips said:
I have the coolant pipe removed and block off plates in their place. The short coolant pipe from the temp sensor housing to the coolant pipe is removed. The long coolant pipe from the heater core which normally would go to the EGR cooler pipe is routed to the temp sensor housing. Mine is running the stage 2 from TDTuning but I also have a 5 speed manual conversion.

I don't want to get cold, I need all the heat I can get inside the car, isn't the way vwztips routed the coolant lines still going to supply the heater core with engine coolant? Does the heat from the EGR valve really boost the coolant temp to the heater core that much? This is a fairly important point, it's going to be -30 here in 2 months! Thanks for the heads up.

peiphil · Oct 22, 2013

No problem!
The dam things idling or slow driving dont burn enough fuel to keep the car warm with out that.

johnboy00 · Oct 22, 2013

EGRs have been known to get gunked up occasionally. They are really easy to remove and clean (3 screws). If that doesn't help with the problem, continue on with the delete.

vanbcguy · Oct 22, 2013

The EGR cooler is a direct heat exchanger between the hot exhaust and the engine coolant, it adds a LOT of heat to the coolant since the engine itself is too darn efficient to do it itself.

It really isn't a matter of routing hoses so much as it is a matter of not having the exhaust heat in the coolant to provide cabin heat. If you take it out you'll have much longer warm up times in cold weather.

oilhammer · Oct 23, 2013

The 'restrictor plate' is an EGR gasket from the AAZ engine, with a smaller hole in the middle.

It has a 9mm hole in the center, instead of the usual 32mm. The part number is 028-131-547-B. I've had it in place since the car had about 50 miles on it. Just replace the gasket between the EGR cooler and upper pipe, takes about 2 minutes.

vwztips · Oct 23, 2013

I have no problem with heat. In fact the thermometer I have in the vent went well past the 140 F max this morning.

50harleyrider · Oct 23, 2013

I'm running a TDtuning stage 2 tune and a BV43A turbo and it runs great with no noticeable MPG decrease. Still running the automatic. Has a little turbo lag but spools quickly. EGR is gone too. Won't know if that negatively affects me until winter. I use a frostheater in the mornings so don't really care.

2004PassatTDI · Oct 23, 2013

I had RC2 installed about 125,000 miles ago. Car now has 160,000 miles. Power is there when I want it, and so is the great fuel economy. Just not at the same time. 5 years ago I went on a long trip and got over 900 miles on a tank. Dealership bricked my computer when they did an unauthorized glow plug update. Dealership installed a new computer, but in the meantime, Jeff re-flashed a spare computer and sent it back within 2 days. My vote is for RC2.

kentonsj · Oct 25, 2013

Thanks for all the tips. I'm going to take the EGR valve off and clean it, inspection the intake for build-up and install the restrictor plate. I'll leave the EGR in place for benefit of warmth.

abctdi · Oct 25, 2013

oilhammer said:
The 'restrictor plate' is an EGR gasket from the AAZ engine, with a smaller hole in the middle.

It has a 9mm hole in the center, instead of the usual 32mm. The part number is 028-131-547-B. I've had it in place since the car had about 50 miles on it. Just replace the gasket between the EGR cooler and upper pipe, takes about 2 minutes.

So for someone without a tune, will this throw a code and/or light up the mil?

oilhammer · Oct 25, 2013

Mine did not trigger an MIL until around 50k miles, but I suspect a 'soft code' was set some time before that. I routinely scan for faults at every service, and I know there were none stored at 40k.

I cleared it, and it was fine until 70k, when I found a DTC stored but it had not yet requested the MIL. I cleared it, then shortly after 80k I got RC'd. I thought since Jeff had performed some EGR "strategery" on the ECU, it would have stopped the rolling EGR flow DTC completely. However, it did not. Around 125k, the MIL came on again, and then once more was in the fault memory (but no MIL) at 140k.

At that time, I went ahead and removed the EGR valve and pipe and restrictor plate gasket, cleaned them all (they really were not that dirty) and put them all back in. Took about 15 minutes tops, easy to do. Knocking on 150k now, and so far so good.

Seems to be more frequent an issue when I have not driven the car for a while, and only my wife has. While I know she doesn't baby the car, I have seen a pretty obnoxious cloud of black smoke puff out its butt the first time I get in it from time to time and then it clears up. Thing is, though, it can be a little tough to really open it up on a daily routine if traffic is bad unless you just Tip the gearbox and leave it in a lower gear when romping on the highway.

abctdi · Oct 25, 2013

Thanks.

Quest4TDI · Apr 8, 2014

oilhammer said:
Mine did not trigger an MIL until around 50k miles, but I suspect a 'soft code' was set some time before that. I routinely scan for faults at every service, and I know there were none stored at 40k.

I cleared it, and it was fine until 70k, when I found a DTC stored but it had not yet requested the MIL. I cleared it, then shortly after 80k I got RC'd. I thought since Jeff had performed some EGR "strategery" on the ECU, it would have stopped the rolling EGR flow DTC completely. However, it did not. Around 125k, the MIL came on again, and then once more was in the fault memory (but no MIL) at 140k.

At that time, I went ahead and removed the EGR valve and pipe and restrictor plate gasket, cleaned them all (they really were not that dirty) and put them all back in. Took about 15 minutes tops, easy to do. Knocking on 150k now, and so far so good.

Seems to be more frequent an issue when I have not driven the car for a while, and only my wife has. While I know she doesn't baby the car, I have seen a pretty obnoxious cloud of black smoke puff out its butt the first time I get in it from time to time and then it clears up. Thing is, though, it can be a little tough to really open it up on a daily routine if traffic is bad unless you just Tip the gearbox and leave it in a lower gear when romping on the highway.

Makes me wonder if someone, lets say the CA smog inspector, would find a code or not? Would a couple of romps on the accelerator while in neutral give any clouds of smoke?

Have a mystery white smoke (no coolant loss),which led us to think a stuck injector, but now there's suddenly coolant loss. Head gasket or EGR cooler (dealer replace EGR valve in July of last year)? Just starting to research.

Herb

Armagon · Aug 27, 2015

Hi, my brother had a BHW Passat and the EGR cooler blew and made me replace the head gasket because the car had all the symptoms for a blown head gasket. I was not hard to motivate on this one because the car has 240 000 km and the krank seal was leaking and we also wanted to change the camshaft.
So on removing all the hardware I noticed the intake was particularly wet, and I filled the EGR cooler with water and let it stand there a couple hours to find water INSIDE the cooler.
So since it is a very expensive part, I was thinking to just delete the EGR and get it reflashed. But there is also the low heating problem. I am in Northern Canada and it may be bigger of a problem since it already was.

Do any body have a link on the right chip to use and a kit that I can buy that will allow me to delete the EGR as it would be on a ALH.

klach · May 12, 2018

Dubsport Inc in Edmonton.

4821 118 Ave NW, Edmonton, AB T5W 1B5

Does Malone Tunes and deletes.

I feel your pain. We don't need this emissions crap up in this altitude.

ajjw0828 · Oct 3, 2018

Is it possible to add some kind of coolant heater for the engine that would make up for the loss of heat with a delete? 50harleyrider- did you have a problem with your engine in the winter?

Also, just so I understand. Do you loose heat with the restrictor plate/ gasket modification?

Passat B5.5 BHW - EGR Delete and Tune Questions

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