AHU EGR plumbing wanter

AHU EGR plumbing wanted

Does anyone have a manifold, egr cooler and plumbing for a 1998 Jetta AHU? We are having trouble passing smog as we replaced a broken manifold a few years ago with an older version without the egr cooler. Now we want to try and restore it so it can pass.

The cooler can't bolt onto the older manifold?

How did it pass before, with the "wrong" parts? I'd try to use those guys again.

I passed this car along to my son, and am on the other side of the country now. I don't recall exactly how the manifold differs, it may have even been from a pre EGR car, but I recall not being able hook the EGR system up for some reason and so I put in a plate to block the exhaust.

I'm pretty sure I passed once because they did not do the visual inspection very rigorously, but failed last year before I left town this round because the guy did. Now my son tells me it is throwing an EGR code before it resets all the monitors.

The turbo's vacuum controls have been problematic since I got it, I replaced all the valves and plumbing, including the tube inside the ECU a number of years ago and even rebuilt the turbo when I did a valve job, but it still occasionally throws a P1550, and a couple of other codes.

I'm not sure if he has the same feel as I do to manage the drive cycle, so don't know if something else is going on. At this point I'm looking to find the parts so if he gets the $500 repair benefit from air resources they can fix it enough to pass.

I just sent him the drive cycle schedule so maybe he will be able to manage.

P1550 isn't an EGR code. I was getting that a few months ago, and it went away when I replaced the torn 4mm hose going to the ECU from the intercooler.

Have him get a list of all the codes, and search this forum for solutions.

No it's a manifold pressure differential, usually caused by leaking turbo control pneumatic hoses or the N75 control solenoid, but it will fail the test with any fault code, and once cleared it has to reset all the monitors in the drive cycle, which can take long enough that another code may appear before it's complete depending on how one drives.

I've had a lot of these cars, and that AHU has been the biggest hassle. First year of TDIs and there were still some bugs. But my son loves it, altho he's not much of a wrench and so it's hard now that me, my Vag Com and Snap On roll cab are 3000 miles away.

nesdon said:

I've had a lot of these cars, and that AHU has been the biggest hassle. First year of TDIs and there were still some bugs. But my son loves it, altho he's not much of a wrench and so it's hard now that me, my Vag Com and Snap On roll cab are 3000 miles away.

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Absolutely not true at all. IDK where you're getting your info but the early engines, 1Z/AHU, were installed in cars as early as 93 (Europe) so by 96/7 there were literally no more 'bugs' to be worked out.

There are those of us here who have had cars with almost zero problems, early (for US) cars like the 97 Mk3's.

Just because it was the first years for tdi in the US doesn't mean that the product wasn't well established where it was built.

Maybe you just got unlucky with what you bought, but if you repair to specs and are thorough these cars are rock solid in the drive train.

Steve

I have the entire EGR setup i took off when i deleted it at 230K miles. its in fine working order. I have everything from the water to exhaust exchanger to the stock intake manifold and i even have that gasket matched ported. and all the parts that come with that. If your interested let me know.

Also AHU is a fine engine, its just a few HP less than the ALH when stock. right now im at 336K miles on my 98 jetta AHU and for the last 60K miles i have been pushing 31PSI though it with a gt2052 and pp.764 and a crap load of mods with a *explode my engine* tune from malone. about 215HP with an upgraded clutch at god knows how much like what 300-320ftlb, Im writing this going on 29 hours with no sleep so forgive me if i cant remember the exact torque on this one. yet to be on a dyno but when i took the head off 10K miles ago to fix my over boost coolant issue i specked the bore out and zero dialed the pistons, the engine is in great shape and way within tolerances best i can measure with my bore gauge.

Dont think for a minute that the AHU has issues that most TDI's dont. its really easy to work on, can change the timing belt in 30 minutes. aside from a few things like the egr (DELETED) and the fuel filter (NICTANE) there are a hand full of easy parts out there to make the car more reliable than the way VW made it. Granted its a VW and a rust magnet but your dislike for AHU is unwarranted.

PM sent (I have one)

Maybe being a California car makes a difference re: the reliability of the controls. That stupid little hose inside the ECU is enough for me to call foul on, and my later common rail cars seemed way more reliable, and certainly nothing like my amazingly bullet-proof pre TDI cars.

Engineers sort out issues as they come up, so any earlier TDI is going to have flaws that were resolved in later versions. Sorry if my remark tainted your AHU love.

oor, next time you want an inspection, take to a shop that 'wont notice' minor violations, such as egr delete. for mine i put a blank/block betw my exhaust to the cooler/flex pipe. it will take eyes that know exactly what they are looking for. other than that right now i still have dash light on(cel), working on that to try to get it to turn off.