EGR plate

Hi everyone, I’ve been racking my brain on this for a while but I can’t convince myself of a definitive answer. I live in California (insert groan) so of course we have to be sneaky with modding. I have a 2010 Jetta TDI Cup Edition with the CJAA motor. I was wondering if anyone has dabbled with using an EGR blanking plate, more specifically one that is sandwiched between the EGR valve itself and the EGR tube. Here’s the other part of question, I’m looking try and squeeze my MPGs a little more but not at the risk of causing more often regeneration cycles. So in short, 1. Anyone use(d) a blanking plate and how did it work for you? 2. Would using such a plate cause more regen cycles?

UPDATE: ended up just unplugging the egr valve (despite the expected CEL), and boy did it make a difference in throttle response and more low punch. On the highway my mileage went back to (or even better?) then before the dieselgate fix. Here’s the CATCH! If you start city driving with lots of stop and go traffic, you will semi-guzzle fuel when the regen cycle starts..... and doesn’t shut off. I believe without egr flow, not enough heat is made to burn the carbon out, causing excess fuel to keep being pumped out the exhaust to the DPF. And before you know it the yellow DPF light pops on. My final thoughts: if you city drive more then this probably isn’t for you. However if you’re a frequent highway flyer, whether your car is stock or you have stage one parts installed (intake, exhaust, etc) unplugging your egr for a long highway trip is a good way to get back your mileage but it does trip the CEL. If this bothers you, I believe there are Premade wiring harness is to cancel the CEL. If you live in an emissions state like me, I’m going to erase the trouble codes about a month before I need to smog it, this should give the modules ample time to reset and re-calibrate to pass the computer part of the test. Hopefully I’ll have another positive update after the test.