Best method for EGR cleaning?

01TDIMKIV

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 9, 2006
Location
Alexandria, VA
TDI
2001 Jetta
One other question, is it helpful if you have access to a lift? I took a look today in preperation for doing this next week, and it seemed a little difficult to find the bolts on teh back side. Thanks in advance!
 

01TDIMKIV

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 9, 2006
Location
Alexandria, VA
TDI
2001 Jetta
Bookworm said:
EGR can clog on gas engines also. Did you know that? Does anybody care?
I have read many of your opinions concerning the EGR. While I do agree with you, I am only prusuing this to diagnose an oil consumption issue. Any thoughts??
 

jrock

Veteran Member
Joined
May 3, 2004
Location
Dallas, TX
TDI
Jetta, 2001, Blue, Passat, 2012 Silver
Bookworm,

Your right about gas engines, my Honda accord had this issue that made the accelerator stick. Let me tell you having your accelerator stick is not safe.
 

Sprocket

Sprockette's hubby
Joined
Nov 18, 2004
Location
MI
TDI
2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit Eco Diesel, 2005 Passat Silverstone Grey, 1996 Passat Storm Grey
So, last weekend I took apart the egr and peeked around. I've got 54K on the car and it had suprisingly very little build up. I do have RC2 with the egr reduction. I mostly wanted to see what mine looked like with my mileage. I also installed the egr restrictor plates. I started with the ones that had a hole about the size of a pencil to see if the CEL would come on. After a test drive and no CEL, I tried the plates without any hole. I've got over 500 miles now without a CEL. I'm guessing it's due to the egr reduction I opted for when I got RC2. I'll keep everyone posted if things change.
 

01TDIMKIV

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 9, 2006
Location
Alexandria, VA
TDI
2001 Jetta
I did pull my EGR. As I thought, very little build up. I cleaned it since I had it off, but I am not going to mess with the manifold. Since it has been cleaned, it is more apparent that the weep hole is leaking oil. I have heard this may be a sign of it failing. Can it also be an indication of whether or not there is too much oil in the intake system?? Like the turbo leaking too much oil, or the CCV system leaking too much??

Also to diagnose, before I slap a new EGR on her, is to pulling the intercooler to see if there is excess oil a good way to diagnose a turbo going bad?

Like I have mentioned before, I am trying to see where a quart of oil is going every 1k miles. She is running fine and getting about 40 mpg.

Thanks-Chris
 

2002MK4

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2011
Location
Scarborough
TDI
2002, 2003 Jetta TDI
Nothing personal intended. And I don't take most things very seriously.

What I have seen over the years here is that someone will get overly alarmed over something (like an EGR valve that is supposed to look dirty) and whip others into a frenzy as though the sky was falling. Then you get a whole group of otherwise sane people jumping over the cliff like lemmings. I've seen this with removing snow screens (first it was a good idea, now people think it's a bad idea), removing the MAF screen (definately a bad idea), using oiled air filters (killed lots of MAFs), removing mufflers, venting crankcase vapors to atmosphere with elephant hoses (only to have them freeze up), wrapping the downpipe with insulating tape, yada, yada...
Well I can certainly agree with you on the snow screen thing. Checked mine at 110,000 miles...it was completely clean. I mean it's great that I checked it but I basically wasted 15 minutes of my time.
 

2002MK4

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2011
Location
Scarborough
TDI
2002, 2003 Jetta TDI
That's not the type of EGR valve we have on our PD motors. Cleaning the type you've just shown would be beneficial since the soot blocks the flow of intake air. That's not the case with a PD motor.

eb2143: I've had a VERY good look at my EGR valve and intake.
Oh so now EGR valve cleaning IS a good idea Believer? Come on man, which is it!
 

2002MK4

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2011
Location
Scarborough
TDI
2002, 2003 Jetta TDI
Actually while we are on this topic. Does anyone know whether Motomaster "Carburetor Cleaner" is safe to de-gunk a 2002 TDI EGR Valve?
 

JIMMY-JAMES

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2010
Location
Norwich, England.
TDI
Caravelle TDi conversion
There is nothing wrong with cleaning your EGR valve. I picked up 3-4 mpg by doing so. VAG-COM'd the EGR and 100,000km later, it almost looks like the day after I cleaned it.

That looks identical to the EGR on my Passat Tdi 130 sport which i have just cleaned and thats a PD. I didn't manage to get it that clean but i got it pretty close :):):)
 

bikerblue

New member
Joined
Mar 29, 2011
Location
england
TDI
130
ive got a Passat tdi 130 with the dreaded egr fault code,am i right in thinking that a caked up egr valve will throw a code as reading past posts no one has mentioned this.
 

tdi74464

New member
Joined
Apr 21, 2016
Location
oklahoma
TDI
2001 vw beetle
egr

my 2001 vw beetle tdi is very laggy it's all stock and has berry little power doesn't smoke or anything bad. it has 160000 on it would cleaning the egr help.
 

hey_allen

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2006
Location
Altus, OK
TDI
2000 Jetta TDI
It might help, but other things could be causing low power as well.
My 2000 Jetta was sluggish and then would go into limp home mode due to someone replacing the anti-shudder valve hoses incorrectly (which caused a leak, instead of applying vacuum.)

There are troubleshooting tutorials here that should set you on the right path, but I would suggest checking for vacuum after the pump, and then at each of the junctions going further away from the pump. (This is also a great time to replace old vacuum hose while you're touching them, since the rubber under the cloth jacket is often crumbling and only concealed by the cloth.)
 
Last edited:

bumba007

New member
Joined
Mar 7, 2015
Location
woking
TDI
mk3 gl auto
ive just add the mk5 golf tdi re mapped and they informed me that there was 2 codes showing 1 was egr insuffiecent flow and the 2nd was manifold pressure signal to low. now these ppl our qualified mechanics who work with golfs day in day out and i was advised to get a egr delete kit and fit this to my car. this would improve performance and mpg. so according to the gentlemen that cleaning the egr would be waste of time i disagree totally and rather then clean it mate just get kit and put in the blocking plate
 

Btravelen

Veteran Member
Joined
May 27, 2004
Location
midwest USA
TDI
2005 TDI Passat Variant
I know this thread is old. I removed and cleaned my EGR years ago and it looked like the one posted by jrock in his link above. The soot was thick and unbroken like the EGR wasn't functioning and hadn't been, maybe since new. There was no CEL indicating that it wasn't operating. I haven't pulled it to look at it in several thousand miles.

I'll bet the 2004-05 U.S. PD's had the software that sensed when they were being emissions tested, like the current dieselgate issue.
 
Last edited:
Top