Help me narrow this Exhaust Leak

One of our TDI 05 PD BEW golf 5spd with 225K miles has a bad hissing that you can hardly hear the turbo spools compare to my other 04 BEW . There is exhaust fume smell coming from the back near the fire wall passenger side.
Today i took the skid plate and noticed the drive shaft is covered by Black exhaust sot /dust like , i removed the shield around the shaft an took a look , the hole block is covered by black dust ( sot i am assuming ) looking thru the exhaust manifold i can see the bottom of the intake and up to the flex pipping up top is covered by black in color . I see the flex pipping in the bottom of the EGR has black sot on it . Now is that the EGR or the Exhaust /Intake gasket leaking ? since its farther ?Here is a few pictures

Two different cracks in the EGR flex pipe.

speed185187 said:

Two different cracks in the EGR flex pipe.

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Do you think that is the main cause to do all that mess , that was the 1st thing i noticed

cobra390t said:

Do you think that is the main cause to do all that mess , that was the 1st thing i noticed

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YES

When I bought my MkIV (BEW), it had a cracked EGR flex pipe that made a whistle sound from 1700-2500 RPM. That went away when I replaced the flex pipe. The soot all over the back of the engine went away, along with the exhaust smell in the ventilation system when it wasn't on recirculate...

Fixing this issue should also help provide more exhaust gas pressure to the driving side of the turbo impeller which makes the car slightly peppier.

Same held true for replacing the EGR cooler diverter valve with the faulty bushing on our MkV (BRM). Less hiss, less soot...

Well I am glad it turned out to be just the flex lower pipe not the EGR. Found flex Pipe at multiple vendors and also found a block off plates to eliminate that flex pipe

What's the cons for eliminating the Flex pipe and keeping the EGR cooler in place if its possibility

And what the PRos am sure one is not injecting exhaust back in the intake but I could be wrong .

I don't want to remove the EGR yet until am ready to get a tune

cobra390t said:

Well I am glad it turned out to be just the flex lower pipe not the EGR. Found flex Pipe at multiple vendors and also found a block off plates to eliminate that flex pipe

What's the cons for eliminating the Flex pipe and keeping the EGR cooler in place if its possibility

And what the PRos am sure one is not injecting exhaust back in the intake but I could be wrong .

I don't want to remove the EGR yet until am ready to get a tune

Click to expand...

If the EGR is otherwise still functional, I would suggest you consider just replacing the flex pipe, and keep the EGR cooler in operation.

When it comes time for a tune, ask for "Dynamic EGR", which turns off EGR once the engine is warmed up.

Yes i believe the EGR is working 100% without the classical fail symptoms that i read about