intake egr soot leak

I think I have been smelling a little exhaust, and this am I found some soot in the front of the engine.

the arrow at the left points to some oily stuff I have noticed for a while,

, and below the valves, to the left of the oil filter on the rear of the valves,

a wipe with a paper towel got plenty of soot.



seems like there are a couple gaskets, must be time to pull this apart and change them.

http://www.vwpartscenter.net/volksw...n-components-scat/?part_name=regulator-gasket


thinking number 5.

any hints?

got it out.

(pulled part of the air intake between the filter and grille to get easier access to the nuts.)

t-30 socket and 1/4 inch drive seems to work best.

loosened up the boost air hose with a 7mm socket,

after cleaning up, with the new gasket



only thing is, I managed to drop the 10mm hex nut that holds the dipstick tube.

I could see it for a bit, but just managed to push it out of reach.

for now, the tube is secured with a tie-wrap.

but soot there implies an EGR filter issue, no?

I do not think it is out of the ordinary,

http://www.natef.org/NATEF/media/NATEFMedia/VW Files/2-0-TDI-SSP.pdf see page 24

the high pressure egr comes in just after that valve. (throttle valve in the figure) comes direct from the exhaust. some soot is pretty normal, and the older cars folks used to take them apart and clean things up if they got too bad.

the low pressure EGR filter that clogs is between the connection past the DPF, and before the EGR cooler and cooler valve. the low pressure EGR feeds before the turbo, which is why that path is filtered, to keep gunk out of the turbo intake air side

Can't see your pics but how many miles? It could be the EGR Cooler leaking at the gasket that actuates the flap inside the cooler. I recently replaced mine....if you do.....becareful on the bolts and use a penetrating oil before removing....save you some headache.

I was watching the egr stuff at the back of the motor, these are on the front side.

not sure if I really got the leak yet,

was some soot still there yesterday when I changed the oil. perhaps it took a bit for the gasket to seal properly.

thanks for the heads up

Caught a whiff of diesel exhaust yesterday during a DPF regeneration.

the input valve helps regulate temperature for the DPF regen,

Guess I should take the throttle valve back off, and the EGR valve as well. and check around more.

ideas of what else to check?

The smell is not uncommon during a regen.

Thanks for the bump.

good news is the missing bolt made it to the bottom plastic cover. (found it when I changed the oil last week)

and a careful look shows a bit more soot behind the EGR valve, and some oily wiring.

I suspect some boost seepage, or perhaps follow on from when the dealer replaced the leaking oil cooler a couple years ago.

Probably is time to take it apart, clean and see what is going on.

in the mean time, boost is responsive, and it is not leaking too awful much oil.

Looked closer today and it seems like the EGR valve (on the intake side) is leaking oily stuff.



seems like it is leaking where the black part attaches.

has anyone cleaned and/or repaired this component, or should I just order a new one.

http://www.vwpartscenter.net/volksw...stem-cat/egr-system-scat/?part_name=egr-valve


there is some oil getting on various wiring and coolant hoses below.

I gave it all a good soaking with simple green and hosed it off.

that is a week ago, and so far so good.

seems like a once-in-a-while kind of seepage.

will just keep an eye on it.

seems like these cars are like having a baby. once in a while there is a mess to clean up.

one more update, since cleaning, we drove to cape cod, upstate NY, and I took the car the long way to TDI fest and back, with the usual back and forth to work, call it 5000 miles,

still cleaner than my desk. so whatever leaked before has fixed itself.