ALH EGR cooler fix

[mrchill]

So. Until recently, removal of a faulty or unwanted EGR cooler was easy and cheap....with no known repercussions. But some of us in CARB states have found that there is now a need for the EGR system to show active. A retune perhaps? Yes...but what about all those EGR parts you threw away? or were broken? Well. As long as you have an EGR\antishudder valve available to you, and you have a factory ALH intake manifold available or still installed, and of course an VNT15, VNT17, or hybrid 17\52(like IDparts.com sells) then you are in luck.

Part number 038 131 521 j is the bypass pipe from the factory for non EGR cooler cars (ALH type engine). This will take the place of the EGR cooler on any ALH engine with the aforementioned factory style parts. For the AHU\1Z crowd, naturally the 96 passat EGR pipe will work as these cars had no cooler. For the BEW crowd, I actually have two fixes in the works. I'll post when they are done. I have heard no complaints from the BRM folks about EGR, so I havent explored it as yet.

So, if you need a quick workaround, and you have a VW dealer near you, then have at it. The pipe is about 150 dollars. Not cheap, but cheaper than the cooler and the associated pipes...and MUCH easier to install.

 

[oilhammer]

This is why I never throw any of that stuff out.

My RC1 tune in the B5 passes all the readiness, including EGR, and that is with a restrictor gasket in place.

 

[mrchill]

Important to save that stuff. I have tons of it! I found in the tunes that some of them dont report EGR as active. Those are the ones that fail. This is a new thing they do here in the Great East. It can have full readiness, but if the EGR shows not active in the OBDII file, its a fail.

 

[oilhammer]

We've had OBD checks on the diesels for a couple years now. Pretty simple really, no worries.

 

[PDJetta]

In Virginia for OBD II testing (required only in Northern Virginia and Newport News) you are allowed one rediness code to not reset and your car can still pass an OBD II test. Four years ago, diesel cars were added to the OBD II testing regime (1997 and newer diesels). It is a completely automated system. Other than pluging the test connector and starting the test routine, the inspector does nothing else. There is specificially NO VISUAL INSPECTION of emission components associated with this emissions test. The CEL has to come on when the key is turned on and go out when the car is started and there are to be no stored OBD II codes, in order to pass.

--Nate

 

[oilhammer]

Yeah, they pretty much all use the same system. And it just goes by what the original EPA/SAE mandates for OBD2 originally were.

1996+ gas cars below 8600 GVWR
1997+ diesel cars below 8600 GVWR (which is only a handful of vehicles)

Up to 2000, 2 readiness monitors can be unset.
2001+ only 1 readiness monitor can be unset.

If a car failed for a catalyst efficiency problem, however, then that monitor MUST pass on reinspection regardless.

The difference state to state involves the areas of testing, the frequency of testing, the costs, and who does it. We went back to a decentralized system a couple years ago, and are now doing it ourselves (back in the shop). Some states still have centralized test centers like we had for a few years, which started out doing IM240 testing (the dyno test) and then switched over to OBD testing on all OBD2 cars, but the diesels did not come onboard to the OBD testing until they went to our current system. Before all that IM240 test stations, we had BAR90 machines that were decentralized. We still have the $60k Allen machine gathering dust in the back of the shop . We have never had a diesel opacity test like some places have used.

 

[mrchill]

Yeah, that emissions nightmare started here. It was all fun and games until last year at the latter part of the year when they started checking the EGR status(which no one ever checked before). It started in Mass...and spread to the other CARB states. The plug in was easy till then. Now, its still easy...as long as the EGR shows active.