BEW EGR cooler intact with block off plate

[Derramax]

05 Golf BEW. Couldn't find anything in the search. To keep the stock appearance could a person use a block off plate on the exhaust manifold side of the lower EGR pipe and then install the pipe to the EGR? Would that cause error codes and need a tune to correct? Same effect as deleting the EGR?

 

[Vince Waldon]

OBD2 was designed to look specifically for emissions-related malfunctions/shenanigans and the ECU actively tests the EGR system under live operating conditions while the engine is running.

If you mess with the EGR airflow thru removal or blockage it will be detected and trigger a CEL.

You may read some threads about "turning down the EGR" as a way to potentially avoid a CEL, but that applies to the ALH engine and even then is spotty at best.