Mk6 Golf and EGR valve issues

Paolaparbury · 11 February 2015 at 8:44AM

Hi all, I have a polo 1.6 tdi 2010, bought 2013, which right from the beginning had coil and management lamp on display, going into limp mode at any given time. It went back several times to the garage I bought it from,and following the fault codes got rewired, update on computer twice, and still the same problem returned. On recent service with a different garge that is a Vw/ Audi specialist ( not Vw main dealer) I asked if they could sort the dreaded problem out. Anyway they had it for an entire day, fault codes exactly the same as previous, so they redid everything, rang me thought the cAr was good to go. When I went to get my car the owner andy( great guy) came and explained that all the faults had returned and didn't know what it was( obviously the EGR CODE , not registering on the faults) was very apologetic and didn't charge me a thing as he couldn't fix it.
So not knowing what to do I googled it and found this forum, and will be writing to Vw ASAP . Will let you know how I get on.

kyde · 12 February 2015 at 6:21PM

I have a similar story to the 180 posts here, thanks to all it's been very useful to understand. I was driving down the A1 and lost of power which I now know is the limp mode, and flashing symbol with the computer saying take to workshop immediately. I have a Golf GT 2010 plate with c38k on the clock. I regularly take the car for a short burst on the A1 for about 6 -8 miles to get to work or the airport. So this is most definitely the EGR valve, as a friend who works for VW checked it over with the diagnostics for me. I am just about to embark on ringing VW customer services before booking in the repair. I will also register with Watchdog, not best pleased as this has been the best Golf I've had, and I have owned a few..excuse any typos!

Update:Have phoned VW who have said to book the car in for diagnostic and they will see what they can do admitting it's a known issue. Light came back again, turned off the engine then on again and the light went away. I put some Shell V power (Optimax) diesel in and the car seems back to its old self, almost like it just needed a clean. I have to admit to using supermarket diesel before, could this be the problem?

@Retrogamer should I wait or get the fix done in your opinion, the car seems to be working well now, it's only 3 days but it's like it never happened...

tomekent · 12 February 2015 at 7:31PM

So within a couple of hours of my MAF being replaced and being given the all clear, a check engine light came on. As predicted via this thread.

Shock horror EGR valve.

They offered a 30% discount, so had to pay roughly £615. Bringing the grand total to

Diagnostic - £100
MAF replacement - £230
EGR valve (and water pump) replacement - £615 (inc. 30% discount)

Total: £945

Obviously not taking into account the time off work to make 4 return trips to the garage or the rental car I had to get so my partner could get to work.

We rang up VW to try and get some good will, seeing as the EGR is clearly a faulty part by design. They couldn't do anything more than the 30% we were already offered. They did give us a £50 voucher towards our next service, and (oddly) a £100 voucher for John Lewis (Which makes no sense to me I'd be much happier with the cash/discount).

I think this is down to a few things. Firstly we bought the car privately (only 3 months ago) so we had not been 'loyal' to the VW garage, at least in their eyes. Not that we'd had the chance as we haven't had it long enough. So the £50 service voucher was their way of making us come back. The 30% discount I think was down to the fact the car was 'loyal', in the sense that its previous owners bought it from them and serviced it there.

All in all I'm happy the car is now working (fingers crossed), but annoyed that its clearly a common fault that should be replaced out of warranty (or recalled).

Oh and to top things off they managed to put 3/4 2inch scratches (albeit shallow ones) on the passenger side quarter panel. I pointed them out to them when I picked it up, but they knew nothing about it (clearly from one of their 'complementary washes' - which are in no way complementary if i'm paying £102 per hour for it). I gave the car a proper wash on sunday so would have noticed it then.

Retrogamer · 13 February 2015 at 12:40AM

tomekent wrote: »

Diagnostic - £100

MAF replacement - £230

EGR valve (and water pump) replacement - £615 (inc. 30% discount)

Total: £945

Although i can't offer advise for you i'm going to reply here in case it helps anyone else going forward in true moneysaving sense to keep costs down.

Diagnostic.
If you have an Android smartphone pr tablet get an OBD2 bluetooth dongle from ebay for approx £10 then download the Torque app for your device (£5ish)
This allows you to read and clear fault codes on your car by yourself.

MAF replacement
Ebay or Euro Car Parts. As long as it's Bosch it's fine.
Approx £100-£130.
You can get them for around £35 sometimes but they're not made by Bosch and often fail quickly.

EGR Valve and water cooler replacement I'm going to assume water pump mentioned in above quote was in error as water cooler relates to the EGR and water pump has nothing to do with EGR

Couple of options with this.
You can remove the EGR valve yourself and give it a good clean out every now and then to stop it gunking up and jamming or to try and free up a currently jammed one.
A good mechanic could do this if requested as well. An even better one would suggest this before a replacement.
As for the cooler, it doesn't need to be replaced unless it has a hole in it somewhere or is blocked. I've never seen or heard of either happening. Some garages seem to replace them to generate more revenue for the parts department.

reddwarf2002 · 13 February 2015 at 1:24AM

Retrogamer wrote: »

Although i can't offer advise for you i'm going to reply here in case it helps anyone else going forward in true moneysaving sense to keep costs down.

Diagnostic.
If you have an Android smartphone pr tablet get an OBD2 bluetooth dongle from ebay for approx £10 then download the Torque app for your device (£5ish)
This allows you to read and clear fault codes on your car by yourself.

MAF replacement
Ebay or Euro Car Parts. As long as it's Bosch it's fine.
Approx £100-£130.
You can get them for around £35 sometimes but they're not made by Bosch and often fail quickly.

EGR Valve and water cooler replacement I'm going to assume water pump mentioned in above quote was in error as water cooler relates to the EGR and water pump has nothing to do with EGR

Couple of options with this.
You can remove the EGR valve yourself and give it a good clean out every now and then to stop it gunking up and jamming or to try and free up a currently jammed one.
A good mechanic could do this if requested as well. An even better one would suggest this before a replacement.
As for the cooler, it doesn't need to be replaced unless it has a hole in it somewhere or is blocked. I've never seen or heard of either happening. Some garages seem to replace them to generate more revenue for the parts department.

Cleaning the EGR valve on a Mk6 Golf is not a viable option as it requires between 3 and 5 hours of labour to remove and fit (as has been mentioned a few times on this thread).

Retrogamer · 13 February 2015 at 2:41AM

Either way it has to come off when faulty.

I was just pointing out a lot of the time they just need thoroughly need cleaned out, rather than replaced.

nervousnovice · 14 February 2015 at 2:15PM

Yesterday (13 Feb), another item about AUDI cars using a litre of oil every 300 miles, and the repair costing £1000's. Similar story in terms of how AUDI deal with their customers, and AUDI saying each case is different. The story also referred to the US, where as a result of a Class Action, AUDI have proposed a single (i.e. not case by case) solution.

Worth a listen, and it sounds to me like another case of cars being sold not fit for purpose. Also a good reason to add another German car manufacturer to the 'don't buy this type of car' list.

bazkettle · 24 February 2015 at 4:49PM

I have a 59 plate 2.0 tdi golf and had the engine warning light, limp mode experience last Friday.
Took the car straight to the local dealership, who immediately identified the egr valve as the problem, gave me a courtesy car and said that they would contact VW to see what could be done.
They came back to me yesterday with the advice that the full cost of the work was £1749. However, with a major contribution from VW and a bit less from the dealer, I am left with a bill of approx £200.
I did try and argue this down, but was told that in order to get a two year warranty on the parts, I needed to pay something. Fair enough!
All the contributions were of course 'goodwill', so in no part an admission of there being a problem.

I asked whether the new part is modified from the original that failed and was advised that it is a different design. So it looks as though there may well have been a problem.

Herdy · 15 March 2015 at 4:52PM

Thanks to all those who have posted on this forum for the help they have given. My Mk 6 Golf 1.6 TDI suffered the same coil light and cat light problems at 50000 miles and 3 years 6 months. Strangely it occurred while giving brother in law lift home from his garage after his EGR valve failed in his 2 litre Passat!
Took Golf into main dealer and after few days it was analysed and repaired. Total cost would be £1256 but due to VW contribution and dealer contribution for customer loyalty my final bill was £215. Workshop manager was aware of the fault in some EGR valves and that a modified valve had been fitted.
This would suggest that the original one was not fit for purpose and I shall be taking this up with VW Customer Services as I think the garage have been extremely helpful but a poorly designed valve had been used in the first place.

mgfChorley · 15 March 2015 at 6:15PM

A few days before my car was due to have it's cam belt changed the coil light started to come on followed by all others peoples experiences, car going into limp mode etc.

VW dealer was very nervous about giving me a price for the work to fix the problem, but also to be fair to them they did let me know that they were going to get in touch with VW to see if they would make a contribution to the work as really the part should not fail after just 5 years.

Obviously now reading through other peoples experiences it seems as though this is not a one off.

Armed with this information I will be in touch with the dealer tomorrow to see where we go from here.

I will keep you posted.

Mk6 Golf and EGR valve issues

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