Mk6 Golf and EGR valve issues

randomguy82

Thanks for all the feedback and advice.


The car, for its majority has been filled up with regular diesel from supermarkets and over the last 8 months, has had £20 of premium diesel from BP thrown in once a month after advise from a friend. Based on Retrogamer's advice, I will be sure to do this as often as I can.
I know there have been various discussions about supermarket v other petrol stations so do not want to get hung up on that, however I will, for peace of mind, fill up at BP's, Shell etc going forwards to see if that has any bearing on the EGR valve over the next 60k miles work of driving.


@motorguy, I also expect the Golf (which is the wives) to be run through till it's on it's last legs. I'd like to think it can get to 150-200k with no (further) major issues.... time will tell.
As a side note (and kind of important as you read further down) I ended up buying a VW last year on the back of her having a Golf and having no issues. Mine's a year old so will now wait and see if it has any surprises for me in year 4! It's not a Golf however which is good!


So, back on track with the Golf and the EGR which has been on going for a few days, the first offer from VW was:
100% parts paid for and I foot the bill for the labour; £855.
I declined that offer due to what I have read on various forums.
They then came back with:
100% parts paid for and labour reduced so I pay; £570.
I've declined that also as clearly this isn't a problem with just my Golf; others have had the issue too and I'd expect VW to do more about it.


Info from other forums said to try and show the dealership your loyalty to them and VW.
They were aware the Golf has been serviced with them and I went on to mention my VW is also serviced with them; they took the reg and said they will look into it further and come back to me. May help, may not, only time will tell.


Will keep you updated as it progresses.
Thanks again

patman99

My mate had the same issue with a blocked EGR on his Picasso so his local garage sold him some fuel-based cleaner to put in the tank. A few blasts up and down the A12 soon saw a rapid increase in performance and economy.

As he puts a cheaper version in his tank every other fill up, he has noticed more and more performance as the EGR clears.

I do the same with my car as a pre-emptive measure.

I can't work out how a blocked EGR would prevent the car from moving though. It is not linked to the drive system. It simply diverts an amount of exhaust gas back into the engine via the turbo.

Retrogamer

If the EGR valve is unresponsive or defective, then sometimes the ECU will put the car into "limp mode" and you have no power
Varies on car to car. Going to bypass mines shortly though so it's removed.

randomguy82

The worrying thing was there were no warning lights/messages prior to or during when it happened.
30 minutes into a journey, on a dual carriageway doing 40 the car 'spluttered' a little and then started to lose power. Dropped down a gear, still no acceleration. The car simply came to a complete stop and the engine was actually still running as it would normally.
Turned it off, gave it a minute, turned it on, coil came on and went off as normal, turned it over and the car started as it always has done. Engaged gear and tried to pull off and it literally did not move. Half tank of fuel, no lights (other than handbrake light when applied) and just no movement. Had to be towed to VW and there it stayed until the EGR fault was diagnosed.
If any lights had appeared in the build up it would have at least helped in looking at cleaners and items such as that to try and clear any problems but it was, as mentioned, worrying there was no warning lights.


It had brake pads and discs all around and four new tyres two months ago and it was confirmed there were no 'error codes' as well during its service back in August/September.


A case has been raised with VW Customer Care and they are currently in talks with the local dealer to try and agree a further reduced rate.

Johnmcl7

Nothing you've said makes it sounds like it's an EGR valve that's needing replaced, even for dealer rates £900 seems a huge amount of money for labour on replacing an EGR valve and the symptoms don't sound like a failing EGR valve either as normally the car will run poorly and light the EML when the EGR valve isn't working properly. Even in limp home mode the car will still go but with limitations, any time my car has been in limp home mode (Octavia with the VW 2.0 TDI PD170 engine) there's been a light on the dashboard (flashing coil light or EML).

John

randomguy82

@Johnmcl7. VW themselves have diagnosed it as EGR vale so once it's agreed to be changed; I guess there will be a few heads scratching if it still doesn't work.
As for your Octavia, what year is it? If pre 09, then my earlier comment could explain the labour difference. Apparently from 2009 onwards, the EGR was changed and now located at the back of the engine which needs various bits taken off to even get to it before the EGR itself can be removed.

For the record, I am not an expert in this at all. I am going off what VW have told me and what I have read on other forums.
All I know is that muggins here is now having to take the train to work as the wife has a longer, less public transport friendly journey!

randomguy82

Hi all
Latest update is it has now been agreed for:
100% parts, 50% labour. So charge to me is now £427.50.


Still not entirely happy due to all the points I have raised however have accepted this so the repair can commence and I can get the car back.
I will be sure to keep a close eye with future news of other Golfs potentially having this issue and see if VW ever do anything different.


Now waiting for the car to be fixed and fingers crossed, it will work once the EGR is changed and they don't diagnose/encounter any other unexpected issues.


I will be sure to post back once I get the car.

randomguy82

Hi all


Just a quick note to advise the car was collected on Saturday and running as expected.
The receipt confirms it was the EGR valve that was replaced so time will tell now if others start having a similar issue over the coming months.
After speaking to VW UK, they confirmed that if the vehicles are recalled in the future then they would contact all of those with the affected cars for free repairs, and for those who had paid already, they would get a full refund.


Finally, as comical as this sounds, I have this morning had a further call from the dealership to advise a new 'software update' has been released and to bring the car back in for 30 minutes. Sods law that they have had the car for a week and the update comes out the day after I get it back.
Not sure of the technical details within the update however I will head there tomorrow morning.
For those with a Golf, if you don't get a call, you may want to make a call to see if your included. The exact car I have is a 2009 Golf 1.6 SE TDI if that helps.


Thanks for all the input and feedback. Hope the history of what happened and what was achieved helps anyone who may end up with problems in the future.

teggs

I think my dec 2009 golf s 1.6 tdi (70k miles) has the same problem as OP. Got it booked in for diagnostics on tues 18/2/14. Any tips for reducing the bill?!

jimjames

randomguy82 wrote: »

Hi all
Latest update is it has now been agreed for:
100% parts, 50% labour. So charge to me is now £427.50.


Still not entirely happy due to all the points I have raised however have accepted this so the repair can commence and I can get the car back.
I will be sure to keep a close eye with future news of other Golfs potentially having this issue and see if VW ever do anything different.


Now waiting for the car to be fixed and fingers crossed, it will work once the EGR is changed and they don't diagnose/encounter any other unexpected issues.


I will be sure to post back once I get the car.

Good luck getting it sorted, it may be unfortunate being one of the first ones to experience it that you have to pay.

I've got a Passat and they seemed to develop a problem with injectors failing. Initially owners were expected to pay for the repairs which came in around £1000 per injector as I understand. After a while VW accepted there was a problem and did a recall so mine got fixed by them for free - exactly the same as others had paid for. Not sure if they then refunded but I'd not heard that they'd done so.