old car, worth cleaning the EGR?

londonTiger

The EGR should be as good as blocked right now, so should I think about take it all apart and giving it a clean to help improve fuel efficiency or is it more trouble thani's worth?

The egr does cake up the intake manifold which requests a cleanup every 80K miles or so. So would I be creating more problems for myself by cleaning the egr>

jimjames

No, it's a worthwhile job to do if you can. I did it on my VW Golf

UncleZen

Some are quite hard to get at, make sure you can access it easily first.

arcon5

You having any running issues?

Retrogamer

If it's easy to access then i'd suggest cleaning it for sure.

I've seen some older cars highish miles and the EGR valve was relatively clean (not close to clogging up at least) and i've seen more modern cars with lowish miles and clogged EGRs.

EGR design, style of driving and fuel used seems to have a lot to do with it.

This is all on diesel cars though, petrols are relatively trouble free as not as much carbon deposits.

fishybusiness

Took mine off last year - Audi TDI 12 years old, was totally coked up, as was the inlet manifold.

Took some cleaning, everything seemed to work, back on, very little difference to day to day running. Mpg still roughly the same too.

Can't have been much wrong in the first place........car was laid up for a while early this year, replaced the EGR with a new one, difference noted. Engine smoother, little bit more free with its revs and mpg up.

Maybe the old EGR was goosed and I couldn't tell, all looked ok. Wouldn't bother cleaning an old EGR again, would throw it away and replace.

forgotmyname

Is it as bad as this one?


Picture coutesy of: http://pics.tdiclub.com/members/SkyPup/VW/CLOGGED%20EGR2.jpg

fishybusiness

Erm....no!

Nowhere near as bad. There must be two thirds of the area clogged up, impressive an engine can do much at all with that lot in there.

londonTiger

fishybusiness wrote: »

Erm....no!

Nowhere near as bad. There must be two thirds of the area clogged up, impressive an engine can do much at all with that lot in there.

EGR isn't essential for the running of the car. Some people put a EGR delete key in because it can stop the crap getting into the intake.

Case in point after 80K miles or so you have to take out the throttle body and give it a clean because it is gummed up. I gave mine a clean at 115K miles because the car was revving up and down like crazy on idle. Posted on a forum and someone suggested I remove the EGR and clean it. When I took it out, I was like :shocked:

When the throttle body gets gummed with exhaust sut it finds it difficult to deliver the exact amount of required air and bounces from too much to too litte air.

Certainly, if the EGR is completely blocked it won't hurt the car at all. Some might say it's a good thing.

Retrogamer

The picture above is of the inlet manifold where it joins the EGR. That's what i'm dreading when i take mines off. I'm going to fit a delete kit though so it removes the EGR valve, anti shudder valve and EGR cooler. I'm on 120k

fishybusiness

I'm going to fit a delete kit though so it removes the EGR valve, anti shudder valve and EGR cooler. I'm on 120k

Considered that myself, decided against it.

EGR helps mpg on short journeys - warm up time less, especially in winter. Bought a diesel for economy so stuck with it.