EGR Valve - how to avoid the problems

[SimonB]

We will be picking up our Cali in a few weeks now and I have spent a lot of time going through the various Forum topics to increase my knowledge about the vehicle. In many threads there is advice as to how you can avoid or minimise the chance of something happening. It has been time well spent and thank you all for posting your own experiences on here.

With the EGR Valve I can't find anything to advise how you can minimise the risk of it failing. Is it down to driving style? I imagine most Cali users drive relatively carefully, not rushing off from traffic lights or red lining the engine. Should we be giving the engine the occasional fast session to clear out the valve?
If you drive it regularly, should you avoid short journeys and always give the engine time to warm up properly, does this help?

Does buying better fuel, not supermarket, make a difference? I achieved a much better mpg in my golf when I switched to a "better" brand. I also didn't get that cloud of smoke out of the exhaust when I did occasionally red line it.

Or is it just down to luck? You may just have an EGR valve that fails.

Has anyone got any ideas?

 

[Californiaman]

Bad luck does happen but I think a regular decent journey is probably the best thing. Every now and then, give the thing some welly and let some of the noise out of the engine.... It'll love you for it.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

[GrannyJen]

With the EGR Valve I can't find anything to advise how you can minimise the risk of it failing. Is it down to driving style? I imagine most Cali users drive relatively carefully, not rushing off from traffic lights or red lining the engine. Should we be giving the engine the occasional fast session to clear out the valve?
If you drive it regularly, should you avoid short journeys and always give the engine time to warm up properly, does this help?


Has anyone got any ideas?

Not rushing off from traffic lights?

Absolutely NO WAY am I allowing that bloke in a pretentious piece of white furniture van with windows in it get in front of me! As for boy racer next door in his VW Golf GTI with go faster stripes... he has yet to meet Albert... or rather Albert's exhaust!

I'm not known as the Galloping Granny for nowt

As the one above said, give it some welly every so often. No modern diesel engine with all sorts of fancy emission controls likes short journeys or barely getting past tickover. I can't say for the EGR valve but certainly the DPF benefits from a couple of miles of high revs every so often and whenever possible run for a few miles if only to warm up thoroughly.

 

[WelshGas]

Mine failed at 900 miles from new. Faulty component. It Happens.
But for long term, remember this engine is from a van. They do high milage and is designed to use Diesel and I doubt if many T5 vans are run on premium fuels. If you check the T5 forums, yes EGR failure is mentioned occasionally but often in very high milage vehicles and you know as well as I do that very few white vans stay in the inside lane on the motorway.
I Agee with GrannyJen and I work on the premise of " Use it or Lose it. "

There was a problem with the 2010 EGR valve but the design has changed since then. ALL vehicles fitted with EGR valves have failures but it is not that common overall.

 

[KernowLad]

We had three EGR valve replacements.
Utterly ruins the Cali IMO.

 

[SimonB]

Sorry to hear about your bad experiences. Was there any explanation from VW as to why it was happening?
I've been looking on threads about the ordinary T5 van and they don't seem to suffer as badly, or the owners don't complain properly.
There are lots of YouTube videos showing it happening to all sorts of diesel vehicles all over the world. It seemed to be a mix of vehicle types.

 

[Bluestone]

Rather ironically to preserve the EGR valve you should NOT get the engine hot - so best NOT rev it too much!! The EGR (which can be fitted on both petrol and diesel engines) is designed to eliminate NOx.

NOx is produced a high cylinder temperature and pressure so the EGR valve re-circulates exhaust gasses to COOL the inlet - or more technically provide an inert gas to reduce combustion temperature.

So if you want to preserve your EGR do the opposite of what has been suggested here

The DPF is another matter and does require a certain amount of welly - but not in built up areas please so rock and hard place comes to mind!!

 

[Alan]

Should have known this before I caned the Alps and the Pyrenees this year
Incidentally I experienced engine regeneration for the first time this year when arriving at my stop and not sure if I should have left the engine ticking over during this process! .....any one advise

Alan

 

[Bluestone]

Should have known this before I caned the Alps and the Pyrenees this year

I wouldn't worry too much Alan, just drive it and enjoy Wait until the warranty is gone then delete the EGR and get it remapped to suit. EGR valves do more harm than good once the vehicle has more than say 15K miles on it. They are designed to get the vehicle passed the emissions and this is done in a lab - not in the real world - the same is true for fuel economy figures as well - nothing to do with the manufacturer - this is a EU thing

 

[Alan]

Thanks for the reply Bluestone
Blanking the egr valve....I thought this was a mot failure,correct me if I'm wrong
Would be good if not

Alan

 

[Bluestone]

No, deleting the EGR itself is not an MOT failure, if it fails the emissions test then of course it is, but in my experience when a diesel has a few miles on it, it actually has less emissions without the EGR.

As the EGR re-circulates exhaust gas through the inlet, things get a little bit dirty in the after a while, so emissions can go up. Search for a reputable vendor who will guarantee the EGR replacement in terms of emissions and MOT passes - there are out there and a simple google search should do the trick

 

[GrannyJen]

I will now be more careful with my EGR ... or moo valve as some call it.

Fortunately the only mooing heard so far has been from the old Moo sat in the drivers seat

 

[rippers]

I did a 750 mile leg of a journey to Spain at around 80mph I doubt you could get much hotter especially in August, it drove faultlessly. When the times up the times up. I hope as a April 2015 model I won't have any problems if they updated the EGR valve

 

[Bluestone]

I did a 750 mile leg of a journey to Spain at around 80mph I doubt you could get much hotter especially in August, it drove faultlessly. When the times up the times up. I hope as a April 2015 model I won't have any problems if they updated the EGR valve

It's difficult to tell really as it's specifically the cylinder temp and pressure, but there's no point in driving to preserve an EGR, just enjoy The EGR doesn't operate all the time anyway. I think EGR valves will get better but there are better ways to eliminate NOx and I hope in the future manufactures adopt them instead of EGR valves

 

[WelshGas]

GrannyJen. The EGR and " Moo Valve " are 2 different things I'm afraid. The " Moo Valve " or N75 Valve is to do with the Turbo. The EGR is to do with Emission control.

 

[Skylark2.0]

We had three EGR valve replacements.
Utterly ruins the Cali IMO.

What Reg was it?

 

[KernowLad]

What Reg was it?

61 plate, late 2011.

 

[WelshGas]

They fitted a new design to mine + software upgrade in 2014.

 

[KernowLad]

Same here but I was a bit sick of it by then.

 

[GrannyJen]

GrannyJen. The EGR and " Moo Valve " are 2 different things I'm afraid. The " Moo Valve " or N75 Valve is to do with the Turbo. The EGR is to do with Emission control.

Thank you and I stand corrected ... (but ever so elegantly standing corrected of course ...)

I will stick to commenting on Wellington's horse and leave horsepower discussions to those of greater knowledge.

 

[Bluestone]

Well this could all be academic anyway - saw a report on the BBC website that Diesel may run dry in the future!! Would solve any EGR issues - now when is the Petrol Cali Beach and Ocean available again?

 

[GrannyJen]

There was a statement somewhere that the petrol T6 may not appear in RHD form... however like all T6 announcements it does seem subject to frequent change

 

[Bluestone]

Yes, I saw this which suggests the 2.0 TFSI engine - but then it does state that the Cali will be available in 3 trim options!! Of course we know this not to be the case - what chance do we have when even the motoring press are in the dark!

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/volksw...5-vw-california-t6-camper-van-opens-its-doors

 

[GrannyJen]

To be honest, until I am sat in a dealers looking down the latest options list, whilst being able to actually sit in the vehicle, I am not going to give it a lot of thought.

Once it's here, launched in RHD then I will decide,

 

[GrannyJen]

Yes, I saw this which suggests the 2.0 TFSI engine - but then it does state that the Cali will be available in 3 trim options!! Of course we know this not to be the case - what chance do we have when even the motoring press are in the dark!

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/volksw...5-vw-california-t6-camper-van-opens-its-doors

I used to write for Landrover Magazine.

Try writing a review of the all new RR2 when on review day the vehicle has locked you out and refuses to open it's doors to anyone!