2 time EGR failure. Should we cut losses and sell?

[Yuppiepuppie8]

Hey all! First post here, and really enjoying all the information in this community.

My wife and I picked up a 2016 Beach in overall great condition back in June. After only a few weeks, we had the dreaded EGR fail on us. After a 1k euro bill from the local VW dealership, we took it for some much deserved mileage through Europe over the summer and fall.

But then… in December the coil light comes on again

I took it straight back to the dealer and they ran diagnostics. After a couple days they determined that the EGR is at fault again. Luckily under warranty, they are replacing it again, and will have it ready next week.

My question is, should I cut losses on this vehicle, sell it while there are no further complications with the engine? I’m confident I can get my money back or close to with a sale.

Or should we have confidence in this problem being resolved?

I read the thread of the fellow who also had an EGR fail, and now has to have the entire engine replaced. Our thinking is that our cali is a holding pattern vehicle until we can save up for a bigger L2H2 camper.
Thoughts? What would you do in this circumstance?

It’s my first VW, and I was really hoping that the VW engine would be much more robust than what we have gone through in the past 8 months or so.

 

[SamSara]

I have a 2017 that I bought in 2020. The EGR fail occurred after 1 year and I had the turbo go last summer. I do not know the stats to check for correlation and consequently am keeping hold for now…

 

[Ch1pbutty]

Hey all! First post here, and really enjoying all the information in this community.

My wife and I picked up a 2016 Beach in overall great condition back in June. After only a few weeks, we had the dreaded EGR fail on us. After a 1k euro bill from the local VW dealership, we took it for some much deserved mileage through Europe over the summer and fall.

But then… in December the coil light comes on again

I took it straight back to the dealer and they ran diagnostics. After a couple days they determined that the EGR is at fault again. Luckily under warranty, they are replacing it again, and will have it ready next week.

My question is, should I cut losses on this vehicle, sell it while there are no further complications with the engine? I’m confident I can get my money back or close to with a sale.

Or should we have confidence in this problem being resolved?

I read the thread of the fellow who also had an EGR fail, and now has to have the entire engine replaced. Our thinking is that our cali is a holding pattern vehicle until we can save up for a bigger L2H2 camper.
Thoughts? What would you do in this circumstance?

It’s my first VW, and I was really hoping that the VW engine would be much more robust than what we have gone through in the past 8 months or so.

The most recent van with issues was a 180 bi turbi engine. What engine do you have in your Beach - in the UK only 140 / 150 engines, but note you are in Spain.

 

[Yuppiepuppie8]

I have a 2017 that I bought in 2020. The EGR fail occurred after 1 year and I had the turbo go last summer. I do not know the stats to check for correlation and consequently am keeping hold for now…

Ouch! That sounds expensive… I’m going to ask the shop manager on Monday when I pick it up what he thinks is the best course of action. I’d hope they will give me a straight answer on some stats. They know I’m already ticked off since the first one failed already.

 

[Yuppiepuppie8]

The most recent van with issues was a 180 bi turbi engine. What engine do you have in your Beach - in the UK only 140 / 150 engines, but note you are in Spain.

I was certain that it’s the 150. Unfortunately I don’t have the spec sheet in my possession right now as the van is in the shop.

 

[B J G]

Ouch! That sounds expensive… I’m going to ask the shop manager on Monday when I pick it up what he thinks is the best course of action. I’d hope they will give me a straight answer on some stats. They know I’m already ticked off since the first one failed already.

Do as much persistent questioning as to the reason for a second failure of the EGR. No doubt VW would require more investigation by the garage before standing the replacement cost.

 

[SamSara]

Ouch! That sounds expensive… I’m going to ask the shop manager on Monday when I pick it up what he thinks is the best course of action. I’d hope they will give me a straight answer on some stats. They know I’m already ticked off since the first one failed already.

The EGR I kicked off about because it was just out of warranty and received a large reduction. the turbo was covered by All-in, which finishes in September so maybe I will have an altered opinion in the summer!

 

[JuanVecino2023]

Interesting thread on the T6 forums about this.

One owner (who confessed he is no mechanic), replaced his own.

How common are EGR problems really?

Planning on buying a T6 2019 84kW/114PS, but reading the EGR-threads just gives me the chills. The thing about reading on forums is that the information can be rather one sided, people with problems are writing much more than those with no problems. Nothing wrong with that. (Everyone of course...

www.t6forum.com

Caveat being you wouldn’t want to do this if in warranty. Clearly!

 

[Yuppiepuppie8]

Do as much persistent questioning as to the reason for a second failure of the EGR. No doubt VW would require more investigation by the garage before standing the replacement cost.

Any suggestions on what other questions to ask beside what happened here? I’m not well versed in engines so any suggestions appreciated

 

[Zebopp]

I have a T5.1 2014 Beach. Ive had the EGR valve fail/replaced twice in years 4 and 8 approx. I do the worst driving for EGR problems - mostly short trips daily in town with a long 200 mile plus motorway run every 3 months or so. Supermarket diesel. Aside from the odd broken spring and tyre replacement / annual servicing and one recent leisure battery replacement, no other mechanical costs/failures. Every vehicle has its issues / design problems so I can live with the EGR failing every 5 years or so. My suspicion is that if i just used the van for longer trips and cut down on the school runs then the EGR issue would crop up less often.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

I have a T5.1 2014 Beach. Ive had the EGR valve fail/replaced twice in years 4 and 8 approx. I do the worst driving for EGR problems - mostly short trips daily in town with a long 200 mile plus motorway run every 3 months or so. Supermarket diesel. Aside from the odd broken spring and tyre replacement / annual servicing and one recent leisure battery replacement, no other mechanical costs/failures. Every vehicle has its issues / design problems so I can live with the EGR failing every 5 years or so. My suspicion is that if i just used the van for longer trips and cut down on the school runs then the EGR issue would crop up less often.

Get it deleted...:

EGR Removal / Delete

www.darksidedevelopments.co.uk

 

[Doug Curran]

I have a T5.1 2014 Beach. Ive had the EGR valve fail/replaced twice in years 4 and 8 approx. I do the worst driving for EGR problems - mostly short trips daily in town with a long 200 mile plus motorway run every 3 months or so. Supermarket diesel. Aside from the odd broken spring and tyre replacement / annual servicing and one recent leisure battery replacement, no other mechanical costs/failures. Every vehicle has its issues / design problems so I can live with the EGR failing every 5 years or so. My suspicion is that if i just used the van for longer trips and cut down on the school runs then the EGR issue would crop up less often.

Repeated short trips are anathema for diesel engines. They burn fuel at lower temperatures than a petrol engine and so take longer to come to full operating temperature. You can also help by using a fuel additive that raises the Cetane rating of the fuel for cleaner burning.