California EGR Valve Epic (2.5yrs old)

Silverboat · Apr 26, 2014

This is not a rant but.......It (the EGR valve) went last week. 1 RAC man and a quick trip to the local VW rep later and its all sorted. Talk about service!

Its a known fault in the 2010 era Cali's and it can effect a few other things, not to mention the limp mode home! Not fun in heavy traffic.. :help

Friendly Dave from VW Heritage Dorchester workshops was all over it. No fuss, low cost!

It took less than a day to replace and came back clean. Im easily pleased.

Just the rust bubble to sort out now!!.....

TH Performance · Apr 26, 2014

Sadly it's a known fault on the 2010 through to 2012 models.

We've changed plenty out of warranty to know.

nickstjt · Apr 27, 2014

My 2012 model is going in for an EGR repair on Tuesday. Not even 2 years old. I was 250 miles from home when it stuck closed, but still drives fine luckily.

Silverboat · Apr 27, 2014

Not sure if it helped but I did my research and by the time we dropped the Cali off I felt I knew as much about the valve as the mechanic did and I sent a few screen shots from this forum explaining about the issue, just in case there could have been any wool being pulled over eyes!?

I had read a few horror stories about price and time to replace it.

Its fair to say that the actual price was over 1k however VW (Dorchester) paid the lot, apart from a small amount. Van went in at 0900 and we had it back by 1500! They changed a bit more than the EGR valve too. A couple of other new shiny bits have appeared.

Hows the rust above the windscreen? Ours is booked in to go to Bristol for a few days

Good luck :thanks

nickstjt · Apr 27, 2014

Thanks! I'm certainly not expecting to pay anything to repair it given the age of the van (<2 years) and mileage (about 12k). Not noticed any corrosion but will take a good look today! Cheers,
Nick

TH Performance · Apr 27, 2014

The problem a lot of them have is the electrics, they are corroding and it's just as expensive to replace that part as the whole thing. It's a known fault and VW are aware so they should be doing it under warranty and out of goodwill if not under warranty (or contributing heavily towards it).

Surforswim · Apr 30, 2014

For Info I had two of these fail on my 180 DSG. The first time was about 2.5 years old when the valve stuck and went into limp mode, the whole unit was repaired under warranty. Then six months later and 3 weeks out of warranty the dreaded light came on again, this time it didn't go into limp mode but again required replacement as the electronics side had failed and the valve wasn't opening fully. My dealer and i got onto VW as this was a second replacement of the same component and so soon out of warranty. The best they would do was a 52% contribution to the cost of repair so still left with a £350 bill. Interestingly if you have a repair done under warranty that part is only guaranteed for the life of the warranty. My replacement out of warranty now carries the 2 year VW OEM replacement part warranty.