VW T5.1 CFCA engine EGR Cooler

[heyasam]

Hi All,

Got my new t5.1 2011 Multivan Highline with 4motion and difflock yesterday, yay! Question today is, do I need to hurry and replace the EGR cooler - see The EGR cooler of Doom!

The van has just under 200K. At 162K it had a belt tensioner collapse, and was fitted with new cylinder head, robustness kit, timing belt, auxiliary belt.

I checked under the bonnet in a rush this morning, and I think it has an EGR cooler with part number ending in A - the sticker just near the oil filter yes? Chatting with the dealer who has done the servicing work, the parts cost to get the 03L 115 512 D EGR cooler and related gaskets etc is over $2K. To prevent future headaches, should I be getting this done ASAP? Sounds about the right price etc and only way to do it?

Any other key items I should be thinking about? It appears to have followed a verily regular 15K interval service schedule, and recently has had the dual mass flywheel replaced.

Thanks, Sam

[hoddy]

Hi Sam, congrats on the purchase. Good find. The fact that there’s that many Km’s on the van without oil loss is a good sign.
Was it a private purchase? Or dealer? You may have other options if it was from a dealer, otherwise your options are:
1. Test the oil for Fe, Al
2. Change EGR to D version
3. Blank EGR / delete DPF / remap.
4. Do nothing.

Depending on how risk-averse you are, I think the oil test is prob a good first step.

Personally having done the blanking and remap on my 2010 4motion difflock beast, I am loving the way it drives with punch and power and fuel economy, but I already had oil loss of 1litre/1000km, so my options were limited.

Have you looked at the Facebook group page as well?

[heyasam]

Hey Hoddy,

Thanks for the reply, very helpful. Yep private purchase. Can you help with just a bit more detail on the options:

1. Oil test - Can any mechanic do this test? Or how do I get this test done? It's recently had an oil change so might not turn up if tested even if there is fault?
2. Change to D version EGR - I wonder maybe I can get the correct EGR off a wreck might make the price a bit more palatable, or not recommended?
3. Blank EGR etc - Sounds like it might be a lot cheaper and other potential benefits. I know a very contentious issue. Can you point me in direction of who could do this for me, ideally around Sydney? No problems with engines error codes etc once done 'properly'? Any drawbacks regards reliability etc from taking this avenue?
4. Yeah no this is a significant investment for us so want it to be reliable as possible long term. As this appears to be a known issue I want to fix it now.

The facebook group - from my powers of internet so far I think has transitioned to that t5-life.com link that I posted above.

Many thanks, Sam

[heyasam]

Just to add another note, spoke with an independent VW workshop this afternoon. Fellow said he was aware of this problem from the local dealership, and had read some of the online forums. His opinion though was their workshop sees a lot of T5's come through, and has never seen this occur. They frequently replace the EGR unit for other reasons, and quoted over $3k to do so. Big job many components have to be removed to provide access. His opinion was to save my money if only doing for preventative reasons. So I guess that raises the question, how frequent is this fault, is this a 'bound to happen at some point ticking time bomb' or a 'happens to the unlucky few'? I will be continuing to research though appreciate advice if anyone else has already sussed out this issue.

[ozgti]

I've had my engine leak down tested and it was all good. Had the coolant pressure tested. All good. But I'm using probably about the same amount of oil if not more. And losing coolant as well. I'm saving for an egr/dpf delete and remap...

2011 4motion with locker and 177k kms

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[T511]

my EGR went was around 4k supply and fit in melbourne,

mine went at around 150ks

i never knew about the delete option at the time but wish i deleted it for performance reasons

[heyasam]

Thanks for replies. T511 do you know if your old egr cooler showed the corrosion problem?

I'm still reading about this but can't ascertain how frequent the problem is. Mine also is built 1/11 MY12 so is it still in the known problem window?

Another suggestion someone made that wasn't answered, would it be possible to get a camera scope up into the egr cooler whilst still on the car to check condition before the expensive removal to then find out is still in good nick?

[T511]

Thanks for replies. T511 do you know if your old egr cooler showed the corrosion problem?

I'm still reading about this but can't ascertain how frequent the problem is. Mine also is built 1/11 MY12 so is it still in the known problem window?

Another suggestion someone made that wasn't answered, would it be possible to get a camera scope up into the egr cooler whilst still on the car to check condition before the expensive removal to then find out is still in good nick?

I think it's just luck of the drawer mate it's one of those things you need To just budget for I guess,

There is a small plastic valve that opens and closes that happens to be next to the exhaust which seems rediculous, but that is told is the fault with them, the unit getting hot and cold is not good for plastic or rubber materials I guess. They can apparently get clogged up and unclog themselves also as my van was in limp mode, I took it for a diagnosis check and they reset the computer it drove fine for a few days then it happened again, just remember if you get the unit changed by a decent garage you will get the 2 year warranty on the new genuine VW part-

My opinion would be remove it save the hassle when it goes but do your research now on who can do it, you can order the delete pipes from demon tweeks in the Uk.

Mines a daily driver so I panicked and needed mine fixed asap wish I had more time to look at my options at the time....

I see that a lot of them go at between 100-150 Ks so again I'd just budget for it, I believe the type of driving you do can make a difference as well- stop start/ motorway motorway being better for the unit as it's in a fixed position for longer?

Hope this helps

[Sunny43.5]

Doesn't it seem a bit odd that a crucial expensive part can fail because of the way we drive or where we drive ? if the part cannot be used as part of the engine for driving I would think VW made a mistake in design but obviously after the fact . Now we all know they will never admit that something is faulty unless someone gets killed { insert here VW Golf incident down south a few years back }

[LogicprObe]

Mines a 10/11 build MY12 so it might be different to earlier in the year.
I drove with the engine light on for over 100k and eventually changed it myself.
The EGR cost about $750 from VW and I changed it in half a day.
You need some extended splines and a bit of patience but that's about it.
Then you need to plug in and tell it it has a new part.
This guy's video helped immensely.

YouTube