BKD Engine - EGR and EGR Cooler delete

[julza]

Hey Guys,

I've got an Audi A3 8P which I purchased last year for my wife to use. She's done about 250,00km's so not a spring chicken. ( we got it for what i thought to be, a good price) It has nice black leather interior, has the DSG 6 speed which I love, and oddly enough it has paddle shifters on the steering wheel.

This is the car- I know this is a VW forum, but as far as I understand, these have a lot in common with the Golf. The engine appears identical apart from the four circles on the engine cover (which i have turfed anyway!)







Since getting the car a few months ago, we first changed the DSG Dual mass flywheel (Cost $2200 for my mechanic to do, apparently $1200 for the part) After this we had a slight coolant leak.

My mechanic suggested a sealing additive to the coolant as the leak was only a weep. I have now put the leak down to the EGR Cooler. The leak resumed with vengeance the other day, so i have parked the car for a few days while i fix this.


I have a feeling some problems are linked. The computer threw up a Inlet manifold/ASV flap code a few weeks ago and i haven't yet attended to it. I have decided to do a EGR + EGR Cooler delete based on my online research so far.

Yesterday I removed the ASV/EGR assembly. Take a look at this photo- not sure if this has ever been cleaned or replaced.



After seeing this buildup, this has re-enforced the EGR Delete / EGR cooler delete option I have chosen.

I'm going to clean the ASV and Inlet manifold. Hopefully the gears on the ASV haven't chewed out yet- The replacement is quite expensive (Volkswagen quoted me 700, they are available from the UK online for about $300 though..and i can get one from the wrecker for $150 (second hand with 6 month warranty)

Hopefully removing both will accomplish a few things:

1: Stop dirty recirculated gassy air gunking up the Intake again
2: Remove a few potential coolant leaks from the rear of the motor that are fun to get to
3: Save some money on a new EGR cooler, that will eventually fail again.
4: Remove two potential future failures - EGR valve and EGR cooler, which are costly to replace)

While removing the EGR is deemed as negative by some,. this car has already done 270,000 km's and I believe most of the emission controls at this age do more harm than good- as seen in this case, or are no longer effective.

The car has been sounding different lately (making more turbo boost noises) and sometimes when loaded (such as going up hill) or overtaking I leave what i like to call a "smokescreen" in front of the unfortunate person behind me. Hopefully the EGR delete will lower/get rid of this.

I'll post up updates with my progress on this. I've ordered the EGR delete pipe from Allard online so hopefully it will arrive from the UK soon. I'm picking up the fitting to do the EGR cooler delete from VW parts today (was about $30)

The only issue i can see at the moment is mapping out the EGR function from the ECU. I'm not sure who/where i can get this done and how much it will be.

I also got a glow plug fault code a few weeks ago (this is after I swapped out all four flow plugs thinking it would fix the starting issue)

I have a feeling i may need to replace the glowplug/injector loom as well ill do one thing at a time until i dont get any more lights!- will see if the glowplug code comes up again.

Is anybody able to recommend a method/tuner who can do this? Would I benefit from a remap at the same time? I am also experiencing long crank times when hot and it is extremely frustrating holding the key for 5-6 seconds sometimes to get it to start- i have seen online that some people have "mapped out" the hot starting issue as well?

The first thing i did with this car when I got it was do a oil change with quality penrite oil, new oil filter, new diesel filter, new air filter etc. Will also dump the coolant once the issue is resolved and put proper audi/vw g12 coolant back in.

Also, if anybody could give me experiences with how these motors go at High k's like this and what the potential lifetime is, and recommendations to increase the longevity it would be great.

Would appreciate any advice anybody can offer!

Cheers

Julian


PS. See below for codes. Not sure about the Auto trans one but i did clear all codes a fw days ago, not sure if the glowplugs or auto trans came back up

Tuesday,10,December,2013,20:57:08:10074
VAG-COM Version: Release 704.1
Data version: 20070422
Chassis Type: 1K0
Scan: 01 02 03 08 09 15 16 17 19 25 42 44 46 47 52 56 62 72 7D


VIN: WAUZZZ8P35A068911 Mileage: 267350km/166123miles


00-Steering Angle Sensor -- Status: OK 0000
01-Engine -- Status: Malfunction 0010
02-Auto Trans -- Status: Malfunction 0010
03-ABS Brakes -- Status: OK 0000
08-Auto HVAC -- Status: OK 0000
09-Cent. Elect. -- Status: OK 0000
15-Airbags -- Status: OK 0000
16-Steering wheel -- Status: OK 0000
17-Instruments -- Status: OK 0000
19-CAN Gateway -- Status: OK 0000
25-Immobilizer -- Status: OK 0000
42-Door Elect, Driver -- Status: OK 0000
44-Steering Assist -- Status: OK 0000
46-Central Conv. -- Status: Malfunction 0010
47-Sound System -- Status: OK 0000
52-Door Elect, Pass. -- Status: OK 0000
56-Radio -- Status: OK 0000
62-Door,Rear Left -- Status: OK 0000
72-Door, Rear Right -- Status: OK 0000
7D-Aux. Heat -- Status: OK 0000

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Address 01: Engine Labels: None
Part No SW: 03G 906 016 DT HW: 028 101 189 2
Component: R4 2,0L EDC G000AG 7000
Coding: 0000078
Shop #: WSC 06314


3 Faults Found:
17056 - Cylinder 2 Glow Plug Circuit (Q11): Electrical Fault
P0672 - 000 - -
Freeze Frame:
RPM: 0 /min
Torque: 134.0 Nm
Speed: 0.0 km/h
Load: 0.0 %
Voltage: 12.08 V
Bin. Bits: 00101100
Temperature: 9.0°C
Bin. Bits: 00110000


17055 - Cylinder 1 Glow Plug Circuit (Q10): Electrical Fault
P0671 - 000 - -
Freeze Frame:
RPM: 840 /min
Torque: 44.0 Nm
Speed: 0.0 km/h
Load: 0.0 %
Voltage: 14.29 V
Bin. Bits: 00101100
Temperature: 13.5°C
Bin. Bits: 10110000


19559 - Motor for Intake Manifold Flap (V157): Malfunction
P3103 - 000 - -
Freeze Frame:
RPM: 252 /min
Torque: 100.0 Nm
Speed: 0.0 km/h
Load: 0.0 %
Voltage: 10.11 V
Bin. Bits: 00101100
Torque: 0.0 Nm
Torque: 76.0 Nm


Readiness: 1 1 0 0 0


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Address 02: Auto Trans Labels: 02E-300-0xx.LBL
Part No SW: 02E 300 041 N HW: 02E 927 770 AD
Component: GSG DSG 041 0813
Coding: 0000020
Shop #: WSC 06314


1 Fault Found:
28775 - No Communication with Gear Selector Module
U0103 - 000 - - - Intermittent - MIL ON

[jets]

In buying such a high mileage car, how long do you intend to keep it? How many Ks do you do in a year. Some of the work you propose may not be worth it if you just clean up parts & continue driving. I am referring here mainly to the EGR delete.

[julza]

Hi Mate,

We collectively do about 20,000 km a year currently and when we move into our new house futher out west, this may increase to 25k per year. We would like to keep this car past the 300,000km mark if possible- limiting factor i guess would be the bottom end life. Being a Diesel, I expect that this would be higher than a Petrol car. Apart from the mileage, the car is in very good condition and still gets about 820km to a 55L tank of diesel despite the EGR/ASV issue it currently has!

Considering how much we spent on the DMF replacement, we would like a return on our investment!

In buying such a high mileage car, how long do you intend to keep it? How many Ks do you do in a year. Some of the work you propose may not be worth it if you just clean up parts & continue driving. I am referring here mainly to the EGR delete.

[gldgti]

The engine should last well beyond 300,000km.

You have made a long post, so I'll try to address a few of the things you've mentioned from start to finish.

1) Never let a mechanic put any kind of sealing stuff in the coolant!

2) The coolant leak could well be from a coolant hose or connection around the EGR - with 270,000km the most degraded parts will be the coolant hoses, particularly those in the really really hot parts of the engine bay, i.e. near the turbo, where the egr cooler is. I don't know a good source for these personally, but there are bound to be suppliers. The hard part is that getting to the EGR cooler to check is very difficult.

3) Your EGR buildup is sadly typical. I agree its well worth cleaning it out. The fault code may have been incurred by gunk jamming the ASV or the EGR valve open, so I would clean all that.

4) Most of the codes look like they are from intermittent faults. If you have changed the glow plugs, I would clear the codes and wait to see if it comes back before replacing anything (***EDIT - just re-read your post - if you scan again you might find the trans and glow faults are not there). Remember that a code that causes a fault light will not clear itself. You must clear the code (not just fix the problem) for the light to go off.

5) The glow plug warning light is used for glow plug and emissions system faults.

6) If the EGR valve is stuck open, its possible this is causing your 'extra turbo noise'. It will also be causing insufficient boost to be produced, which would explain black smoke under load.

Summary:

I would remove the ASV, egr valve and intake and fix/clean/replace them as you see fit. Then clear the fault codes, and see how the car runs. The coolant leak is probably not directly related to the other problems, and is more likely the result of perished rubber etc. Tackle that as a seperate issue IMO.

[julza]

I did some further digging last night to find the source of my problem (the coolant leak)

After struggling, i somehow managed to get a small pair of vise grips onto the turbo intake pipe to remove it (without actually seeing it)

This allowed me to access the EGR cooler easily. What i found was a tiny pinhole leake on a welch plug on the EGR cooler. Looks like it's been weeping for a while... I assume i could fix my issue by fitting a new welch plug to this?



Would it be worth renewing all the cooling hoses connected to this (I assume yes)

i'm now not so sure about the EGR delete. What a bummer- i've already ordered the parts for it. Might keep them for the future.

I also took the inlet manifold off (it is filthy) and I'm going to give it a clean along with the EGR valve and ASV. Not sure on the best solvent to use to get the thick deposits off it. Any suggestions? I was going to go to a cylinder head reco place and get it (the manifold only) put in a tank with other aluminium parts but everybody seems to still be closed for the Christmas break.

Thanks for advice so far guys

[julza]

I ended up removing the Inlet manifold. It was filthy with caked on carbon/soot and most ports were partially blocked. I took it to a head machining shop and got it hot tanked (in the aluminium parts tank). I still had to remove stubborn excess carbon buildup, making sure that I didn't leave any loose bits in there (don't want to bend a valve)

Dirty Manifold



Clean manifold:



I also purchased an 8mm welch plug for the EGR cooler and have installed it Hopefully this cures the leak ( it was a whole lot of $1.50, i bought a few spares as small welch plugs are hard to find)

IF the EGR cooler for any reason fails me, the EGR delete kit will arrive in the mail soon and will be my second option. I can't get over how clogged up the intake system gets from the EGR!

[jets]

I can't get over how clogged up the intake system gets from the EGR!

The inlet starts getting dirty/clogged at low mileage. Yours has probably never been cleaned since new. I think that regular cleaning should be part of maintenance. That said, I haven't cleaned mine yet. As far as a solvent for cleaning, & after reading all the suggestions on the net, I used Kero. on my T4 EGR valve finished with some brake clean & it came up like new. The common remark is how filthy a job it is & that you should wear nitrile gloves.

[julza]

Yes it is definitely a filthy job. Even after being hot tanked, it was still full of muck. I used a combination of degreaser (the $2 sort) and a karcher high pressure cleaner. I then used brake cleaner but still there was heaps of gunk. I then soaked the whole inlet manifold in Diesel for a few days which seems to have loosened up alot of the chunky bits, followed by more $2 degreaser cans and brake cleaner.

You definitely want to wear gloves the whole time.

I also blew it out with compressed air to make sure i didnt leave any degreaser/water in there!


In retrospect, i should have just left it with the cylinder head bloke for a few more days in the hot tank and it would have loosened probably all of the muck but my wife really wants her car back!

I wonder if fuel economy will increase now? Will also be interesting to see if it smokes less under load. Here's hoping the ASV isn't completely damaged and sill now close.

The inlet starts getting dirty/clogged at low mileage. Yours has probably never been cleaned since new. I think that regular cleaning should be part of maintenance. That said, I haven't cleaned mine yet. As far as a solvent for cleaning, & after reading all the suggestions on the net, I used Kero. on my T4 EGR valve finished with some brake clean & it came up like new. The common remark is how filthy a job it is & that you should wear nitrile gloves.

[jets]

Forgot to say that on the EGR valve I cleaned there is a fair amount of scrubbing to remove the built up crud. I found an old hard toothbrush to be effective. I can see why just leaving in a cleaning tank, with as much build up as yours, would take days rather than hours to clean up to as new. Please repost your experiences with fuel economy, power & general smoothness of driving.

[Rebuild]

On my T5 around 130K i cleaned the alum. manifold with petrol(had it handy) and an old hacksaw blade as much as i could,then LPG flamed it up till smoke ran clear.Remove any rubber bits first

Mine ran better mainly down low and in midrange, i thought, after blocking the EGR and cleaning the manifold, and it wasn't as bad as yours.