2003 tdi Diesel 1.9 Passat Estate Sport EGR valve problems

[passattt]

Hi,

I have a 2003 passat estate automatic tdi 1.9L diesel sport. Recently it was accelerating really slowly particularly noticeable when pulling out at junctions etc. Also when I'm waiting in traffic and braking it sort of judders or "bucks" when I brake. Also the AC doesn't seem to be able to produce cold air anymore and just acts like a fan. I wasn't sure if these problems were all related and caused by an underlying problem or not.

So I took it to my local garage and the mechanic said that there was a problem with the EGR valve and that it was probably causing all these issues. He quoted £400 to replace it - not sure but that seems to be pretty expensive to me!

My car knowledge is very limited and my most complex car repair was replacing a lambda sensor in a Seat Ibiza!

Anyway is changing (or perhaps just cleaning) an EGR valve a simple enough task for me to do myself? If so could someone give me a step by step to doing this?

Here's a photo:

[caldirun]

Hi,

I have a 2003 passat estate automatic tdi 1.9L diesel sport. Recently it was accelerating really slowly particularly noticeable when pulling out at junctions etc. Also when I'm waiting in traffic and braking it sort of judders or "bucks" when I brake. Also the AC doesn't seem to be able to produce cold air anymore and just acts like a fan. I wasn't sure if these problems were all related and caused by an underlying problem or not.

So I took it to my local garage and the mechanic said that there was a problem with the EGR valve and that it was probably causing all these issues. He quoted £400 to replace it - not sure but that seems to be pretty expensive to me!

My car knowledge is very limited and my most complex car repair was replacing a lambda sensor in a Seat Ibiza!

Anyway is changing (or perhaps just cleaning) an EGR valve a simple enough task for me to do myself? If so could someone give me a step by step to doing this?

Here's a photo:

See the post "I replaced some hoses today", I think you have a vacuum leak, it could be the EGR but the hoses are chaffed by the useless plastic covers that are placed over the engine, bin the covers and replace all the hoses.
I have just noticed the colour of you coolant, if it is brown as it appears on the photo you may have big trouble on the way.

[passattt]

See the post "I replaced some hoses today", I think you have a vacuum leak, it could be the EGR but the hoses are chaffed by the useless plastic covers that are placed over the engine, bin the covers and replace all the hoses.
I have just noticed the colour of you coolant, if it is brown as it appears on the photo you may have big trouble on the way.

Thanks so much for your reply. Yes you are right the coolant colour is brown - what kind of big trouble am I in for?

I'll have a look at the hoses post and see if I can do it.

Is it worth trying to clean the EGR valve?

[caldirun]

I would drain and flush the cooling system then replace with G12, and hope it stays pink, if not something is getting into the cooling system that should not.
EGR is easy to remove and clean, do the inlet manifold at the same time, why did the mechanic suspect the EGR? did he scan for error codes to come to this?

[passattt]

Thanks I'll work out how to drain and flush the cooling system. Yes he did the computer scan and came to the conclusion it was the EGR. How do I locate the EGR and remove it for cleaning?

[caldirun]

The EGR is the device sticking through the plastic cover to the left of the oil filler, do the vacuum pipes first, much cheaper, easier and far more likely to be the problem. Don't expect the air con to start working though, no chance of that being the same problem! get it re gassed.