Another 1.6TDi EGR Valve Failure

[Bob_S]

I have recently joined the EGR valve failure club. My car is a 2010 Golf Plus with the 1.6 TDi engine and it has done 47000 miles. It manifested itself intermittently with the engine warning coming on, car going into limp mode and on stopping and switching off and restarting it would run ok again for a while. It had to be fixed as it was a potentially dangerous fault and after it was diagnosed I was quoted £1134 to fix it.

Luckily for me I had done my research and eventually this was reduced to the parts for free and 50% of the labour, which came to £324, which was still an expense I could have done without. The only advantage of having contributed to the cost is that I have a 2 year warranty on the repair.

But the question is that why is a fault, that is well known, that causes the car to go into limp mode, and is therefore potentially dangerous, not being treated as a safety recall?

[Doctle Odd]

Soon your DPF will fail but don't worry about the DPF too much as the injectors and high pressure pump will die around the same time

[Bob_S]

Is there a history of these parts failing on the 1.6TDi or are you just being pessimistic for the sake of it?

[Doctle Odd]

I apologise, none of those things may happen however the engine hasn't a great reputation

[TDiBoraSam]

I was thinking of having mine remapped to about 125hp, but after reading various threads about how fragile and sensitive the 1.6TDI is, I think I'll leave it well alone!

Why is EGR replacement so expensive on these engines? I don't recall people saying it was as expensive on the old 1.9's?

40k on mine, and, touch wood, no engine problems as yet other than occasional cold start reluctance.

[Bob_S]

The main reason is the siting of the EGR at the back of the engine compartment. It is not as accessible as on earlier VW diesels and it is just under a 5 hour job to replace it. The EGR itself is a combined EGR and cooler and I believe it is plumbed into the cooling system, so I suspect the part is more complex than earlier EGR's which makes it so much more expensive.

[TDiBoraSam]

Ah ok, fair enough, just strange that VW would decide to position a part that's by it's very nature prone to clogging and failure in such an inaccessible place. The EGR valve is rarely a part that is completely maintenance free for the life of the car, usually needing attention at least once per 80-100k miles?

[snig71]

Probably put at the back of the engine there to increase revenue on spares and repair and integrated in to cooler etc to stop people undertaking a EGR deletion from the vehicle as easily.

[Bob_S]

I would suspect the latter, to ensure there is no messing about with the EGR rather than a policy of revenue generation.

[snig71]

Less EGR deletions, means more replacements.

1.6 TDI seems to have lots of EGR issues on skoda engines.