UFO mods for diesel EGR Delete

[oil pan 4]

How bad does your intake look from EGR?

On my diesel the intake sluge was nearly 1/4 inch thick in some places from 20+ years of EGR.

[UFO]

I need to look. I removed and cleaned my intake 2 years ago (70k miles) and it was pretty clogged. I haven't checked it since, but I bought an EGR valve that (hopefully) doesn't weep oil, so I can inspect the manifold when I install that.

I now have 110k miles.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

How bad does your intake look from EGR?

On my diesel the intake sluge was nearly 1/4 inch thick in some places from 20+ years of EGR.

Ours had a hole the size of a drinking straw for air to go through and $800 later will be repaired.

[UFO]

Originally Posted by rmay635703

If you manage to delete EGR safely let me know, my folks need to clean the intake and turbo nearly every year because of EGR, I found a guy with a Vag com but our car was inop at that time so we couldn't change anything.

Ah well, see if I can find him again.

I have done it. Here is a picture of the device I made, you wire this to your MAF harness. To disable the valve, you just need to plug the line with a ball bearing and re-insert the hose on the valve. It's quite stealthy; the CEL stays off and the EGR appears connected and appears to work, even if you look at it with VAG-COM.

[hackish]

I did some testing on a '06 TDI 1.9l. I disabled the EGR right in the ECU. It did not make a statistically significant difference in the fuel economy. I did the same with a brand new DDI engine and it went horribly wrong. Threw about a dozen DPF codes and went into limp mode. It's not for everyone that's for sure.

Also on diesel EGR I've had a number of Volvo highway tractors who wanted their EGR removed because the valves are about $1800 and seem to fail about twice a year. On those we recorded almost 0.2MPG loss in fuel economy over about 10,000ga of fuel.

Is there a specific reason why you would want to remove EGR?

[UFO]

I think I have laid out my case in other threads, but I wanted to test the effects on fuel mileage, and it looks like it has a negligible effect on the ALH TDI. EGR deletion improved the fuel mileage on my Jeep Liberty CRD, and those had a high rate of EGR valve failures as well, so it made a lot of sense for that vehicle. The TDI, apparently not so much, but it will reduce intake clogging and may also improve CO and particulate emissions.

[oil pan 4]

Originally Posted by hackish

Is there a specific reason why you would want to remove EGR?

Pros: On larger Diesel vehicles EGR hurts fuel economy, EGR clogs the intake with soot and sluge, EGR causes them to run hotter (can be a problem for larger hard working engines), EGR is one more thing to break and spend money on yet is unnessary for operation, Increases PM and CO (Carbon monoxide).

Cons, EGR deletion will make it take longer to get up to operating temperature and thats about it.

[COcyclist]

Originally Posted by UFO

Mileage on my second tank with EGR re-installed spiked way up, not sure if it's the warming weather or what, I've changed nothing. But with the warmer weather, I filled with B50 and deleted the EGR again. I may alternate tanks enabled and disabled, just to see if a pattern will emerge. At this point there is no indication EGR delete improves efficiency in my TDI.

Thanks for keeping us posted on this. Just for curiosity, is your Beetle parked outdoors all night? I believe Denver's overnight lows are warmer lately and with your 20 mile commute warm-up time is surely affecting your mileage. I wish there were a way to easily disconnect EGR as soon as you make temperature. My gut feeling is that we should get better mpg without EGR. Diesels like lots of oxygen rich cool air for combustion. A friend in Golden has an ALH TDI Jetta with a removed EGR valve and he reports better highway mpg on long highway trips than I get in my PD Golf. He also has almost no defroster heat on his typical 5 mile commute in winter. Hmmm. I may have to spring for the Malone tune "in the name of science". It's pricey though.

[UFO]

Yes, the Beetle is parked outside overnight.

There is a guy on TDIClub who is interested in modifying my circuit to work with the engine temperature. It may be fairly easy to tap into the coolant sensor and use that to engage the EGR delete once the engine is warm. I am keeping it in mind if I do another iteration of my design.

[COcyclist]

Originally Posted by COcyclist

I may have to spring for the Malone tune "in the name of science". It's pricey though.

I finally installed the Malone Stage 1 with Dynamic EGR. It allows EGR to warm engine coolant up to 150º and then EGR is disabled. The tune has made my engine run smoother and I have gained power. The Dynamic EGR seems to be helping highway mileage. I will have to finish this tank to be certain but it looks to be a 900+ mile tank.