EGR valve trouble

grenache

Hi all,

Can anybody point me in the direction of an EGR deletion specialist either in Cork/Limerick or the wider Munster area?

I'm on my third valve in four years and still the engine management light will not go out despite being reset several times. I've been told it's a wiring issue that can affect many 1.4 ltr engines. Mine is a Seat Cordoba. It doesn't affect the driving of the car. But as I want to sell it soon the light has to be put out or else I'll be stuck with it. So it needs either blocking off or complete deletion.

Thanks in advance.

robtri

grenache wrote: »

Hi all,

Can anybody point me in the direction of an EGR deletion specialist either in Cork/Limerick or the wider Munster area?

I'm on my third valve in four years and still the engine management light will not go out despite being reset several times. I've been told it's a wiring issue that can affect many 1.4 ltr engines. Mine is a Seat Cordoba. It doesn't affect the driving of the car. But as I want to sell it soon the light has to be put out or else I'll be stuck with it. So it needs either blocking off or complete deletion.

Thanks in advance.

Just to clarify,
You have a defect issue on the car, and you want to hide it, so you can sell it

Can you ot getting the wiring issue sorted?

bazz26

Try giving Brendan Holmes a ring, he is based in Castlemungret (opposite the Irish Cement factory), Limerick. He specialises in German (mainly BMW and VAG stuff) so should be familiar with Seat too.

sandydan

grenache wrote: »

Hi all,

Can anybody point me in the direction of an EGR deletion specialist either in Cork/Limerick or the wider Munster area?

I'm on my third valve in four years and still the engine management light will not go out despite being reset several times. I've been told it's a wiring issue that can affect many 1.4 ltr engines. Mine is a Seat Cordoba. It doesn't affect the driving of the car. But as I want to sell it soon the light has to be put out or else I'll be stuck with it. So it needs either blocking off or complete deletion.

Thanks in advance.

i know engine management light comes on but,were replaced egr valves dirty or faulty every time, and was egr valve replaced and light reset by vw mechanic,after being diagnosed on vw diagnostics,a faulty temp sender unit will turn on that light as well and can upset fuel setting which can cause a problem.
that aside if valve was faulty or needed replacement it sounds like poor fuel settings could cause issue, is engine clean ie any fumes from breather,does car have a lot of short urban journeys or tick over type driving.00-03 fabia had similar issues , but i have octavia and never had problem. those egr valves can be cleaned, but is not really job for for beginner,
as for wiring issue there is a good auto electrition in castlemartyr (i think) . Kenneally is surname, cant think of first name,does lot of work on trucks as well.

grenache

robtri wrote: »

Just to clarify,
You have a defect issue on the car, and you want to hide it, so you can sell it

Can you ot getting the wiring issue sorted?

If it's being deleted it's not being hidden. There is no performance issue with this car. It has never seized up on me. This light has been coming on and off for the past 2 years, I have taken it to several mechanics. The valve has been cleaned/replaced a few times by various mechanics. I change my car every 4 year. I'm not selling it because of the light issue. I'm selling it because I want to trade up and get a 08 or newer vehicle for lower tax purposes. However I cannot sell it privately with this light on. A dealer has offered me €2k for a trade (with the light on) but that's €750 less than it's trade value.

Chimaera

grenache wrote: »

Hi all,

Can anybody point me in the direction of an EGR deletion specialist either in Cork/Limerick or the wider Munster area?

I'm on my third valve in four years and still the engine management light will not go out despite being reset several times. I've been told it's a wiring issue that can affect many 1.4 ltr engines. Mine is a Seat Cordoba. It doesn't affect the driving of the car. But as I want to sell it soon the light has to be put out or else I'll be stuck with it. So it needs either blocking off or complete deletion.

Thanks in advance.

I think you need a new mechanic. If you've replaced it that many times, they've obviously not found the root cause. Deleting the valve or making the light go out will not fix the problem, and you're only creating more trouble for the next owner.

grenache

sandydan wrote: »

i know engine management light comes on but,were replaced egr valves dirty or faulty every time, and was egr valve replaced and light reset by vw mechanic,after being diagnosed on vw diagnostics,a faulty temp sender unit will turn on that light as well and can upset fuel setting which can cause a problem.
that aside if valve was faulty or needed replacement it sounds like poor fuel settings could cause issue, is engine clean ie any fumes from breather,does car have a lot of short urban journeys or tick over type driving.00-03 fabia had similar issues , but i have octavia and never had problem. those egr valves can be cleaned, but is not really job for for beginner,
as for wiring issue there is a good auto electrition in castlemartyr (i think) . Kenneally is surname, cant think of first name,does lot of work on trucks as well.

The Seat mechanic told me that the previous owner (an 85 year old gentleman) had driven it at a low speed in high gear, that this had lead to the valve becoming clogged up. Cleaning it didn't work, as the management light came on again after a month. A year after I bought it, there was a new valve put into it at a cost of €350. Same story again after another couple of weeks.

Yes lots of short 'stop-start' journeys as I live in Cork City. I travel back to a Limerick every couple of weeks so long journeys are also undertaken in the car. No fumes to report on, but it was burning a lot of oil up to recently before I treated it with a Simoniz filter treatment.

Thanks for the tips.

grenache

Chimaera wrote: »

I think you need a new mechanic. If you've replaced it that many times, they've obviously not found the root cause. Deleting the valve or making the light go out will not fix the problem, and you're only creating more trouble for the next owner.

So the problem is unfixable then?

Surely deleting the EGR system eliminates the problem and improves performance of the car? I'm no expert by any means, so I'm open to correction on this by those in the know.

Chimaera

grenache wrote: »

So the problem is unfixable then?

Surely deleting the EGR system eliminates the problem and improves performance of the car? I'm no expert by any means, so I'm open to correction on this by those in the know.

No, it's fixable. But you need to find the root cause and not piss around with replacing the valve or trying to find workarounds.

If it's clogging up, then something's not right in the engine, especially a petrol engine. What's the valve clogging up with? Soot? Black gunge? Something else?

grenache

Chimaera wrote: »

No, it's fixable. But you need to find the root cause and not piss around with replacing the valve or trying to find workarounds.

If it's clogging up, then something's not right in the engine, especially a petrol engine. What's the valve clogging up with? Soot? Black gunge? Something else?

The first valve had soot in it. The second one wasn't clogged up but was still setting off the engine management light. Same story with the third one. Hence we think it's a wiring fault. I'm going to take it to the specialist in Limerick and see what he has to say.

Chimaera

grenache wrote: »

The first valve had soot in it. The second one wasn't clogged up but was still setting off the engine management light. Same story with the third one. Hence we think it's a wiring fault. I'm going to take it to the specialist in Limerick and see what he has to say.

The soot points to the engine not functioning correctly, most likely not burning fuel correctly. Culprits might be the lambda sensor or bad plugs.

I'd be quite willing to bet that the original valve was fine for want of cleaning, and you've thrown away a lot of money on new EGR valves unnecessarily.

If the engine management light is coming on, it'll have a diagnostic error code associated with it which will point towards the source of the fault. If it really was a wiring fault with the EGR system, then find the fault and fix it (I doubt it is). Chances are a sensor has gone arse over tit somewhere.

sandydan

grenache wrote: »

The first valve had soot in it. The second one wasn't clogged up but was still setting off the engine management light. Same story with the third one. Hence we think it's a wiring fault. I'm going to take it to the specialist in Limerick and see what he has to say.

who services car,is it dealer serviced,or experienced vw trained mech . wrong oil,fuel settings ,temperature sender unit can influence correct burning mix imo. those egr valves can be easily cleaned,it's even explained on google with warning to wear gloves.
burning oil suggests it may be letting off fumes which through the breather in turn may influnce burning mix ,to me suggests valves or rings clogging with carbon & needing attention may be bigger issue, imo.
if a dealer offered me €750 less than normal sale value for a car with those issues id grab it and upgrade. by the way id avoid getting 06-09 avensis dsl car i have one and number of that model around here have turbo issues and one needed replacement engine , just my luck i had to get one.:)

sandydan

btw
before you trade up check car tax if buying petrol cars registered after July 08,friend bought corolla 08 and nearly got a seizure when renewing tax.then he realized why his 05 model had good trade in value. spent 6 months trying to retrade
petrol cars had high co2 emissions in most models until 09 or 10 with car makers

it may be more financially beneficial to keep car and ignore light and fix before each NCT .if driven hard for a while it may sort out oil burning issue by additive use. that may resolve egr choking, heard of passat that stopped burning oil after 20,000 miles

hibble

Suggest you have a look at the inlet manifold flap, cogs wear on them as they are plastic and this will also trigger the EML. However, the fault should show on checking the codes. 290,000 km on my 1.4 tdi on the original EGR valve - most of which has been done at a sedate pace.