EGR anyone??

[ANTB1986]

Anyone fancy blanking off my egr valve? Will sort some ££'s out for the person. I live in Crewe, Cheshire. Don't mind a little drive To the person along as it's not miles away

[kentiiboii]

Not too hard just get a blanking plate undo the bolts and slide it in. Just a little shit where it is

[ginge191]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EGR-valve-blan...2a1ea8c7a6

done

[ANTB1986]

Got the plate off eBay last month. I got the top bolt out but can't get in to get the 2nd one off. Iv got a 306 hdi and everything to do with modifying on the car is a pain in the ass

[Slam Wagon]

Sorry to jack the thread, ive got a stage one remap and looking at a stage 2 in the future. To blank it you literally unbolt it slide the plate in and bolt it back up? Ive heard about cleaning them out and stuff too but is anything like that needed to be done or anything beneficial?

[ANTB1986]

got me hair off with the bottom bolt so gave up but gna have another go tomorrow

[kentiiboii]

Sorry to jack the thread, ive got a stage one remap and looking at a stage 2 in the future. To blank it you literally unbolt it slide the plate in and bolt it back up? Ive heard about cleaning them out and stuff too but is anything like that needed to be done or anything beneficial?

No need to clean it once it's blanked nothing will get to it so there's no point. You can unplug it as well but it will list a silent fault. Unless you have a odb2 reader to clear the fault.

As for the bottom bolt it's tight but just 10mm with extension does it. And take of the 13mm bit further down. Helped a lot with me.

Worst thing was lining the plate up with the holes.
But to be fair. I did this on my car and I always get my dad to do the jobs. So can't be that hard at all.

[ANTB1986]

the elbow is connected to the egr and the inlet manifold and on mine the 2 bolts for the egr are allen keys and the 2 for the inlet are 13mm i think. what do you mean by 10mm? so you would say take all 4 bolts out?

[ANTB1986]

after putting on the blanking plate do i need any gasket to put in it or just bolt it back up? and i here people talking about egr valve open and closed.......what do they mean and will i have to do any of that or just put the plate in and tighten the bolts back up?

[Jonny81191]

on my old HDi i used some instant gasket on either side, worked fine for me!

[sweeney1987]

either side?
did you not remove egr completely?
the blank i made up replaced the valve completely

[Jonny81191]

I could only get the "top end" (inlet elbow end) undone, so just blocked it off there. I sealed both sides in case the valve was stuck open as i wasn't sure.

[ANTB1986]

What do you mean by both sides? So am I taking off all 4 bolts or just take the Allen key bolts out and just unscrew the 13mm half way so you can get enough room to get the plate in. Will it be easy to come apart when bolts are off?

[Poodle]

He means exhaust end and inlet end.

It depends whether you want to take the whole thing off or just block the flow. If you only want to blank it you can just undo the allen bolts and loosen that 13mm to get the plate in as described above.

To take the whole thing off you'll need to undo the 3(?) brackets holding it in place and all the bolts at both ends, once you've done that it'll pretty much fall off in your hands. You'll also need two blanking plates, one for each port, and to blank the vacuum actuator pipe.

[ANTB1986]

I know this ain't about the egr but anyone know how to cut off the air-con if I take it out? Need to make some room for the intercooler and know nothing about the air-con

[Poodle]

With a hacksaw or grinder...?

[ANTB1986]

Do I not have to block them up or is it ok to leave it after cutting it?

[gareth7]

If there's no gas left in the AC system (I'd be shocked if there was lol) just chop the pipes that are in the way to make room......

[ANTB1986]

Boom!

[Just Sean]

what gains are their to taking the egr valve out on a stage 1 hdi??

[Poodle]

No gains. A search and browse of the guide section will tell you everything else you need to know.

[Mr Whippy]

There are gains to be had from disabling the EGR.

I haven't done extensive testing with a blanked EGR, but I would say to get the benefits you ideally want to also de-activate it by unplugging it.

EGR essentially scavenges exhaust energy at transient and low to mid engine loads to use that exhaust gas to make the combustion richer.

The problem is the system can never be intelligent enough to know what you are planning to do next, or what you want from the engine, so it is a compromise. The EGR basically takes away energy that you might want the turbo to have access to to spool up faster.
In all cases this means any part throttle to full throttle acceleration is started with a half second pause to the EGR closing, so for that first part of acceleration the turbo isn't getting as much energy as it could. This is basically artificial turbo lag and it is noticeable in blind testing, and imo it's quite significant.

I think with EGR blanking you may reduce this issue quite a lot, but technically the EGR system volume is still present and stopping that volume being accessible in the first place by just unplugging the EGR is a much better choice.

I'm not really sure what blanking does, I suppose it makes more sense on later cars (206/307 etc) where a visible warning is left on the dash if you unplug the EGR. In those cases removing the vacuum pass on feed to the EGR actuator is probably the next best fix.


Blanking plates are cheap and easy to fit so probably worth doing. It might improve the air flow pattern into the intake manifold, then again it might hurt it. I've not done any testing to know, but it's probably nothing to worry about.


So to sum up, stopping EGR working via unplugging or intercepting the vacuum feed to the actuator will get you 90%+ of the benefits. EGR blanking plates might not get you all the benefits due to the EGR volume still being fed to by the EGR valve, so you still need to de-activate to assure you get the actual gains that are available, those being throttle response and turbo lag improvements.


Thanks

Dave

[Poodle]

Well yeah, I assumed the guy meant hp gains. Apologies, Sean, if i've done you a discourtesy there.

Best off welding/filling the EGR ports, removes any cause for turbulent airflow where the system used to be. Most people blank their EGR's in conjunction with disabling the actuator system because - at the kind of mileages we're seeing on these now - they're often partially blocked/seized open. Definitely worth making doubly sure imo.

Ideally you want to have the whole thing taken off your map, but then we're talking more money, maybe get it done with the stage 1 map.

[Mr Whippy]

I assumed as much but just thought I'd best note it's just not about getting clean air through the intake system and generally cleaning up the grotty EGR'd intake etc... but also it improves the engine response quite a large amount in my experience, becoming more noticeable the more you tune


Unplugging/deactivation at the actuator and simple blanking is best imo, as you can reverse it fairly easily for resale for example, but you'll get 99 -100% of the gains!
De-activation via ECU mapping is also valid but as you have said Poodle, to be sure it's really working 100% then you want to blank it any way, and in doing that AND the unplugging/actuator vacuum blocking, then doing further work to the ECU just seems like a waste of time/money, especially since it means that reverting the EGR system in future (if needed say for future MOT regulations) becomes almost impossible without another re-mapping session, while your quick DIY tweaks can be reverted in 15 mins.

Smoothing the bend is probably a really good idea if you are into modding etc, more so possibly on the HDi110 as the disruption is on the outside of the bend vs the HDi90 where it's on the inside edge...
My only note of warning would be to make sure the surface is super smooth and also that the new material is solidly in place. The last thing you want is for any of your material to end up getting lose and going through the engine!


You can see if the EGR is sticky at idle, just pop the bonnet, foot on accelerator and look over down the side of the EGR plug/EGR actuator, slowly press/depress the throttle a bit around idle and you can see it open/close (clicking slightly as it does so)
If the action looks sticky or laggy then you may have leak-through issues. A good intake clean with some cleaner is probably a good bet generally if the EGR is sticky, then de-activate.

Has anyone used a manifold/intake cleaner on the HDi and had good results? (ie, taken top L bend off afterwards and noted in looking super clean?)


Cheers

Dave

[ANTB1986]

I heard if you unplug the egr you get a silent fault? Can I just unplug it or do I have to rev it so it closes then unplug it?

[Poodle]

Fair point Dave, i'm approaching things from the "it's never getting reverted" viewpoint and forget other people aren't necessarily so inclined!

Yes Ant, you will get a silent fault. You just unplug it, no revving needed. In fact i'd do it without the engine running, ecu doesn't tend to like it when you unplug things while the engine's running.

[ANTB1986]

Do you see any side affects from unplugging it? Where abouts is the plug I unplug?

[Poodle]

Explained by Dave above. The plug is on the solenoid near the brake master cylinder, mounted on the inside of the wing.

[ANTB1986]

Yup found it and so far so good running wise. Just a quick one, how would I get another turbo to fit 306 hdi? I know iv Gota make a new fittment to mount the turbo but how do I tell the ecu that it's a different turbo or is it just the case of fitting the turbo and away you go?

[Poodle]

You don't have to tell the ecu anything, the turbos on these are purely mechanically actuated.