General Information regarding EGR related problems and solutions.

[amclellan]

My Volvo V40 1.9 Diesel 115 bhp, is drinking more fuel, accelerating less well and the engine is hesitating at around 2000 rpm. The car has a full service history, so what is the problem? Then I noticed this thing called an EGR valve, which Volvo neither service nor check.

Inspired by this excellent thread by Biotoxic I thought I would clean my EGR valve. All went well. The solenoid separated from the EGR valve. But the EGR valve was stuck fast in the inlet manifold.

So, lots of penetrating fluid, a wooden stick and a rubber hammer were tried, with no reward.

Then a cold chisel and steel hammer was tried. The EGR valve was bruised but survived unmoved.

I realised that less brute force and more brain power was necessary. I researched the idea of heating the manifold and made a bespoke tool to use as a drift.

I know nothing about the manifold's aluminium alloy, but realised that an oxyacetylene torch would not be good. I settled for a hot air gun (1800 Watt, 600 Centigrade).



My new tool was made from an old tyre lever and a M8 nut and bolt.







An appropriate weight hammer was selected



I applied the hot air to the manifold casting in the area of the EGR valve. After about 10 minutes the EGR area of the casting had reached 50 Centigrade. Then the new tool was engaged in the bolt holes of the EGR valve. A few light strikes with the hammer caused the first movement of the EGR valve. 10 minutes later it was out.

It was oily, sooty and black. I tried to clean it with kerosene, acetone, carburetor cleaner and a toothbrush. None were that helpful. More reading suggested that a ultrasonic bath would clean this valve. I prepared a cleaning solution from detergent 5 g, sodium hydroxide 5 g and water 1.5 l. Three sessions in the bath left only a brown varnish on the valve.

The valve was so clean it slid straight back into the manifold.

[skyship007]

Originally Posted by amclellan

My Volvo V40 1.9 Diesel 115 bhp, is drinking more fuel, accelerating less well and the engine is hesitating at around 2000 rpm. The car has a full service history, so what is the problem? Then I noticed this thing called an EGR valve, which Volvo neither service nor check.
Inspired by this excellent thread by Biotoxic I thought I would clean my EGR valve. All went well. The solenoid separated from the EGR valve. But the EGR valve was stuck fast in the inlet manifold.
So, lots of penetrating fluid, a wooden stick and a rubber hammer were tried, with no reward.
Then a cold chisel and steel hammer was tried. The EGR valve was bruised but survived unmoved.
I realised that less brute force and more brain power was necessary. I researched the idea of heating the manifold and made a bespoke tool to use as a drift.
I know nothing about the manifold's aluminium alloy, but realised that an oxyacetylene torch would not be good. I settled for a hot air gun (1800 Watt, 600 Centigrade).
My new tool was made from an old tyre lever and a M8 nut and bolt.
An appropriate weight hammer was selected
I applied the hot air to the manifold casting in the area of the EGR valve. After about 10 minutes the EGR area of the casting had reached 50 Centigrade. Then the new tool was engaged in the bolt holes of the EGR valve. A few light strikes with the hammer caused the first movement of the EGR valve. 10 minutes later it was out.
It was oily, sooty and black. I tried to clean it with kerosene, acetone, carburetor cleaner and a toothbrush. None were that helpful. More reading suggested that a ultrasonic bath would clean this valve. I prepared a cleaning solution from detergent 5 g, sodium hydroxide 5 g and water 1.5 l. Three sessions in the bath left only a brown varnish on the valve.
The valve was so clean it slid straight back into the manifold.

I would never try cleaning an EGR valve unless the intake is very dirty. They foul up at about the same rate, so if you read the instructions and clean both together, then it's easy to figure out if the EGR valve needs cleaning again.
It should be done every cam belt service and if you don't have the Volvo tool, try a big pipe wrench!

To help free up the valve, use WD40, but then use brake cleaner (Or switch cleaner) to clean it. Use a new crush washer not a paper gasket and a new O ring for the intake. The bolts should be refitted using a low stregth Locktight to prevent corrosion.

If you have to use a pipe wrench, it's a good idea to have a new EGR valve (Often made by Pierburg) on standby. Some folks have even broken one of the 3 flanges using the Volvo approved tool, which is probably why their dealers always replace rather than clean EGR's.

Some mad engine modders clean their EGR's with the engine running !!
The Mod involves drilling a hole and fitting a small bolt in the intake that allows a fine plastic hose to be inserted all the way to the EGR. Then you use a can of Liqui Moly or 3M diesel EGR cleaner (Listed in their Pro systems) that already has the hose fitted to spray in solvent whilst the engine is revved up. Not a job for thee faint hearted and it causes a lot of smoke.

PS: Not had to clean my EGR for 150K km (I did get the intake done) cos a good blast on the Autobahn does that job. It also cleans up the turbo system.

[GingerDiesel]

Hello All,

A great thread for a pesky piece of engineering!

I bought my Volvo C30 1.6D 2010 last Easter. Its a lovely car, but its performance seemed a little lagging, but I thought that was just how it must be.

It got worse, however. It sometimes felt like it was "pulling back" against me, and there was a delay in acceleration after pressing the accelerator. Once the engine got to about 1,900 revs, it would take off again...

As I approached the 75,000 mile mark, I realised that a new DPF was on the cards for that service interval. I got one from eBay for only about £150 and had it fitted.

I took it out on the road, and the same symptoms were present. (We did remember to tell the ECU there was a new DPF in VIDA!)

Errors for the MAF were present. The mechanic thought about it, took out the EGR, and gave it a bit of a clean. He put it back in and I went for a drive to see if the MAF codes would reappear. They didn't - but the car was like never before, absolutely flying! It felt like it had limitless power, like I'd never felt in this car - I could be doing 89, 90 and give the accelerator a teeny touch and there's more power available!

We realised the EGR was the trouble all along, and the DPF was probably OK... never mind, this model has a "wet" Eolys DPF, and would need a new one anyway... Models from later 2010, the 6-speed, have a dry DPF which lasts the car's lifetime. Its the Eolys that blocks the wet ones eventually.

Anyway, a good few months trouble-free... until those symptoms come back. At this point, I was heading out on holiday, and had no time to go to the garage - so I got a can of Holts EGR Cleaner from Halfords on the way... I sprayed that into the air intake, got scared by the detonations and rattling, the poor thing... But it solved the problem!

Of course, these dirty EGRs will only clog up again, so I was coming away from my MOT last month, having passed, when those laggy, hesitant symptoms came back. I had to get it home, but at points it was running so sough I had to have about 2,500 revs in first to slowly get it moving, had to really rag the engine to not stall... fool that I am i tried another two cans of EGR spray. No help, of course.

The AA picked me up, read all the EGR faults - pressure low, pressure high, stuck open, stuck closed... There was also a ABS Service message coming up. At the garage, they thought that that meant a problem with the ABS - not so on these crazy engines!

The EGR and the Brake Control Module (BCM) are on the same software loop, so trouble in one can throw up codes in the other. There were ECU communication codes too, and DPF Pressure codes. Now, just as an aside, the garage tried to find out at my last service, before that holiday, if my car needed Eolys or not. They came to the wrong conclusion, that it didn’t so I’d probably been running without it for a while. There were a lot of times when the fan was still running hard after I parked up, and there were DPF Regeneration Cycle Interrupted codes... So keep that Eolys topped up (£75 for a litre of urea... that’s taking the proverbial!).

They forced a regeneration in VIDA, and that did not cure the symptoms, so we got a new EGR sent over. It was installed, and the new valve positions were “learned” in VIDA (an essential step). The new EGR was not a Valeo, like the one installed, but one from a well-known parts supplier that was labelled as fully compatible with these engines. However, the symptoms were still there - pulling back, high revs needed to pull away, hesitancy - driving like a dog, in short.

I understand that these engines are very picky about their electronics, and after reading here of people replacing the EGR even with genuine Valeo or Ford (on the Focus Forum!) EGRs these type of faults still occurred. So I persuaded my long-suffering mechanic (a great bloke) to instead clean the old EGR and reinstall it. He did that, and it was back to full strength, flying.

However, he did say that on inspection, the spring that closes the valve was getting weak...

So of course, a few weeks later I could feel the power going, needing lots of revs to pull away - classic signs of it being open a little when it shouldn’t be.

Sick of this, I got a blanking plate off eBay. Now, I didn’t want to go straight to being environmentally unsound - but after doing the pretty simple job of loosening the bolts and slipping the plate in (I’m no mechanic, so this did take a long while! So deep behind the fuel filter, and my tools leave a lot to be desired... blame them!)... the car drove like I’ve never felt it before.

I thought it was good with a clean EGR - with a blanked one, I could just feather the throttle to pull away, it was gagging to go forward, like a wild horse, and the low down torque was fantastic. I could now stay in a lower gear for longer, it pulled hard, and was so responsive. So if its a choice between a bit of extra NOx and this car... I’m sorry, environment!

Of course, the story can’t end there - there are now the expected error codes and CEL that declare “EGR Low Flow Detected.” You don’t say! I still have the electrics connected to the EGR... should they be disconnected perhaps? Also, the ABS Service message comes up now.

I could get the EGR mapped out in a retune, my locals, working for Celtic Tuning have offered that with and Eco Remap - but I don’t really feel I need that tune-up - and I’m worried that a retune would knacker my clutch - what do people think?

What I’d really like is someone who can just map out the EGR, and leave everything else the same - is this possible?

And now the Brake Failure - Pull Over warning just came up... I did so, then restarted and carried on. It ran fine, but there were a few weird error codes left on the ECU - O2 sensor, Throttle sensor... I suppose this is just the BCM chucking a wobbly over the EGR trouble codes, do you think?

Anyway, enough about all this - if anyone can map out that damned EGR, I will be forever grateful (and will pay of course!) and this too-long story can have a happy ending!

Simon

[Biotoxic]

Good to hear that you sorted it out. Get in touch with a remap company near your area. They will have able to remove EGR from the ecu. Some eco remap would be nice at the same time

[Ian499]

can you tell me if the above model has an EGR valve. My D4 has and I am thinking of switching to the T4 to avoid this problem . Have you any idea?
Cheers
Ian

[wrightwilliam73]

Hi,

My Volvo has an EGR valve error and have been quoted £1800 to replace the cooler and valve.

I have been looking into remapping the car and "deleting" the EGR valve at a cost of £300. However I have read mixed reviews on how that may negatively affect the DPF filter so I am after some information on whether it is a genuine option and if people have had it done?

Many thanks,

Will