EGR Fault- Advice needed!

Vampy11

Vampy11

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Hi all,

I've got a 2010 2.0 TDI A3 with approximately 33,000 on the clock. The other day I had the glow plug dash light start flashing while driving, the engine management light, and the car went into limp mode. A diagnostic check said it was an EGR fault, so I bought a can of Wynns EGR cleaner and used that at the weekend which made no difference. I would have physically cleaned the valve myself, but unfortunately it's one of the ones that is mounted onto the back of the engine, so inaccessible to me.

Soooo.... booked it into the local garage, and they said it needed a new EGR valve, which they finished today. They told me that the old one was fully clogged with soot that's why it had stopped working, which is worrying for the mileage obviously, but not that unusual on these engines so I hear.

HOWEVER... The garage said that despite replacing the EGR valve, the car is still showing a fault code, and they can't clear it, or stop the engine management light from showing, and that according to their research, it needs to go to Audi for a software update in order for the EGR fault to clear???

Is this something that anyone else has come across before where they have had to update anything software related after replacing the valve??? Any help would be great!
 
Vampy11 said:
Hi all,

I've got a 2010 2.0 TDI A3 with approximately 33,000 on the clock. The other day I had the glow plug dash light start flashing while driving, the engine management light, and the car went into limp mode. A diagnostic check said it was an EGR fault, so I bought a can of Wynns EGR cleaner and used that at the weekend which made no difference. I would have physically cleaned the valve myself, but unfortunately it's one of the ones that is mounted onto the back of the engine, so inaccessible to me.

Soooo.... booked it into the local garage, and they said it needed a new EGR valve, which they finished today. They told me that the old one was fully clogged with soot that's why it had stopped working, which is worrying for the mileage obviously, but not that unusual on these engines so I hear.

HOWEVER... The garage said that despite replacing the EGR valve, the car is still showing a fault code, and they can't clear it, or stop the engine management light from showing, and that according to their research, it needs to go to Audi for a software update in order for the EGR fault to clear???

Is this something that anyone else has come across before where they have had to update anything software related after replacing the valve??? Any help would be great!
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1. Fair play to you for having replaced and not having it removed and pumping more horrible crap into the air/atmosphere!
2. Have you tried clearing with VCDS?
 
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I haven't yet, but on the way home tonight I had the glow plug/EGR light flash again and the car went into limp mode. When I restarted the car it went away but I still had the check engine light. Would simply clearing the faults stop this? Or do you think that there is still a physical issue with the system based on the symptoms?

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Hmm, maybe, but for such an expensive and relatively inaccessible part it's a shame that it can fail at such a low mileage in comparison to other parts on the car. As it is such a common fault, has anyone else experienced any software issues when replaxing it??

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But it would have failed as a result of being clogged up and not being able to function properly. Having a diesel to do an average of 3,300 miles a year is silly, you would save money having a petrol. You want to be doing 10k+ in a diesel to keep it happy.
 
I know this, it's not actually my car it's a family members, but it's only been owned for a couple of years so the low mileage damage was already done by the previous owner by the looks of things. I'll try the VCDS route tomorrow and see if I get any results. Thanks for your efforts.

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Can't help but feel that your garage has left you in the lurch by replacing the EGR but returning the car with the same fault - they haven't really completed the job. I'm not aware of any EGR-related recall apart from the VAG "emissions fix" which has received massive publicity and resulted in owners getting VAG correspondence via DVLA offering a "fix". There has also been subsequent publicity suggesting that this "emissions fix" has adversely affected the EGR systems on a number of owners cars. The scandal was all about NOX emission levels which is what the EGR system combats. The "fix" must involve bringing the EGR system into play even more.

I'm a bit surprised that an "as new" engine with just 33,000 has had an EGR problem. EGRs are 40-year old technology and not necessarily so adversely affected by short trips as DPFs. EGR systems are even thermostatically and electronically cooled so the recycled gases are cooled before going back into the inlet manifold.

I would get the car plugged into specific VAG software e.g. VCDS and check more accurately for errors and also the state of the DPF in case a plugged DPF is causing a problem further upstream with the EGR.

If the situation remains a mystery and become intolerable, I would get the car's EGR "mapped out" and the DPF invisibly removed.
 
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Or at the very least get the egr values adjusted in VCDS , less soot for the egr and dpf to get clogged up with .

 
Thanks for your feedback guys, very helpful! I have VCDS, but not a very in depth knowledge of tbh. I know how to clear codes, but how would I check the DPF using it?

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As Retro said i would have it back to the garage who played with it and get them to sort it , mainly due to them telling you the fault then telling you they had sorted other than the codes ( i would be worried if i went to a garage and they had no diganostic equipment these days as thats the quickest way to pick up a fault ). Plus did you ask to see the old egr
 
Well, the garage say that they have no idea what could be causing the fault to continue and that it's something that's never happened to them before. They said that they've looked into it as much as possible and that it must go to Audi to have the EGR parameters reset. Is this normally what would have to be done? When I spoke to Audi, they refused to just do this and said that if there was still a fault code present that they have to treat it as a diagnostic case and charge us £60 ....before they do anything as it's not normal...

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Vampy11 said:
Well, the garage say that they have no idea what could be causing the fault to continue and that it's something that's never happened to them before. They said that they've looked into it as much as possible and that it must go to Audi to have the EGR parameters reset. Is this normally what would have to be done? When I spoke to Audi, they refused to just do this and said that if there was still a fault code present that they have to treat it as a diagnostic case and charge us £60 ....before they do anything as it's not normal...

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I would be expecting the garage who did there research to find out that Audi need to sort problem to pay the bill due to them not fixing your problem as it seems they have now cost you more money in the long run . But you could put it down to a life experience and not use them again
 
When an EGR is replaced exactly like-for-like I'm unaware that the ECU has to be reprogrammed - although happy to be corrected by experts if I'm wrong. The difficulty here is that the previous owner may have had some "mapping work" done which was hastily (and possibly erroneously) reversed when the car was sold to your family - who knows?? Remapping work is extremely popular these days with turbocharged cars and I see many examples on this forum where owners virtually drive new cars from the Audi forecourt to the remappers. Your next step is really up to you - I'm not going to dictate/patronise you over a forum
 
Thanks, I just wanted to see if this need for reprogramming was genuine as I'd never heard anything of it before. I don't believe that this car in question has been remapped, but I'm just starting to think now that there's possibly another fault linked to the EGR system that has been missed, or its something to do with the new part being aftermarket, not genuine, although they say they have fitted countless aftermarket versions before with no issues. Going to plug it in tonight for another diagnostic check and go from there, if it's the same codes then it'll be back at the garage tomorrow. Cheers for input, keep me posted on any more thoughts related

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Good well be right - I suspect an "aftermarket" item. I've had problems with aftermarket sensors on a Vauxhall and had two on the trot from GSF (I was in a rush and couldn't get OE in time) and both were faulty and caused the car to run badly. Eventually fitted an OE Siemens and all was perfect again.
 
Right, makes sense, just got to convince the garage to install a genuine part then if the problem persists. Feel begrudged to pay extra though as I wasn't told in the first place that it WASN'T genuine...

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Retroman said:
Good well be right - I suspect an "aftermarket" item. I've had problems with aftermarket sensors on a Vauxhall and had two on the trot from GSF (I was in a rush and couldn't get OE in time) and both were faulty and caused the car to run badly. Eventually fitted an OE Siemens and all was perfect again.
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I would agree with this

Had it in the past with aftermarket parts not working correctly. Got a replacement from a breakers yard (so obv used) and worked perfectly with no warning lights - this was for the EGR on my MK5 Golf
 
I have problems with the EGR on my 2012 (build date 2011/08) Audi A3 aswell (2.0 TDI 140 hp). I'm willing to give cleaning a try though. Anyone have a write up on how to get to this?

Would truly appreciate input!
 
As it's that particular year of engine, I would be pretty certain that you also have the EGR valve and cooler mounted behind the engine under the turbo. It's very hard to get to because you have to go from underneath the car and you have the DPF and turbo lines in the way so I hear. Can't be sure it needs cleaning as such until it's examined too. I've had a look at my old one, and it wasn't quite as clogged as I would have expected around the valves, mostly in the cooler. But the electrically controlled valve mechanism appeared to be rusty and with no lubrication at all, suggesting that some coolant from the cooler part of the unit had leaked into it and caused this. I shall upload some pictures shortly.

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Vampy11 said:
As it's that particular year of engine, I would be pretty certain that you also have the EGR valve and cooler mounted behind the engine under the turbo. It's very hard to get to because you have to go from underneath the car and you have the DPF and turbo lines in the way so I hear. Can't be sure it needs cleaning as such until it's examined too. I've had a look at my old one, and it wasn't quite as clogged as I would have expected around the valves, mostly in the cooler. But the electrically controlled valve mechanism appeared to be rusty and with no lubrication at all, suggesting that some coolant from the cooler part of the unit had leaked into it and caused this. I shall upload some pictures shortly.

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You are right about it being behind the engine.

I had it at a local workshop this week, and they confirmed my suspisions about the EGR. The car was barely running when I left it with them, but they actuated the valve a couple of times in the workshop, and after that it worked fine. I figured I might aswell be ahead of the problem this time and do a thorough cleaning, if that is the problem.

It seems the EGR's have rather significant issues for these engines, but fairly few seem to go at it alone (based on the lack of info). Anyone have a workshop manual for these A3s/TDI-engines?
 
I have a Haynes manual but from what I remember, it wasn't very helpful in describing how to remove the EGR and cooler when it's behind the engine, can't remember for sure though Will have to check again at the weekend.

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Retroman said:
They're on the front on the CR engine (seems like they might vary between the 140 and 170?) - mine is on the front anyway

http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/a3-2-0-tdi-2009-erg-removal-and-clean-guide-please.300250/
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They changed the design for the 2010 onwards model of the engine unfortunately, and put the EGR and cooler as one unit behind the engine, despite it being a known issue of failing Makes it a complete pain to do...
My 2011 plate, and a family member's 2010 plate have it behind the engine...

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Here are the pictures of my old EGR after separating the cooler from the valve system. As you can see, the cooler is very clogged in the top half, but strangely on mine, the electronically controlled valve mechanism is rusty and difficult to move, suggesting that some coolant may have leaked from the cooler, which may have contributed to the malfunction of the valve. Anyone else had anything similar?
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Vampy11 said:
I have a Haynes manual but from what I remember, it wasn't very helpful in describing how to remove the EGR and cooler when it's behind the engine, can't remember for sure though Will have to check again at the weekend.

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Please do!

Vampy11 said:
Here are the pictures of my old EGR after separating the cooler from the valve system. As you can see, the cooler is very clogged in the top half, but strangely on mine, the electronically controlled valve mechanism is rusty and difficult to move, suggesting that some coolant may have leaked from the cooler, which may have contributed to the malfunction of the valve. Anyone else had anything similar?

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Thanks for pictures. I will take mine apart and see if mine is also corroded.
 
Vampy11 said:
They changed the design for the 2010 onwards model of the engine unfortunately, and put the EGR and cooler as one
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Ah thanks - mine's very early 2010 (car registered Feb 2010) so that explains it. Total confusion across the internet :blush:
 
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