can the Swirl Valve affect the EGR?

**charlie** · 16th October 2009, 18:13

Hi guys.

Back in March i had issues with my EGR valve.

It was replaced thro my warranty company (Warranty wise - cant knock em they have been great) which was lucky cos i think it is classed as part of the exhaust system which most warranty companies don't cover

Anyhoo, i had all the normal symptoms, loss of power, spanner etc etc

Got it replaced and it was fine. Now at the time, i read on here about the swirl rod and valves. I checked mine and one of the ends of the rod (the one on the left as looking at the car) was of its little nobble thing.

Took it to the garage and they said it should be ok as long as it wasn't the one controlling the others, which it wasn't....

Noticed over the last week the juddering and loss of power (albeit very infrequent) and immediately recognised it as being similar to the EGR valve.

Have taken of engine cover and have to my horror found the damn Rod thing lying on its side on top of the engine and the top of the manifold looking rather black and shiny liquid stuff lying in little pools around where the valves should be connected to the rod.

Now, could that problem affect the EGR in any way and explain the loss of power i'm experiencing occasionally? and if not, could the swirl rod and valves produce this symptom??

Please let me know......

**plasma** · 16th October 2009, 18:22

my swirl valve rod has been sitting in the bottom of the engine for about 10k's .. Only symptons i see are extra soot on low rpm,

**charlie** · 16th October 2009, 18:35

also
Is there likely to be any adverse effects if I carry on using the car and it's the swirl valve that's causing the the problem?

**charlie** · 17th October 2009, 21:04

Bump

**charlie** · 20th October 2009, 12:59

Ok, I've had the car in to a garage and they confirm the Inlet Manifold is knackered.

I have been quoted £782 to get it fixed

I tried the Warranty Company hoping they would pick up the tab, but they have declined paying for it. Their reason for it is that 'the soot is the cause of the manifold failure not the manifold failing itself'

Is that not incorrect though?

Surely its a failure of the flaps within the manifold that has caused a soot build up, therefore a failure of the manifold? not the soot causing the failure.

What is everyone's thoughts on this?

**charlie** · 21st October 2009, 19:55

anyone?

**137mph** · 27th October 2009, 03:42

charlie, from what I'm lead to believe, its a bearing design fault that causes the early cdti engines with swirls to fail,(later ones were a different design) the bearings wear and allow the swirls to move up and down as well as rotationally, which causes the link rod to wear and fall off, I repaired mine with the tap washer mod, and was fine for 12k miles, has now started juddering on a light throttle at about 2400rpm, so I've knocked the bar off( it was too hot to get my hand in earlier) so its now not connected, smokes a bit more at low revs, but does run smoother, and have now bought a new manifold which I'll change fairly soon, when the cambelt is due.
Cheers
Mark

**charlie** · 30th October 2009, 16:29

Thanks mark sorry for the late response to your reply

I ended up forking out for the repair at a grand total of £782, i'm still going to challenge it with the warranty company but judging on peoples luck here on the forum doing that, i don't think i'll get anywhere.

I think the crap that was in the manifold as spread to the EGR valve though as i'm getting the juddering at around 1750 rpm, think i'll be doing the DIY EGR clean!!

**137mph** · 4th November 2009, 00:10

Charlie, I'm in the middle of doing the job myself, have knocked it on the head for the night, as I'm struggling to get to a bolt to remove the vacuum tank and oil seperator, I'll wait for daylight, From what I've been told, the crap in the manifold is a mixture of the soot in the exhaust gas that comes through the EGR valve, and the oil in the intake air from the crankcase breather, which is what forms the oily sludge that is now covering the top of my inlet manifold, and the only way to avoid it is to vent the crankcase to atmosphere, and disconnect the EGR valve, its unavoidable, the wife drives a diesel Octavia, and I clean the EGR out on that every 6 months or so, it gets really gunged up, I throw some carb cleaner into the inlet after each clean to shift whats sitting in the manifold, car runs like an absolute dog for a few seconds but seems to be smoother afterwards.
Does anyone know if op-com can be used to turn the EGR down, and would any member be willing to do it?

Cheers
Mark