Egr blanking question...

[coolypops]

Ok, the car is 01 cordoba (ALH) with 119k on clock and still going strong

The other week i removed the intake manifold and egr valve to give them a clean out and to say they were caked with c**p would be an understatement (had to chisel it out).
Upon removing them I realised how easy it would be to install an egr blanking plate.

Anyway my question is would aluminum just under a millimeter thick be suitable as a blanking plate or would it melt/be too weak? I only ask as i have a huge roll of it sitting in the shed.


Have another question aswel and no point in making a new thread:
Do you think it would be worth my while cleaning out the turbo and/or the intercooler as far as performance/longevity go or would it be pointless?

 

[sssstew]

yep that alu would do the trick, sounds the same as the mod part you could get from skoda in the past which was a thin plate with a small hole in the middle. The small hole let through just enough gas so that a fault wasnt logged but reduced flow enough to slow down build up in there. If you do totally blank you might be ok with the old ALH engine in that it might not give you a dashboard light, give it a try and see.

Certainly a clean of the turbo and intercooler would be good to keep them in top condition, a small layer of oil usually collects down in the IC so can be cleaned out.

 

[coolypops]

Cheers for the quick reply.
Yea I'm pretty sure that it wont log a fault from what I've read...

Any idea what to use to clean out the IC internals?

Im assuming carb. cleaners not a good idea, would a strong alcohol do? (isoproprol/methanol/etc.)

 

[onesh0t]

Coolypops, how long did it take you to do the whole job? I'm thinking of doing the same on mine, not sure about my technical proficiency though ^_^'

 

[coolypops]

I'm no mechanic myself either...

Can't really say for sure but it was definitely less than 3 hours.
That's just the removal, cleaning and refitting of the manifold and egr valve.
I haven't installed the blanking plate yet but for that just add the time it will take to mark, cut and drill the plate, 10 or 20mins.

It's simple enough to do but if your one who airs on the side of caution there's a good "how to" walk through on TDIclub, which i only found after i did the job.

By the way most of the bolts are allen key heads... <---Is that how you spell allen key?

 

[sssstew]

couple of options for cleaning the intercooler, see here :-

http://www.tdiclub.com/TDIFAQ/TDiFAQ-7.html#f

http://www.tdiclub.com/articles/Intercooler_Cleaning/

 

[coolypops]

Thanks SSSStew,

I had read about using paraffin to clean them before but i had also read that it couldn't be a certain type of paraffin as it would cause some sort of reaction and clog it worse (had pictures of the after affects) so i haven't siphoned the oil tank just yet.

Might give the carb cleaner method a go though...

 

[MJ]

I cleaned mine in a bath of alloy wheel cleaning acid, you can buy it from halfords or local motor factors and you mix it with water then bath whatever you want to clean in it.
I left mine soaking for a couple of hours then pressure washed it and it came out substantially cleaner :-D

 

[oldman]

cleaned mine with mr muscle and a toothbrush and jet wash
don@t use car in the week as much so did it twice and left to air dry in between.
mine was that bad though the asv was broken and the actual flap had come loose of the bar. scared myself when saw it as big problems if had gone whilst driving it.......

now doing stealth jobbie

smaller hands do help though i found.

 

[coolypops]

cheers for the advice...

just a thought I've had,
has anyone thought of creating a problems & solutions page as no matter what forums I go to there does not seem to be any.

Everyone just writes how to's and expects everyone else to know exactly what their problem is.

I know that for general problems most of the people here can give an answer but I know from experience that some problems can be quite rare and if someone posts asking about them they'll generally never get a reply as the last person this happened to probably won't be on.

as I say just a thought...

 

[oldman]

that would be like an FAQ, good idea really
there is one in the main mk1 thread area, and still get questions asking about what is in there...

problem is different people explain same issue in different ways and you need to piece it together

 

[sssstew]

and the main TDI FAQ at the top of the TDI section.

 

[muddyboots]

Is there some misunderstandings going on here - I think the OP was asking about cleaning the intercooler, and some of the replies (eg using Mr Muscle etc) are referring to cleaning the EGR ?

When I cleaned the IC on my Ibiza, I just sprayed loads of brake cleaner (just an aerosol solvent) inside, covered the ends, and swilled it all around, then let it drain out.

No point going OTT cleaning the I/C, as they normally get oily anyway. So long as there's no big pool of oil in the bottom of it, I wouldn't worry.
I think it would be more beneficial to ensure the outside airways are completely cleared of debris, flies, stones etc so you've got the most airflow possible passing over it.

Incidentally, I had to clean the EGR on the wife's Zafira CDTI - Mr Muscle worked a treat Clamped the valve slightly open, sprayed full of Mr Muscle, left for 10-15 mins, rinsed out with a blast from a hose. Much, much cleaner and very little effort required ! Although if it were very thickly caked, probably best to scrape the thick bits out first.