Re: Myths and fallacies regarding egr and crankcase vent in TDIs that have both

Keith Loyd <no@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> My 2 cents: consider not fixing this thing at all.  My one experience may be 
> a good data point if it is not a proper study or the opinion of a real 
> mechanic.

> My '97 TDI has 171k miles and has had a clogged/bad egr valve since the 
> light came on at 62k.  The check engine light came on during a roadtrip, and 
> the nearest dealer wanted $600 to do more than say it's the egr valve.

> Since then I have gotten the same fuel economy as before; there is no more 
> black smokey exhaust than there should be (a black cloud appears under full 
> throttle acceleration and when it's cold); oil consumption has slowly 
> increased with advancing old age, but is still about 1/2 quart in 2k miles; 
> the check engine light finally burned out about a year ago.  It's now all 
> good and I have no intention of ever looking into the matter further.
> and by 'looking into the matter' I mean spend money. 

Nice attitude.  The purpose of EGR is not to affect your fuel economy or 
power (although a malfunctioning one could affect both) but rather to 
reduce emissions.  In fact, unlike a catalytic converter it isn't designed 
to reduce all emissions, just one type, oxides of nitrogen (NOx).  While
diesels are very clean in terms of hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide 
emissions they are *WAY* dirtier than gasoline engines in terms of NOx 
emissions, by a huge margin.  

If you want to run a car with poorly functioning emissions control 
equipment, fine, that's your selfish choice.  Personally, I think anyone 
who feels it neccessary to buy a car should be willing to take on the 
responsibility (financial and otherwise) of properly maintaining it but
apparently you don't feel that responsibility.  If you don't want to 
pay $600 for the dealer to replace the valve, why don't you do it 
yourself?  Please don't advocate other people engage in irresponsible 
behavior.  

As for the light "burning out", thats a pretty incredible statement.  The 
MTBF of an LED is probably around 100k hours.  Assuming you were driving 
at 30 mph, for 110k miles, that'd be less than 4000 hours.  Those LEDs 
should easily last well longer than the life of the car, which without 
having the benefit of the light might not be all that long anyway.  



.

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