Ostracizing the EGR valve - DIY blanking plate

My EGR valve at half-cleaning (ran out of carb cleaner):

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And here's its gasket, which looks good and will be reused:




Noob question - There's a raised ridge around both holes:



Thing is , the gasket just sprang into the air when I removed the valve, before I could have a look at it in position, so now I'm not sure: Ridges facing up (towards the EGR valve) or ridges facing down (towards the manifold)?


I'm making a DIY blanking plate out of some 4mm thick aluminium sheet I have around.

Aha, ridges facing down it is :

Electrically testing the EGR valve after cleaning:

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She's alive , the plunger moves downwards.

Good news!. What method did you use to clean it. Mine seems to work then gets stuck after a week or so...but thats when cleaning with wd40....do lots of highway driving so the fuel saving is handy

@ Patricks: WD40 is not a good idea for this application, it leaves an oily film and the high temps that the EGR valve has to endure when exhaust gases pass thru it will burn this residue into carbon deposits, possibly clogging up the valve.

Better use carb cleaner or similar stuff ...



... it's more volatile and leaves little if any residue after evaporating.



My homebrew EGR blanking plate :

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I was initially intending to rotate the EGR valve to the right, hold by just the one bolt, but then I discovered another solution. In the inmortal words of general McAuliffe: NUTS!


http://www.vx220.org.uk/forums/topic/141627-egr-fault/#entry1848369


Two M10 nuts (plus a couple of washers for peace of mind) acting like spacers between the blanking plate and the valve, to allow the plunger freedom of movement while retaining the EGR valve with two bolts.




The concoction at its battle station:

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lol thats really clever. Ive done the one bolt thing but your solution looks better and is more secure. Im sure going to miss the extra performance that comes from not having the EGR tho. I know removing it doesnt increase power but the engine revs sweeter without it..........

My main objection to EGR is this :


https://www.reddit.com/r/Volkswagen/comments/1xx931/customer_complained_that_his_car_lacked_power/

lol obviously not a z22se inlet. My manifold even with over half a million km running with EGR is quite clean inside theres a bit of grime and soot but nothing major. Throttle body can get a bit grubby tho.........

Is there any advantage/disadvantage to this over a full blank, remove and cheat?

^ None that I'm aware of, both solutions should be functionally identical.

identiti66 said:

Is there any advantage/disadvantage to this over a full blank, remove and cheat?

Click to expand...

Its not common but you can sometimes get a cheater that is faulty or becomes faulty. This solution is cheaper also as u dont have to buy a cheater