Well whichever way you look at it, it was put on the car to serve a purpose, and if you remove it from the equation, it is no longer serving that purpose, thus in the long run is not even worth it for me. So I would defo recommend getting a new on fitted and get some of the Swirl Gaskets to go with it.

Source a new EGR from shop4parts.

Peat said:

Wrt to post 15 - The EGR as the name suggests ( Exhaust Gas Recirculator ) does NOT cool the incoming air to the inlet manifold. It is allowing all the crap from the hot exhaust to go into the inlet manifold THAT is why the valve gets clogged. If you have run a JTD without the EGR in circuit, as I have for some time, you will notice that the engine is smoother in function it smokes less and that the MPG is improved especially in winter.

The benefits of having an EGR valve are moot and there are arguments for and against for a number of reasons.

Click to expand...

When combustion temperatures exceed 2500 degree F, atmospheric nitrogen begins to react with oxygen during combustion. The result is various compounds called nitrogen oxides (NOX), which play a major role in urban air pollution. To reduce the formation of NOX, combustion temperatures must be kept below the NOX threshold. This is done by recirculating a small amount of exhaust through the "exhaust gas recirculation," or EGR. valve.

The EGR valve controls a small passageway between the intake and exhaust manifolds. When the valve opens, intake vacuum draws exhaust through the valve. This dilutes the incoming air/fuel mixture and has a quenching effect on combustion temperatures which keeps NOX within acceptable limits. As an added benefit, it also reduces the engine's octane requirements which lessens the danger of detonation

Very interesting read FFoxy - Cheers

Ffoxy said:

When combustion temperatures exceed 2500 degree F, atmospheric nitrogen begins to react with oxygen during combustion. The result is various compounds called nitrogen oxides (NOX), which play a major role in urban air pollution. To reduce the formation of NOX, combustion temperatures must be kept below the NOX threshold. This is done by recirculating a small amount of exhaust through the "exhaust gas recirculation," or EGR. valve.

The EGR valve controls a small passageway between the intake and exhaust manifolds. When the valve opens, intake vacuum draws exhaust through the valve. This dilutes the incoming air/fuel mixture and has a quenching effect on combustion temperatures which keeps NOX within acceptable limits. As an added benefit, it also reduces the engine's octane requirements which lessens the danger of detonation

Click to expand...

http://autos.yahoo.com/maintain/repairqa/engine/ques080_1.html

My opinion is that blocked EGR is bad for ecology but nothing bad can happend to engine.

sime said:

My opinion is that blocked EGR is bad for ecology but nothing bad can happend to engine.

Click to expand...

Well thats your prerogative but I personally would like neither to have to suffer just because someone won't replace a part that the car clearly needs.

Peat said:

Wrt to post 15 - The EGR as the name suggests ( Exhaust Gas Recirculator ) does NOT cool the incoming air to the inlet manifold. It is allowing all the crap from the hot exhaust to go into the inlet manifold THAT is why the valve gets clogged.

Click to expand...

The exhaust gases are in fact cooled on their way to the EGR (although not as low as incoming air temperatures). However, this misses the point, since the gases are mainly inert then they can't be part of the combustion process which therefore leads to lower temperatures.

Another way of looking at EGR operation is it's like reducing the cubic capacity of the engine on a temporary basis - which should therefore lead to slightly improved mpg.

If you have run a JTD without the EGR in circuit, as I have for some time, you will notice that the engine is smoother in function it smokes less and that the MPG is improved especially in winter.

Click to expand...

I'd respectfully suggest you get your car looked at then as my experience is diametrically opposite. Admittedly I'd never seriously checked mpg with the EGR blocked - since that is considered one of its advantages - so I didn't really see the point

You should certainly find it runs smoother though which is a fairly obvious fact when you consider the ECU expects the EGR to be active.

Peat said:

This makes interesting reading and, of course, backs up my argument

https://www.fiatforum.com/tech-talk/198532-diesel-egr-valves-intake-crud.html

Click to expand...

Has anyone else tried blocking up the EGR?
I've heard similar stories, better fuel consumption and more BHP, when the EGR is blanked off.

Several people have temporarily blocked the EGR valve for test purposes, but I think there's not enough people on here that have permanently done so to give reliable results. I always ignore people that say "Well I did xxxxx and have no problems"

There was a Fiat modification for the EGR valve gasket that involved using a swirl plate to mix the exhaust gas better. I believe this was supposed to keep the valve and manifold cleaner.

Part number for the swirl plate is 71751469........ £13.32 +VAT
Part number for the normal gasket is 46773082..... £1.72 +VAT

Peat said:

This makes interesting reading and, of course, backs up my argument

https://www.fiatforum.com/tech-talk/198532-diesel-egr-valves-intake-crud.html

Click to expand...

So someone mistook the stop valve for the EGR valve

everyone makes mistakes :shrug:

Shadeyman said:

Has anyone else tried blocking up the EGR?
I've heard similar stories, better fuel consumption and more BHP, when the EGR is blanked off.

Click to expand...

Very old history on this Forum and covered fairly exhaustively

I don't think anyone will dispute that you'll get more BHP with EGR blanked (though hardly worth getting excited about as the ECU blocks the EGR anyway the moment it detects a power demand) but unless you want to prove otherwise then I'll put the improved mpg down to wishful thinking.

Davren said:

Several people have temporarily blocked the EGR valve for test purposes, but I think there's not enough people on here that have permanently done so to give reliable results. I always ignore people that say "Well I did xxxxx and have no problems"

There was a Fiat modification for the EGR valve gasket that involved using a swirl plate to mix the exhaust gas better. I believe this was supposed to keep the valve and manifold cleaner.

Part number for the swirl plate is 71751469........ £13.32 +VAT
Part number for the normal gasket is 46773082..... £1.72 +VAT

Click to expand...

Davren; In that bottom pic of the EGR - what's the Green Pipe to the left of #2?When I took my EGR off that pipe was also filled with gunk and oil and dirt.

The green pipe in the diagram is the corrugated pipe that connects to the end of the EGR valve.

The blue/yellow item with a green bracket below it is a water cooled heat exchanger that cools the exhaust gas before it enters the EGR valve.

Davren said:

The green pipe in the diagram is the corrugated pipe that connects to the end of the EGR valve.

The blue/yellow item with a green bracket below it is a water cooled heat exchanger that cools the exhaust gas before it enters the EGR valve.

Click to expand...

Can/Should this also be replaced?

Argonought said:

I don't think anyone will dispute that you'll get more BHP with EGR blanked (though hardly worth getting excited about as the ECU blocks the EGR anyway the moment it detects a power demand) but unless you want to prove otherwise then I'll put the improved mpg down to wishful thinking.

Click to expand...

I guess when new there would not be much difference but as most cars on here have a few miles on them the ERG is probabely covered in gunk at the very least so it stands to reason most are not functioning 100%, in some cases not functioning at all.
So when the EGR is blanked off an improvement in BHP and MPG may well be the result?

Oakley28 said:

Can/Should this also be replaced?

Click to expand...

The corrugated pipe is easy enough to clean out.

The heat exchanger is over £300 so I wouldn't replace that just because it's dirty.

Shadeyman said:

I guess when new there would not be much difference but as most cars on here have a few miles on them the ERG is probabely covered in gunk at the very least so it stands to reason most are not functioning 100%, in some cases not functioning at all.
So when the EGR is blanked off an improvement in BHP and MPG may well be the result?

Click to expand...

Yes; very well reasoned.

If your EGR system is partly defective then you may well be better off if you blank it off - and it is almost certainly the reason for misleading posts within this thread and others that recommend blanking off the EGR to gain improvements in mpg.

However, if you take the time to keep your engine in a fully functional order (Keeping any system in a fully functional state is normally considered the norm) then you'll observe the opposite and find that mpg and general smoothness improve to a much greater degree than anyone driving around with the EGR disabled.

Gonna get a new EGR and get some of the swirly gaskets I think. Mine is defo full of gunk and if i remember correctly then when I had it off to clean it the valve (that seems to open and closd) seemed to be very stiff.

Mine had no power under 2,700 rpm. Took off to fit new EGR and found it had been blanked off (by what seemed like a FIAT stamped blank) but that a hole had been blown through the plate. So it was open to a non-functioning EGR. New unit fixed prroblem completely, lots of low down power and +ca. 5% mpg

I've just cleaned my EGR valve for the umpteenth time.
Here's a few points:
1. If you're as tight as me it's dead easy to make a swirl gasket from a piece of sheet metal: cut it to the same shape as the original gasket (I did it with an angle grinder) and drill 2 holes for the bolts to go through and 3 holes (approx 4mm) for the swirling effect.
2. Fit the original gasket with the "lip" against the corrugated pipe side (not against your new gasket) . I say this because I noticed when I once used a thin bit of sheet metal to temporarily block off the EGR I had the lip against the gasket and it started to cut into gasket after a while. The danger then is it might cut all the way through and go down the inlet manifold
3. It's easy to use the FiatEcuScan software to check if the EGR is able to open and close.

Now a question: How "strong" is the EGR solenoid supposed to be ? I can fairly easily prevent mine from moving with my finger when testing it with the FiatEcuScan. So I think if (when) any crud gets back in to the EGR it could just as easily jam the valve.