Technical EGR valve blank

[TGAH]

Hi
Firstly Happy New Year to all...
this is my first post apologies if this has been covered elsewhere.
My daughter has a 2011 Bravo 1.6 TD Multijet. Recently it broke down on the side of the road, the engine would start but die after a second of two. The AA put more diesel in as it was low (but not empty) but couldn't fix it so low loaded it to her house. A mechanic "friend" had a look and said that due to running low on fuel (the range remaining said 55miles!) she had blocked all the injectors with crap from the tank and was looking at about £1000 to sort it!
I had a look and after disconnecting the vac pipe to the turbo waste gate actuator it started in "limp home" mode and I drove it to my home.
End result is that I found the EGR valve is stuck wide open. I've fitted a blank plate (solid) to start with and the engine started and ran (with turbo reconnected) but quickly put on the "check engine" light and after a few minutes went into limp mode due to the valve not moving. Next I stripped and cleaned the EGR valve. It now runs fine but I'm reluctant to remove the blanking plate as if the valve sticks again in the future the plate will enable the car to be driven in limp mode, if removed the car would be stuck on the side of the road again!
However i have done around a hundred miles (mainly short runs up to half an hour) and have monitored for fault codes and do get a "pending" code for EGR low flow detected randomly, it never escalates to a full fault code (or puts the light on) and disappears when the engine is stopped and restarted. should I be concerned? I don't want to give the car back and the check engine light keeps coming back on, I could drill a small 5mm hole in the plate to possibly sort the pending fault issue but don't know how well it would run if the valve stuck open again.
Thanks for any advise.

 

[varesecrazy]

Hi

By valve I guess you mean the electrically operated solenoid..?

Ive not owned a 1.6

But own some 1248's.. one of which has broadened my experience


I suspected an EGR Cooler to manifold leak
So I blanked it off at the gasket

Got the low flow error after a 5 minute drive..

Personally I would consider if the Circuit was full of soot.. mine was clear
Then get a Solenoid from Ebay.. they should be @£20

Lots of people have mildly drilled blankplates.. supposedly helps if the motor does short trips.. never gets hot

I dont have that Issue .. doing a 110 mile fast road trip twice a week..
but your 1.6 might not have that luxury

 

[varesecrazy]

Hi
Firstly Happy New Year to all...
this is my first post apologies if this has been covered elsewhere.
My daughter has a 2011 Bravo 1.6 TD Multijet.

Thanks for any advise.

Some background here :

https://www.fiatforum.com/bravo/439869-2008-1-6-multijet-105-egr.html

 

[TGAH]

Thanks for the reply
The EGR valve looks like this, its electrically operated and contains a motor and a position sensor so it can be opened incrementally and the ECU knows its position. A replacement looks to be anywhere from £140 to £200 so not really wanting to change it as its now clean functioning correctly. The blanking plate actually blanks off the pipe (mounted beside the valve) that links to the inlet. Its a bugger to get to so if anyone has fully blanked off the pipe and had no random low flow errors I'm happy to leave it alone. As I said i just don't want to give the car back and then have to have it back again as they are an hour or so away.

 

[varesecrazy]

How grubby was it?

 

[TGAH]

Surprising it wasn't that bad to look at but was stuck nearly fully open. It took only gentle finger pressure to close it so I'm concerned it may stick again in the future. the black plastic motor body is only held on by four pozi screws so easily removed. the valve could then be pushed open by hand, cleaned, lubricated and exercised until totally free. Personally I thinks it's a poor design as it's pushed open by the motor and closes by spring pressure. the motor therefore has to be powerful enough to overcome the spring and any stiction in the valve shaft. that means if the valve starts to get tight the motor can open it but the spring may not be strong enough to close it, so sticking open would appear to be a common fault mode and the engine wont start and run with the valve open hence my reluctance to totally remove the blanking plate.