After reading a fair few threads about the EGR problems that the 1.3 diesel turbo Pandas suffer. I didn't fancy spending a day or two just to clean it out so after a bit of head scratching I finished the job with the required out-come after 2.5 hours.

Firstly I did the simple part of removing the solenoid and found the valve was stuck solid. I managed to free this up with a bit of WD40 and a long screwdriver. Once free I rebuilt it the engine was run up to temp and a feel of the EGR valve to see if it was getting warm. No temperature felt so I knew the inside of the valve was going to be clogged and after looking at it I decided to cheat.

I removed the pipe that connects to the inlet manifold and inserted a long hose from near the dipstick location. I poured enough of the redex garage supplied equivalent to fully soak the inside of the valve. After a 10min soaking I started the engine and just waited until the exhaust gasses started to blow out of the disconnected pipe confirming the valve was freeing up. Repeated the same soaking for a further 10mins and run up again but this time giving it a few revs to get the valve opening and closing.

Reconnected the pipe which proved a bit of a challenge at first, in the end got a small strap around it and the son pulled from the dipstick area gently moving the pipe into the right place and just slipped on the clamp.

Car was then just run as normal until the ECU cleared the fault.

All sorted in 2.5 hours.

The only additional thing noted was as the car came 'on boost' the limp home activated, to solve this I just WD40'd the turbo actuator and flexed it a couple of times. It did feel stuck at first but now the car pulls like a train with no more fault codes being recorded.

Good job. Personally, my days of grovelling around among the oily bits of a car are well gone, especially as I don't have a garage.

By contrast, I've just spent about £220 having a new one fitted.

Did you have to raise car off the ground to do the job.If not how did you reach pipe connector on inlet manifold.cheers.

As WD 40 is not a penetrating oil, but a Water Dispersant, next time better use a real penetrating oil.
For cleaning the carbon and gunk inside the EGR, carburetor (!) spray is 1 choice.
Now you've seen the inside of the EGR, imagine what the whole inlet looks like.
Btw, the EGR will be full of crap very soon, due to it's design.

The sticky turbo actuator must have led to hundreds of turbos being unnecessarily replaced :-(

Hi newbie here, my advice - you can do this with a carb cleaner and a WD40 straw (adapter) via the intake hole - remove the three intake bolt and you get access to the top of the EGR pipe inside the intake, clean it and find the hole (very fiddly) spray carb cleaner in the pipe hole( and in the intake, clean as much deposits from the intake as you can) also undo the valve solenoid from the plug side three small torx screws and spray carb cleaner to ensure that the plunger is free lubricate the plunger reassemble- job done.

By the sounds of it (car pulling well) the fix worked. However, not enough fast driving will fill the inlet manifold with soot. The only way to safely clean that is removal from the engine, but at least you can then do a proper job of the EGR.

Road speed means little..


70mph is only 2500rpm

varesecrazy said:

Road speed means little..

70mph is only 2500rpm

Click to expand...

It's mid range and peak torque. Diesels are flat out at 4,500rpm and most are falling off the curve at 3,500rpm.

Diesels don't have a throttle so there is a lot more airflow at 70(+), which helps to purge the engine.