Can some one give me a pointer on where I can locate the EGR valve on my car please? It isn't idling correctly, not over the top, just slightly not correctly. And some one has advised me to clean the vavle.

Thanks in advance.

You'll find it on the back of the engine (between the engine and the bulkhead) on the gearbox side next to the fuel filter. I'm taking mine off at the weekend and given it a good scrub as I have a slight misfire every few seconds after a cold startup that disappears after a couple of minutes running is this your issue as well?

I suspect that it is sticking open slightly due to carbon deposits and causing it to run lean until the cyclinders heat up sufficently to overcome the lean fuel / air ratio.

I would blank it off but an EML would annoy me far more!

To be honest mate. I really haven't got a clue. I know my engine doesn't idle properly and according to some mechanic its because EGR valve needs cleaning. Its not over the top, just isn't properly idling. The engine shakes the car a touch too.

DId you end up cleaning yours out?

I managed to get my EGR off but it was a pig of a job, other than a gasket you also need a new clamp as the crimp that connects the pipe to the EGR that runs round the back of the block from the EGR to the inlet manifold is not re-useable. Give yourself a good couple of hours to remove, clean and re-fit.

To be honest other than a light coating of soot it was cleaner than EGR valves I've cleaned on petrol cars I've owned. However, for anyone scratching their head over the same problem it turned out that one of my glowplugs were faulty.

It's most peoples belief that the TDCI / HDI engine doesn't require it's glowplugs unless it is really cold (minus figures) owing to the high pressure nature of these engines and direct injection not requiring the plugs to preheat the cylinder however, after some digging and research I've found that they are used at startup to reduce emmisions. When you consider that within a few seconds a glowplug can be as hot as 1000 degrees it must have an impact on combustion efficiency, therefore if one plug is faulty then you're going to have one cylinder down on power and an imbalance which is felt as a miss.

The glowplugs are controlled by the PCM hence if your relay is faulty you get the light (the cog with the exclamation mark on the dash) common fault with the 1.6 TDCI fez mk6.

However a faulty plug doesn't throw up a light (all four probably would I reckon). The PCM controls both pre heating (for very cold ignition) and post heating (for emissions control) hence the reason the car starts but after a few moments of running starts to run rough because one cylinder is colder than the others. The plugs are switched off by the PCM after 30 seconds of running (this would be sufficient to heat the cylinder) or if the engine revs exceed 2500 RPM. So don't go revving your TDCI above 2.5k until it's had a chance for the plugs to heat the cyclinders up!

I actually managed to figure this out believe it or not by carefully blowing hot air in to the air intake when the engine was running rough, after a few seconds of hot air the issue almost completely dissapeared (not completely as a hair dryer gets nowhere near 1000 degrees) but it was enough to prove it was intake air temperature related.

The stuff I've learnt from the internet!