Hello,

I have a s-max 1.8 tdci which billowed out tons of white smoke from the exhaust. It was determined by my local garage that the head gasket had failed. Had the gasket replaced along with pressure test and head skim. Drove the car for about a week and then the white smoke returned! 

Garage thought the new gasket might be faulty although highly unlikely. Turns out gasket is fine, but now the garage are saying the egr cooler is knackered. Do I need to replace it, or can it be blanked off?

Thanks in advance for your help and sorry for the essay, I thought a little history may help. :)

2 hours ago, Lod said:

Turns out gasket is fine, but now the garage are saying the egr cooler is knackered. Do I need to replace it, or can it be blanked off?

I reckon it was the cooler all along. It seems unlikely to have gone at the same time as the CH gasket!

It should be possible to blank it and the EGR off. You will need two blanking plates, one for each end. A standard (eBay) EGR blanking plate is for the EGR end of the cooler, but I think the exhaust end is the same size. I seem to remember someone saying they had fitted it that end.

The water pipes to the cooler would have to be coupled together with a bit of suitable pipe. That water feed line supplies the heater and oil cooler as well as the EGR cooler, so is vital.

The 1.8, at least in the Focus, does not object to a blanking plate in the EGR.

I would not advise leaving the EGR valve un-blanked without a working cooler. The gas going in to the inlet manifold may be too hot.

Thank you for your reply Peter. Is it safe to blank it off? It certainly is a far cheaper option than getting a new cooler! 

2 hours ago, Lod said:

Is it safe to blank it off?

Provided you do a decent job, then the only risk is that the Engine warning light may come on because the EGR no longer works. From my experience, and others, on the 1.8TDCI in the Focus, this will not happen.

But it will need blanking plates at both ends. It is normally pressurised to about turbo boost pressure, say 20PSI, though it is on the exhaust side, so may be a bit more or less than the boost pressure on the inlet. And the waterpipes need to be securely linked. I seem to remember that 15mm copper water pipe fits in most coolant pipes, though I have not tried this lately.

If the EGR is blanked, the EGR cooler serves no purpose, and is a complete dead end pipe. Hundreds of people have blanked the EGR ok. Including me a couple of times, to deal with EGR actuator problems. It does not cause MoT problems, with any UK current or planned MoT test standard.

Blanking the EGR does increase NOx emissions, and if you drive often in an urban area, especially where sunlight can convert the NOx to low level Ozone, creating smog and possible asthma problems, you may need to consider this. Most of my mileage is a rural environment.

Great. Thank you for reply and help Peter. 😀