So today we were asked to sort a Vauxhall Astra 1.6CDTI EGR problem for a trade customer based in Farnsfield, Nottingham.
These are Ac Delco ECU’s fitted and was coming up with P0401 code which is insufficient flow from the EGR valve. Basically this means it’s starting to stick, the ECU sends the request of how far to open the EGR valve and the EGR valve responds by opening that much, when it sticks, the ECU measures the amount of exhaust gas going back into the engine and realises it’s not enough, hence the EGR hasn’t opened enough or (common) the pipes to and from the EGR are completely blocked and not allowing enough exhaust gas through, either way it’s a simple cure without disrupting the function of the EGR valve totally, cheap supermarket fuel is mainly to do with this problem and short trips in a diesel engine.
The modern diesel engine really doesn’t perform well with short start | Stop journeys and needs a good thrash (yes you heard it correct) at least once a week to keep it healthy! Take all the emission’s crap of it and it’s back to a reliable diesel engine but that alas is not the world we live in!
