So What Exactly is an EGR?
You've heard it mentioned on forums, at club meetings and at the shows but what is it? What does it do? and why do they fit them if we can easily take it off and see an immediate performance improvement?
There are a number of 'cheats' that vehicle manufacturers adopt as a way of getting their vehicles through local regulations. Regulations differ throughout the world and it would be totally impractical for a manufacturer to create an engine or vehicle specifically for one country so they 'adapt' the standard units.
Safety, construction and emmisions are usually the ones where each country has a different set of rules. As with everything in life it'll always be the cheapest 'adaptation' that gets the green light from the money men. The EGR is one such adaptation.
The EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) valve recirculates some of the exhaust gasses back into the cylinders. It is employed as a way of reducing the Nitrogen Oxide and Nitrogen Dioxide. Effectively it just dilutes the gases to allow the engine to meet emission standards. The method of implementation with Land Rover diesel engines is the most crude of all possible alternatives. A manifold vacuum pipe operates the on/off part of the system and as a result performance is affected.
Removing the EGR on a 300tdi is very simple, cheap and results in an immediate improvement in performance.
Here's what you will need:
A flat head Screwdriver
A 5mm Allen Key
An EGR blanking Plate and gasket
A new top inlet hose
Here’s what it looks like with the EGR fitted
And EGR removed
1. Loosen the Allen bolts holding the EGR to the exhaust manifold (5mm allen key). They may be very tight and a quick spray of penetrating fluid could help. Retain the allen bolts as you will need them again.
2. Pull the EGR away from the manifold and clean the surface
3. Loosen the top air inlet hose (flat screwdriver) at both ends and remove. Follow thin vacuum pipe to actuator and remove. It is worth blanking the end where this small pipe used to fit.
4. This is what you’ll be removing. It is possible to blank the EGR and still retain the standard hose. However as the hose will have a branch-off half way along it will disrupt airflow slightly.
5. Now to scare yourself just have a look inside the air intake (and the top hose you’ve just removed). It will be full of sludge. Clean away as much of this as possible.
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6. Fit the blanking plate using a new paper gasket using existing allen bolts and fit new straight-through top hose. (new plate highlighted in red)
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| Allisport hoses |
Although it is not strictly necessary we chose to fit a set of three Silicone Hoses from Allisport Ltd. They are more expensive than standard rubber hose but they are reputed to improve performance very slightly and are harder wearing (they will not perish like rubber) Also, it’s just easier! Allisport sell the hoses cut to the correct lengths and correct shape. This makes it a very quick take-off and re-fit job and saves you having to try and source the correct hose, of the correct bore and then cut it to the correct length.
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| A new Blanking Plate |
We also bought a 5mm thick blanking plate off Ebay. It is possible to fashion your own plate. We’ve seen it successfully done by cutting a section from a drinks can. All you are doing, in effect, is blocking the hole. However this will also mean that the existing Allen bolts are too long to refit unless you fit a tower of washers. The 5mm plate just looks neater and we won’t ever have that nagging doubt that the tin-can will fail.
With the EGR removed you should notice an improvement in responsiveness with your 300tdi. It just seems to breath a bit easier.
