Vauxhall Astra EGR valve.

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
View Threaded
Sun 21 May 2006 17:40
Vauxhall Astra EGR valve. - misha
Hi, new here and looking for some advice. My dads y reg Vauxhall Astra 8V estate has the engine man light on the dash. It did come on and off before but stays on all the time now. Diagnostic showed it was the EGR that was playing up. Seen some info on other sites that suggest giving it a clean as it cokes up inside. Any ideas if this is true or should I just tell him to buy another. Also, where is the egr valve and how easy is it to take off and clean or change. Thanks in advance for any help. As you can guess, I am not a mechanic but would like to avoid and hefty dealer bills.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 21 May 2006 19:44
Vauxhall Astra EGR valve. - Hamsafar
See if you can find a site such as cavweb that tells you how to disable it and be done with the wretched thing.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 22 May 2006 09:42
Vauxhall Astra EGR valve. - Andy P
It can be cleaned but the fix doesn't last very long. When it happened on my '95 SRi 16V I ended up with (a) a new EGR valve and (b) a small "scrubber" attached to the crankcase ventilation hose to catch all the carp that was clogging up the EGR.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 22 May 2006 11:22
Vauxhall Astra EGR valve. - Dynamic Dave
See if this helps at all:-

www.m1gst.com/vb/showthread.php?p=677333#post677333
www.m1gst.com/vb/showthread.php?t=66979
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 22 May 2006 12:58
Vauxhall Astra EGR valve. - bell boy
£134+ vat if you are in the vaux trade club £161.00 retail + vat, so personally i would live with it as they seem to drive more fluently with the egr not working on these engines anyway.
Only my opinion mind,so a bit of black tape on the dash will suffice and buy a new one when its time to sell,the light 9/10 will automatically go out when new one fitted so no dealer recode unless you are unlucky.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 22 May 2006 13:28
Vauxhall Astra EGR valve. - Number_Cruncher
If this car hasn't had its ECU software updated during the last year or two, then I would begin there. There has been a software update for this model which certainly made our '53 1.6 8 valve Astra a bit more driveable.

I'm told that with the very latest Vauxhall software update, the EGR valve will be disabled, and the ECU will keep it shut, **without** putting the dashboard light on, which might solve your problem at a stroke. I plan to update the software in our car as soon as I am near to my favourite Vauxhall dealer, back home in my native Lancashire. :-)

If the valve is so gummed up that it won't shut, Vauxhall now have a blanking gasket to close it off fully.

There are a few threads on this topic on this site - one in particular where the pros and cons of blocking the EGR are debated, try a forum search for Astra EGR.

My experience, like that of oldman is that the car is much better to drive without the EGR valve working.

Number_Cruncher
Reply | Report as offensive | Link

From which small car to buy at which price point to the best UK-built cars, our Top 10s have the lot. Click now for your shortlist.

Unsure of what to buy? Our Top 10s are here to help you....