It is quite common for people to blank off the Exhaust Gas Recirculation system on diesel cars. The benefits of blanking the EGR system are to prevent dirty exhaust gasses entering the inlet manifold, and to reduce air inlet temperatures.

Most people tend to just fit a blanking plate between the exhaust manifold and the EGR recirc pipe. This will ensure the inlet system stays clean, and the engine will get plenty of cool air, which of course is good for performance.

However, this blanking method can be improved upon, as the actual EGR valve assembly causes quite a restriction to inlet airflow which will have an adverse effect on performance, as you can see in the pictures below. The picture on the left shows the early EGR valve assembly, as used on 1998 - 2001 models. The middle picture shows the EGR valve assemby used on 2001 - 2004 models, which has an additional butterfly valve, causing an even greater restriction!

Our solution to this issue was to produce our own EGR bypass kit which has a straight through design, as can be seen on the right, above. This results in improved engine torque, giving a smoother, more flexible engine.

This kit is a direct replacement for the original EGR valve, and bolts neatly between the intercooler outlet and inlet manifold.

The egr valve body replacement is made from high quality, laser cut aluminium, with a rolled edge for secure fixing of the intercooler hose. Beware of steel versions, which will react to the sulphur in diesel! Some EGR kits also do not have a rolled edge, and so can blow the hose off when oil contamination gets in!

The exhaust manifold blanking plate is made from robust 6mm thick mild steel, so will not distort under high exhaust temperatures. Both items are made from the same materials as original parts, so will give a perfect fit under all engine conditions.

Early EU2 Type (Single Actuator)

Later EU3 Type (Two Actuators)

Heat Exchanger fitted to EU3 Engines

The illustrations above show both inlet, and exhaust manifolds on an early and late type Td5 engine, with the EGR components to be removed, highlighted in yellow.

Later type Td5 engines had a slightly different arrangement to early engines, often fitted with an additional water/air heat exchanger (Pictured on the Right) on the EGR recirc pipe, and a twin diaphragm EGR valve assembly, with integral throttle butterfly. You should remove the metal pipes either side, leaving the heat exchanger in place. Use the two additional blanks supplied with the EU3 kit to blank the open ends of the heat exchanger.