Hi all, new member, but longtime reader. There is a great thread on this very site called the ultimate check VSC giude. I found it very very useful and the symptoms could have been written by myself about my own 220D.The symptoms mainly being constantly tripping off into limp mode, poor fuel economy, a drop of about 50%. No pwer and lack of response when accelerating. Hesitancy when pulling uphill and juddery acceleration, requiring a downshift of 2 or 3 gears to get power to pull away...very very annoying.
Even running expensive cleaners thru the system, including fuel system cleaner and separate DPF cleaner did not restore it back to its previous performance and left it very sluggish, but they did get rid of the constant Check VSC lights and limp mode.
All indicators seem to point to the EGR needing a good clean. After watching a few YouTube videos kindly posted by generous owners willing to share their experiences, I took the plunge today and headed to the toyota garage to get a set of gaskets ahead of removing the EGR valve. (who surprisingly had them all in stock for just over £8 for the three)
I removed it as described and found it pretty well coked up. I cleaned it using the suggested carb cleaner and it came up shining like a new penny. I think its important to remove the EGR solenoid housing, so that you can physically push the valve to ensure its clear and not sticking. Mine was sticking a bit. I reassembled it after the cleanup and gave the pipework a good brush through with a babys bottle brush to remover the soot. I am reasonably competent and a lot of mechanical tasks, but I cant tell you how anxious I was after putting it back together... i have not so much as taken a nut or bolt off my lexus, let alone tackled something like this. It fired up and sounded a bit rattly, settling down after a minute or so.
I took it out for a two hour run, and i t seems that it has 99.9% returned to how it was before. The power was restored, it was much smoother and pulled much much better. The fuel economy aslo returned to a very respectable 46 mpg on a combined town and dual carriageway run..i dont thrash it , but when i return to work tomor, I will take it up the A1 and give a good push to help clear out any residues.
I would urge anyone who has enough confidence to remove the EGR, and who has a similar problem, to get it cleaned. Do a decent job and I am sure like me and many many others, you will see the benefits. It took about an hour and a hlaf, but that was really taking it slowly and spending a good while cleaning...and looking for my bloody socket set !!..
Good luck and... Let me know how you get on if you have a go at it
