EGR delete on your driveway, or repaired at JF Automotive.
If you have a rough idle, black smoke, an engine light with a P0401 or P0404 code, or a car that has gone into limp mode, the EGR valve is usually the reason. You have two ways out. We switch the valve off in software on your driveway, priced from the registration before we come. Or, if you want it repaired, the car goes to JF Automotive in Maidstone, the workshop we are part of, where the valve is diagnosed and cleaned or replaced. Tell us what the car is doing and we will tell you which you are looking at.
- From £245
- Fully insured
- Fixed price before the visit
What the EGR valve does, and why it fails
Exhaust gas recirculation
A valve that feeds a measured amount of exhaust gas back into the intake. That lowers combustion temperature, which cuts the nitrogen oxides a diesel produces. Every modern diesel has one, and on most it is controlled by the engine ECU and watched constantly.
Soot, then sticking
Exhaust gas is full of soot, and the valve lives in it. Over tens of thousands of miles, sooner if the car mostly does short trips, that soot coats the valve and the passages around it until the valve jams open, jams shut or gets sluggish. The ECU notices the valve is not doing what it asked, stores a fault code and puts the engine light on.
What it takes with it
A valve stuck open sends far more soot into the diesel particulate filter than it was built to burn, so a blocked DPF very often turns out to be an EGR fault underneath. A valve stuck shut raises combustion temperature and NOx, which on an SCR car can trip the AdBlue system as well.
EGR fix, or EGR delete
A delete is a software job we do on your driveway. A repair is workshop work, and for that the car goes to JF Automotive in Maidstone, where it is diagnosed properly and put right. Which one you go for is up to you.
EGR fix
The car goes to JF Automotive in Maidstone. They read the codes and the live data, confirm it is the valve and not a sensor or a wiring fault, then put it right. On most cars that means cleaning the valve and its passages or fitting a new valve, then resetting the adaptations so the ECU learns it. The system keeps working and the lamp goes out.
A repair is not a mobile job, so we do not come out to diagnose it first. Book it straight into JF Automotive, the workshop we are part of, and they diagnose and fix it in one go.
Book it in for a repairEGR delete
The engine ECU is told to hold the valve closed and stop monitoring it, so the codes, the lamp and the limp mode stop, and no more soot is recirculated into the intake or the DPF. It is software only, done in about an hour on the driveway from the original file, which we keep so it can go back to standard on one visit.
Priced from the registration, before we come, and the price does not change on the driveway. If you also want a blanking plate fitted, that is physical work for a garage, before or after we do the software.
Get a price for a deleteHow an EGR fault shows itself
Any of these, alone or together. The codes are the generic ones your scanner would show; the make-specific ones vary.
- Engine management lamp - with P0401, P0402, P0403 or P0404 stored. The usual way it announces itself.
- Rough or lumpy idle - exhaust gas leaking into the intake at idle, when the valve should be shut.
- Black smoke under load - too much recirculated gas and not enough air, so unburnt fuel goes out of the exhaust.
- Loss of power or limp mode - the ECU protecting the engine once it cannot trust the valve.
- Poor fuel economy - the engine running rich to compensate for the air it is not getting.
- A DPF that keeps blocking - the valve stuck open loading the filter faster than it can regenerate.
- Hesitation or surging - a valve moving too slowly for what the ECU is asking.
- Control circuit codes - P0489, P0490. The valve motor or its wiring rather than the valve itself.
From the engine light to a clean idle
A delete is priced from the registration and done on your driveway. A repair goes to JF Automotive, who price it once they have read the codes, before any work starts.
Tell us what the car is doing
Send us the registration, the symptoms, any code you have, and whether you want it deleted or repaired. The form below takes a minute.
A fixed price, usually the same day
For a delete, one figure from the registration. For a repair, we pass you to JF Automotive and they book the car in.
We send you a booking link
For a delete, pick a date and a time at home or at work. Your engineer's name is on the booking. For a repair, the booking is with the workshop.
A delete on your driveway, a fix at the workshop
For a delete, we read and keep the original file and write the new one, there on the driveway, then road test it to prove the lamp stays off. For a repair, JF Automotive read the codes and live data, test the valve, clean or replace it, reset the adaptations and road test it.
Before you book an EGR delete
An EGR delete means the vehicle no longer meets the emissions standard it was approved to, because the EGR valve is part of its emissions control system. Under regulation 61A of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 it is then an offence to use it on a public road, and it is likely to fail the MOT emissions test. A delete is for vehicles used off the public road, on private land, or being exported.
By booking a delete you confirm the vehicle's use and accept our delete conditions, which are set out in full in our terms and conditions. That is the whole of the notice. You now have the facts, and the decision on what to do is yours to make.
Read the delete conditions in our terms →What it costs
From £245, and every job is quoted on the car. A valve that cleans up and a valve that needs replacing are not the same work, so we quote each job on its own. Every figure you are given is fixed, and it does not change when we get there.
A delete is a software job, priced from the registration before we come. A repair is priced by JF Automotive once the car is on the ramp and the codes have been read, and agreed with you before any work starts.
- Original file read and kept, so the car can go back to standard
- One fixed price from the registration, agreed before we come
- Done at your home or work, about an hour, no workshop visit
- Fully insured engineer, road test to confirm. For a repair, JF Automotive quote the car on the ramp
Get my price
Give us the registration, what the car is doing, and where you are. We come back with a fixed price, usually the same day, and a booking link if you want to go ahead.
- From £245, quoted on the car
- Fully insured, at your home or work
- No workshop visit, no courtesy car needed
EGR questions, answered plainly
Can I just clean the EGR valve myself?
On some engines, yes, if you can reach it. The valve is often not the whole problem, though. The passages and the cooler carry the same soot, and the ECU needs its adaptations reset afterwards or it will keep the old code. If the lamp is on, a proper read first tells you whether it is the valve at all, which saves stripping a valve that was never the fault.
Will an EGR fix stop my DPF blocking?
Very often, yes. A valve stuck open is one of the commonest reasons a filter loads faster than it can regenerate. If your DPF has been cleared more than once and keeps coming back, the EGR is the first place we look.
Do you fit blanking plates?
Not on the driveway. What we do at your car is the software side. A blanking plate, a valve clean or a new valve is physical work, and that is done at JF Automotive in Maidstone. A plate on its own, without the software, just gives the ECU a different code to complain about, so if you want both, the workshop visit can be before or after we write the file.
How much does it cost?
A delete is a software job from £245, one fixed figure from the registration, usually the same day you ask. A repair is quoted by JF Automotive once the car is on the ramp and the codes have been read, because a valve that cleans up and a valve that needs replacing are not the same job, and the figure is agreed with you before any work starts.
How long does an EGR delete take?
About an hour on the driveway for most cars: the original file read and kept, the new file written, and a road test. Some newer ECUs have to come out of the car to be read on the bench, which takes longer, and you are told which yours is when you get your price.
What if a main dealer software update overwrites the file?
It can happen. We will need to visit again to reload it, which carries a call-out charge starting at £50 depending on where you are. Tell the dealer the car has been modified before any update and they will usually leave the engine software alone.
Backed by JF Automotive
Remaps UK is the mobile arm of JF Automotive, a Maidstone workshop that has been tuning cars for thirty years. The files, the calibration work and the rolling road behind your job are theirs. If a job turns out to need a ramp or a dyno session rather than a driveway, it goes to them, and you are not passed to a stranger.
About JF Automotive →Related work, on the driveway or at JF Automotive
DPF delete or fix
A filter that keeps loading, a regeneration that never completes, or limp mode. Switched off in software on your driveway, or repaired at JF Automotive.
Read more → The other emissions lampAdBlue delete or fix
A countdown to no-start, or a lamp that will not clear after a top-up. Switched off in software on your driveway, or repaired at JF Automotive.
Read more → Not sure which it is?Engine light on
We come out and read the codes from every module, tell you which system they point at, and say where it goes from there.
Read more →