3.0 litre EGR/Butterfly/Swirl Mod

I've got a whistle/noise/leak coming from in around my turbo somewhere, comes on 1800-2000rpm. But not when the motors cold, only when 1/2 warm to fully warm (half way on temp gauge). I think I've narrowed it down to the EGR pipe being warped and the new gaskets not being able to do their job properly.
I think its the EGR gasket on the exhaust manifold side.
So am I best to block the EGR off on the exhaust or intake side...or both? Just to eliminate this leak?

My worry with the EGR is that turbo boost can feed back down the EGR pipe if the exhaust path is blocked, and the high pressure air will leak, reducing the engine's effectiveness.

I'd make sure the EGR tube is blocked, and if it's damaged at the exhaust manifold side, it might be worth blocking off at both ends. You might be able to remove it altogether if you join the two water hoses together, or remove those completely as well and block the outlets (they help cool the EGR down before it reaches the intake manifold).

The exhaust side of the EGR pipe is a real bastard to get to. I looked at mine, thinking I'd pop the blanking plate in that side of the pipe - the bloody alternator is in the way and probably should come off if you're going to mess with that side. It might be easier from underneath, but I took the easy way out and just blocked the other side.

you might have a crack in the EGR tube. i had mine break a little while ago. ended up blanking it at the turbo end as well.

Yeah i think i might go for that too. Hopefully make a couple up tomorrow. If its not that causing it got me stuffed. Does it seem like a egr pipe related problem, being that it wont make the noise when cold, only once warm/hot?

It could be from hoses softening and letting the air out beneath the clamps too (they don't always use better quality clamps). Soapy water might help - drip some around the turbo charger air piping joins and see where the bubbles form.

Made the two blocking plates today, put em on... noise is still there! Leaning towards turbo bearings now... mechanic mate is having a look at it tomorrow for me.
Whats it worth to recondition the turbo? I have previously checked shaft play on intake side, a little more then i'd like sideways, next to nothing back and forth though.

The turbo ought to spin freely without wobble in any direction. It's designed to do 60,000rpm and up - a little play in the bearing becomes a bunch of debris in the intercooler, you're probably only getting away with it because of the oil being pumped into the bearings.

If it's not the bearings, get the soapy water out.

Buy a new turbo, rebuilding will probably cost you $900 atleast.

Dave.

Blocked off the EGR and the swirl control today.
Simpler to do than just reading all about it.
Had a test drive and it does respond better down low,but i didnt disable the swirl solenoid at the time,but its done now.
I will check the fuel consumption and see if theres any improvement.
simple mod to do ...

Navara_cruz said:

Guys, is this only for the D21/D22 or can be done on the D40's as well.

and is it worth doing this mod in regards to performance/ fuel economy?

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Im keen to try this mod out, it seem going through think mud in high range there isnt quite enough pull down low this would help drematically
Ive read upto the post quoted and have seen a couple of posts before someone has said something about it not being able to be done on a turbo nav? arent all the diesel nav's turbo??

Anyway a have a 04 D22 and just have a few questions that hopefully can be answer easily so i dont have to read the rest and find my questions havent been answered anyway lol

When blocking off the pipe can it just be removed completely or will it still serve a purpose?

Are the pics at the start of the thread correct for my model?
Cheers guys
Stuie

egr pipe can be removed completely. mine broke so its gone, actually i used the ends as packers to hold the blanking plates in.

Is it ok to use 1.6mm mild steel to block off the EGR??

Lasoya said:

Is it ok to use 1.6mm mild steel to block off the EGR??

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Yes you can use anything really to block it off. although you might be cutting it a tad thin using 1.6 on the exhaust side (it may warp wi5th the heat) but it could be right.
Just go into any welders workshop and ask em for a bit of scrap 3mm mild steel or something and they should just give it to ya. only needs to be maximum of 100 x 50 mm then cut it down yourself

P.S 1.6 is fine for the other end =)

Ill just be doing it on the inlet manifold

Lasoya said:

Ill just be doing it on the inlet manifold

Click to expand...

1.6 mm is plenty thick enough then

butterfly/egr mod dyno sheets.

Hi guys, this is my first time posting. but i have been following this thread for a while, so i decided to do some investigation on my own.

I bought a 06' d22 str zd30 that was stock as anything. so i thought it was perfect to try this on. since i am good mates with a exhaust fitter/dyno tuner i managed to get the time to fiddle around with the car while seeing what changes in performance was made!

The first thing i did was check what my car made stock.. in the pix it made 79.6rwks and there was a spike in air/fuel mix. the stock run is all the pink lines in the dyno sheets.

I was told that a 2.5" exahaust system is the way to go by a number of people. so i just went with it.. Its a Full turbo back stainless steel system, with NO cat and only one muffler, Also cut out the egr pipe that goes around the back of the motor, welded it up. and put in blanking plates on the inlet side. ( see pix )

We put it back on the dyno (with out doing the butterfly mod), and the disapointing thing was i lost a couple of kws in power, and some torque, but i did get a better air/fuel ratio, so the engine is running safer.

NEXT thing was on the dyno again after i swapped some vacume lines around for the butterfly mod.( the front actuator ) .. i did a run with JUST that first.. and it brought me to about stock power again. ( this run is not in the pictures)

So i decided to test the debateable actuator (the one closest to the firewall.. i think its the swirl one?? some one correct me!) so after i stuck a ball bearing into the line, we did one more run. which is the RED line in the dyno sheets. and also it improved the air/fuel mix even more. making the engine even safer.

i took the car for a drive. driving wise there was no BIG difference at all, i could hear the turbo spool up quicker it felt like a very minimal extra response, but it does make the car sound alot nicer =)

The other thing i did forget to mention was the Boost, with each mod done, the boost did come on quicker, so that is a bonus. but there was no difference in the top PSI reading.

ALSO.. i have put up some pix of the way i modified the vac lines, and also where i blocked/welded the egr pipes.

I do hope this helps some one and if i have done anything wrong please correct me!

I hope this helps some one!

other pic

first thing, do not put ball bearing in lines. theres no need and sometimes the butterfly can get locked into the wrong position which causes all sorts of problems.

you mention no difference in top psi, what boost are you getting?
i would be checking your exhaust for any restriction. mine increased max boost and is most certainly a bit quicker. to top it off my exhaust would have more restriction as i have resonator and offset muffler.

the other thing i need to check here is how the dyno test is done. i assume its all done a full throttle ?
if so then i think the graphs are meaning less. simply because the egr and egr butterfly are both off at full throttle and especially over 3000 rpm. also the swirl valve only works under ~1500 rpm or so.
any of the egr and butterfly mods should make NO difference to top power at all.

Well done pop_n_fresh68,

It's good to see somebody actually post some Dyno figures, instead of the usual seat of the pants "it went so much harder".

But, as Tweak'e points out, I'm led to believe the mod only improves low to mid throttle response(?), so it'd be cool to see some comparison there if possible.