Pierbug EGR part identity on CFCA engine

[Whiteslife]

I have a CFCA engine which has a coolant leak that used to only be an issue of long 4-5hr drives, it’s now an issue on all drives particularly under load. I’ve done my research and spoken to a couple of garages about EGR replacement and getting the head checked. In advance of actually booking in the work I was checking the current EGR part number and discovered it’s a Pierburg part and not the original VW EGR but haven’t been able to correlate the stamp information with anything online yet.

Attached is a photo of the EGR.

This is a 2010 T5.1 caravelle that I purchased in 2022 (around 90,000 miles), I don’t have any issues with oil consumption and it’s drives perfectly other than the coolant leaking, which seems to back up into the header tank and overflows.

If anyone can help with identifying the part and whether it’s one of the “good” replacements that would be great.

 

[WillWillWill]

You need to peel off the top sticker and you will see the part number revision. Eg: -A

 

[Whiteslife]

Great thanks, so from my understanding this is the new version, so shouldn’t need replacing.

 

[WillWillWill]

You will find plenty of opinions on the subject. Mine is that the D is the best of the bunch and the only one to even consider keeping without doing something else. But it still fails, it just takes longer than the rest to do so.

Your options include:
- Living with it and chancing it.
- Taking regular oil tests for analysis and see if it is breaking down.
- Replacing it after so many tens of thousand miles with a new one and starting the process again (they aren’t cheap).
- Making (yes, illegal) modifications to the engine to prevent it ever being a problem.
- Changing the van.

Oil tests are cheap although I never had any luck getting results back from Millers. Other companies might be more forthcoming, or I got unlucky.

Probably worth working out the coolant loss issue cause and making a decision from there.

 

[WillWillWill]

Also, worth noting that a 2010 van would not have come with a D rev cooler, so someone has already changed that once in its prior 90k miles.

 

[alexlex85]

Get another Pierburg egr cooler. they are cheaper.
A common coolant leaking area for a CFCA is the coolant flange

 

[DXX]

Rev D is slightly better than the earlier versions, it will still fail in the same way and destroy the engine.
As far as I can determine there are 3 options;
1. Replace the Rev D EGR approx’ every 30K miles.
2. Install a 150ps oil filter and a separate oil cooler.
3. Install a Tafmet emulator and blanking flanges.

#3 being the cheapest, quickest and most simple solution; less than an hours work if you have the correct tools.