A partial blanking plate (one with a hole) is available for post 2011 ECU17 engines. This is supposed to allow blanking without upsetting the ECU and generating warnings etc.

The puzzle is that on these engines the EGR is of course buried at the back and certainly not a 10 minute job!

However, from what I see the plate will of course fit in the same place at the front of the engine, but where the pipe from the EGR joins the throttle body - as opposed to between the pipe and EGR as on earlier engines.

To my feeble mind this would seem to be a problem as you are then creating back pressure between the plate and the EGR - as opposed to the exhaust pressure never getting to the EGR in the first place with older engines. As always I could be completely wrong about this

Any advice welcome. Thank you.

That thought had occurred to me too. I asked a few weeks ago if the pipe is negative or positive pressure into the throttle. The answer came back it would be negative pressure.

https://www.freel2.com/forum/post377467.html#377467

Yes - I saw that when trawling the forum for information. The reply from IanMetro was interesting - scary, but interesting.

I note that you did fit a drilled plate but then removed it. Did you fit yours at the front of the engine on the join to the throttle body?

The reason I'm looking at this is a possible solution to the infamous pcha pcha noise and hesitation that goes with it - nothing to do with the juddering thread. The explanation is :-

"At light throttle it is very difficult to keep a proper balance between a right mix of fresh/exhaust gases (EGR system) and a proper (turbo generated) intake pressure.
The turbo is quickly building up pressure and when the EGR opens that pressure is partly dumped, reverse flow, through the EGR pipe into the exhaust because the exhaust gases don't have enough pressure (remember, light throttle). The quick intake pressure rise followed by a sudden drop in pressure can look like a pressure spike.
What you hear is a turbo surge sound. And the sudden pressure drop is causing the engine to have a slight hesitation. "

If it doesn't help I can remove it and at 4.00 GBP no loss, but I'll have to wait till temps get back above 14C to see if it has helped.

Yes the blanking plate goes between the EGR pipe and the throttle body.

Thanks!