Ford S-Max EGR delete
Engine management light on, a flat spot when you pull away, then limp mode at forty with the family in the back. On a 2.0 TDCi S-Max that is the EGR valve. Mobile software delete at your location, £220.
Call 0161 694 7331. We come to you within a 40-mile radius of Eccles.
For off-road and track use only.
How the EGR fails on an S-Max
The valve sticks first. On the 2.0 TDCi and 2.2 TDCi, the PSA DW10 and DW12 engines under Ford badges, the EGR valve fouls with carbon from short, cool running until it stops seating cleanly. The owner notices a hesitation pulling away, a rougher idle, then the engine management light with P0401, P0402 or P0404 stored, and finally limp mode. The 1.8 TDCi in the base Mk1 goes the same way with a simpler valve. It arrives with age and mileage, and it comes back after a clean or a new valve because the duty cycle has not changed.
The bypass and the cooler follow. Later 2.0 TDCis add a cooler bypass fault that logs alongside the valve codes. On the 2.0 EcoBlue in the Mk2 there is a proper cooler failure: the water-cooled cooler cracks, coolant drops with no leak to find, and there is white smoke on a cold start, at lower mileage than the old engines managed. Two loops on the EcoBlue, so two valves to foul as well.
S-Max engines covered
S-Max Mk1 1.8 TDCi, 2006 to 2010
Ford's own Lynx four-cylinder in the base cars. Valve sticking, a cheap part that fouls repeatedly.
S-Max Mk1 2.0 TDCi and 2.2 TDCi, 2006 to 2015
The DW10 2.0 and, from 2008, the DW12 2.2, the same engines as the Mondeo and the Galaxy. Valve sticking on both, cooler bypass faults on the later 2.0.
S-Max Mk2 2.0 TDCi, 2015 to 2018
The DW10 carried into the new body. Same fault, same fix.
S-Max Mk2 2.0 EcoBlue, 2018 to 2023
Ford's Euro 6 engine with high-pressure and low-pressure EGR. Valve and cooler faults at lower mileage than the DW10. The wet timing belt is a separate matter and not one the delete touches.
See Ford EGR delete for the rest of the range, or call 0161 694 7331 for a variant not listed.
What the delete does to that fault
The delete answers the fault at the point where it starts. The ECU stops commanding the EGR valve, so a valve stuck with carbon can no longer produce the flow error that puts the S-Max into limp mode, and the P0400-series codes have nothing left to log against. The bypass is no longer called on either. The circuit is closed in software, so exhaust gas stops passing through the cooler, and on an EcoBlue a cooler that has been weeping coolant into the intake stops being fed. Both loops are handled the same way. Valve, cooler and pipework stay on the car and stop being used. Codes cleared, and the remap is permanent.
Is it definitely the EGR?
Three things help us confirm it on the phone. The exact codes from a code reader. On an EcoBlue, whether the coolant is dropping without a visible leak. The smoke: colour, and whether it is only on a cold start. If coolant has been entering the engine for months, the delete stops further ingress but does not undo damage already done, and we will say so on the day rather than remap a car that needs something else first. If a DPF light is on as well, both are handled in the same visit for £445: see DPF and EGR delete.
Questions S-Max owners ask
Is it definitely the EGR, or could it be something else on an S-Max?
My S-Max has been losing coolant. Will the delete stop it?
Does the delete cover the EGR cooler on the S-Max as well as the valve?
Will the fault codes come back on the S-Max after the delete?
Other Ford models we cover
Pick your model:
Call 0161 694 7331 with your S-Max's engine and the fault codes you have, and we will confirm the fix and a time.
£220, we come to you anywhere within a 40-mile radius of Eccles, no call-out charge, no strip-down, and the car stays where it is. For off-road and track use only.