thanks all. Well, ita taken me ages, what with being on call for work and other things happening today. I found it fiddly, but easy, and i think a new set of fiddly-proof tools are in order. Worst jobs was trying to loosen the bolts on the underside where the pipe meets the egr-had to remove from the bottom where the pipe meets the engine, but it was this clip that was a pain to tighten when i put it all back together-just not quite the right tools!!
ok, the pipes were black as youd expect, the egr itself seemed black but not coked up, i removed the solenoid and bam! shed loads of dusty blackness. spent a while cleaning it all, getting the egr valve to move/spring freely, and cleaned up the solenoid as best i could-although it doesnt spring, im not sure if its supposed to?
anyhoo, blanked off one pipe (although I intend on buying a new egr valve this year as I love planet Earth) and put it all back. Started her up, all seemed ok, went round the back and the exhaust has spat out a nice huge black splodge of dark matter.
Took the car up to the Total garage, purchased £45 of excellium diesel and some STP injector cleaner, and lads, i gotta say, its made a massive difference!
I couldnt detect the "flat" spot, revs were much more free and "cleaner", putting my foot down didnt expell a cloud of black smoke, so its looking good. AND, even though I only drove about 1.5 miles in total, my MPG counter has decided my economy is now 50Mpg, and thats up from high twenties...JOB WELL DONE, im well chuffed!!!
