I decided that I should take apart my EGR Valve and Inlet Manifold to clean up the 3 years and 45,000kms worth of oil that's deposited in there. Thought I might share some before and after photos with you guys so you can see how nasty it can get in there. Please note I'm not running a Provent or any kind of oil/air separator but after seeing this perhaps its best I invest in one.

Before photos showing the EGR valve -





After photos -






The before photos of the inlet manifold -





After cleaning the inlet manifold -





Anyone wishing to do something similar - put aside a whole weekend because that stuff is hard to clean and get off and be prepared to get very dirty. I recommend you buy about 5 cans of that cheap $2 de-greaser from Cheap as Chips - I initially bought 2 cans of heavy duty carby cleaner but that didn't work nearly as good as the $2 stuff. Also take note of which bolt goes where on the inlet manifold because they are all unequal lengths and you probably wont remember how they go back together.

Only just got to drive the car today after the clean so I can't give you a realistic assessment of any improvements but today it registered about an 0.5l/100km improvement in fuel economy on my usual run to work - whether that's because i just had a good run to work or the cleaning has improved things remains to be seen.

Anyone want some advice on how its done don't hesitate to ask.