Rick, on a tip from Jerry Lemond I was able to clean mine out without pulling the manifold. The EGR dumps into the throat of the intake plenum, just inside of where the Throttle Body mounts. You'll need to pull the plastic intake air tube assy and other various interference items to get access to the TB in order to unbolt it. I didn't want to have to pull the TB all the way out, because of all the little coolant hoses on the bottom that are such a pain. I was able to remove all (4) nut/bolts, and separate the TB enough from the intake plenum to be able to see into and get a wire into the EGR passage.
It's on the floor of the throat of the plenum, and on mine it was so gunked up with oily deposits that if I hadn't been told it was there, I woudn't have found it. It's got a sort of a chamfer to it, in order to help the exhaust gasses get in.
This hole leads to the main EGR passage which goes aft in the head. There's a blind plug at the back of the head which opens up into the end of the passage. Also another smaller passage at right angles, in front of where the EGR mounts, and accessible from the inboard side of the head. The EGR dumps into this package. So, by removing the EGR, 2 plugs at the rear areas of the head, and the TB, you can get at all the areas accessible to start cleaning. You can blow air back and forth to check for free flow/clogs. You can also tape a smaller tube to a vacuum hose and suction debris out of the various passages.
What I was able to do was to stick various wires and other flexible cleaning utensils (.090 Weedeater line worked great!) into the EGR passage in the intake plenum and that's where I found my clog. Sucked all the gunk out of there I could, swaged it out, blew out what I could, and reassembled. Knew it was clean when I depressed the EGR vlv and got a ratty idle.
If your passages are more badly clogged, you may be able to loosen them up with carbon dissolving spray. I did spray some Seafoam Deep Creep into the plenum to help clean off some of the oily deposits inside. I smoked like the dickens when I lit it back off.
Seems fine now. Just got back from a 150 mile trip from Poulsbo, WA, to Spanaway, to Shelton, and back to Bremerton, she's running like a champ even with a passenger and a 3.1 Rodeo V6 in the back! The little 2.6 doesn't seem to care much if it's dragging a load around, it just torques right along.
Anyway, if you have success with the above, it's all great. If your intake is so badly clogged with caked-in deposits that you can't chip them out with hammer and chisel, you may have no choice but to pull the intake and take it all apart or replace. Definitely not a fun job without pulling the head, too.
My impression was that the intake plenum area looks like it can have a tendency to build up these oily deposits and I bet it's one of the most common areas for a clog to occur.
HTH and G'Luck.................ed
