Nope, but mine wasn't that dirty - it only had about 50k clicks on it or so when I cleaned it...

I'm thinking that our elevation is the culprit Nigel. When I went to BC and was down in the 3-500m range, I saw no smoke, better power, etc. But you're living at 900ish meters, and I'm at 1100m. I think our rigs are adjusted for close to sea-level and we're feeling the effects.

Removing the EGR will put your EGTs higher than stock, assuming it was working correctly when you pulled it - IMHO a working EGR system is best, followed by a removed system, and obviously a non-working system is of no benefit, and is probably worse than none.