Sam, it is always a pleasure to hear some sort of good conclusion was reached and how it transpired. Great going. The only question left in my mind now is if you get to bend the mechanic over . If he removed the ball bearing or bb was it a legal requirement? He should have been aware it was not in your best interests to do so. Egr disablement has always been better for the customer generally unless of course it upsets a computor that is reading the flow. Lets say that was not even a question with your car and that much he had to know. Sometimes excess troubles are undertaken to defeat the egr.. Computor then thinks air flow is present even if not.