Has anyone bothered to point out that the EGR on diesels actually helps lower the combustion temerature and the exhaust gas temperature. These are both good things. High combustion temps and exhaust temps are some of the few things that will kill a diesel. Lowering the combustion temperature reduces NOX emissions, lower exhaust gas temperature drasticly extends turbo life. In a turbo diesel there is already more than enough oxygen in the combustion chamber, disabling the egr isn't helping combustion only making it a lot hotter than it should be for a long lived diesel. If I were building a higher performance turbodiesel I wouldn't remove the EGR unless if was for a full out competition engine. For a daily driver EGR is a GOOD thing and doesn't hurt power.

As for the gunking of the intake manifold, EGR isn't the culprit there either. The gunk deposited in the intake manifold is from the crankcase vent. Volotile hydrocarbons from the crankcase are vented before the turbo. They get very hot after the turbo and the lighter componets evaporate leaving the heavier componets behind to form the gunk. Since the EGR valve is even hotter than the turbo a lot of gunk gets deposited there as the more volotile stuff evaporates. Think about it, what does the inside of the diesels exhaust pipe look like or for that matter the hot side of the egr valve. It's only a thin dry film of carbon. IF the EGR was the cause of deposits those would also be a thin dry film, and not the thick gooey gunk that cloggs diesel intakes.

Sorry for the rant but as a responsible hot rodder I get miffed at people who automaticly assume that disabling emissions equipment is the only way to make power. Don't even get me started about all of the wanna be racers removing the catalyst from their 16 second car to make it a 15 and 3/4 second car. I've built several fast street cars and make it a point to keep emissions related equip. in tact. That way when hotrodding is regulated out of existance I'm gonna be the one pointing at you.