I didn't have the time (nor the desire to get soaked) to actually remove the lines, but I did "disable" it by removing the plastic lines, and jamming golf tees into the 3-way splitters, where the lines were pulled from.

So far, so good.. but that's the story of this problem. It'll fool me into thinking I nailed it, only to figure out that I didn't do a single thing. My mechanic seems to think that the vacuum pump is the culprit, although from what I've seen, that sucker puts out 24" without a hitch. I suppose it *could* be having problems, but there's not a drop of oil in my vacuum lines. Can an intermittent leak elsewhere in the system cause me to lose all vacuum power?

Disconnecting the EGR at least made me realize my air cleaner had become unseated (a project for the spring), and the breather tube had spewed oil all over my valve cover (it's never sprayed in the past). If it's not one thing, it's another.

Hopefully it was just the EGR that was causing this headache, and I won't have to deal with it ever again. Not keeping my fingers crossed, though.

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(Oo{=|=}oO) 1983 MB 300D USA, 212,000mi. 80's yellow/white. "Gunther"
(Oo{=|=}oO) 1984 MB 300D Euro, Turbo Added in Germany, 186,000mi [SOLD] Missing her dearly.
(Oo{=|=}oO) 1984 MB 300D USA Turbodiesel, 269,000mi. [SOLD]