THANK GOD FOR THE INTERNET !

This is the way to go, but only AFTER the intake manifold has been removed thoroughly cleaned.
Get the blanking plate from the net (along with 2 new gaskets) and get your mechanic to put it in as he puts the clean manifold back on to your engine.

No use doing this after the horse has bolted (the gunk has built up and now causing the error codes)

Thanks fellas, I have been researching this and/or catch can as a preventive measure for a while, Their are some issues with blocking that can arise if not done correctly apparently, with some engines it works a treat, you tend to hear of it as a common fix on a Toyota because there everywhere and Mitsus because well they have to. ...

Thinking about it last night I may be lucky and get away with a EGR clean or worst case replacement, The manifold on the Colorado 3 ltr seems not to be as big an issue as say a Triton but we shall see.

Thanks again.

Before you put a EGR blank on it would be a good idea to check if (1) by doing so it won't make the car un roadworthy and then have no insurance (2) Do you have a mechanic that will break the law doing the blank....and a catch can is a dead giveaway of blanking the EGR.

EGR is there for a reason....to make the motor comply with emissions......If you don't comply then the car will fail the rego test and won't be able to be registered.

Andy, a catch can is not a dead give away, it is there to reduce the amount of oil vapour into the inlet manifold to stop sensors giving false readings. It will also stop the vapour mixing with the recirculated exhaust gas to stop the formation of a tar like substance in the manifold. This is all with the erg in circuit. Many just blank the erg and remove one of the tar forming agents.

There is a machine that injects a chemical into the air intake that cleans out the manifold so that the manifold doesn't have to be removed and manually cleaned.

I made my own blank. Buy a cheap stainless steel paint scraper. Cut it to shape with an angle grinder using one of the existing gaskets as a template.
Drill a very small in the middle so a very small amount of gas can go through,fooling the EMS into thinking all is normal.
So it's blanked enough to keep your oil clean, but not totally blocked.

Thanks for the replies, car is up and running again at a grand total of $541.

$450 odd for a genuine EGR valve and $90 labour. A hiccup that whist being unwelcome was probably going to happen eventually to any purchase made with this form of engine and the amount of Ks travelled.

While he had it had the oil changed in the diffs and auto, wheel bearings and brakes checked and a general good look over. All good so hopefully will be happy days for a while.

Troy at Northgate Automotive has had a few of these come in with the same issue and found just cleaning them out is not successful. The electronics attached to it in some cases are more prone to failure, I have the old part and will endeavour to post a photo of it. His view of fitting a catch can is don't bother, the design is not as bad as some others. An blank is definitely out for a while for the simple reason that I am SICK TO DEATH of screwing around with cars with electronics that instead of misfiring, farting or whatever choice of word will suddenly decide rather than put the engines life at risk is happy to kill you and anyone else around you by suddenly going into limp home mode. This time it was ok, I was outside the house and parking it, but I have had a car suddenly die at 100 kmh on a 4 lane freeway.

A recipe for someone at Slater & Gordon to get their snouts in the trough if these manufacturers aren't careful.

I guess time will tell

Sorry fella's just reread your replies and have some queries. First what car are you blanking ? Regards to cleaning agent Eagle ( I take you are a fan of Inters ) can you be more specific ?

Greg, good to see it is sorted and yes I do love the poor mans Kenworth. May see them back in this country bey the end of 2016.

Cheers Doc. being at home is a godsend. Being able to take it to the fella I have used for 10 years and trust { I have never caught him out on parts pricing yet and believe me I check ) always about 10 % cheaper than I can source it for so no worries there. He is flat out at the moment so car is sitting there waiting till things settle down so I won't know anything for day or two.

Just grateful it happened at home gives a chance to take the time to sort it with no pressure, If it happened away it would be a whole different kettle of fish.

I am just thankful for the ability to research a company via the internet and make a more informed decision. Further to this a colleague at work who is an avid 4wd modifier agreed with my gut feeling, a bit cagey at first but eventually he came out and recommended against using them.

There also may be an omen in all this, at one point we had a JEEP. The only time it broke down was in the garage too. We had it for 8 years and loved it. Never missed a beat,