[horseballz]

Well....
Please remember that I am as green/new as can be to these cars and electronic/fuel injected/ "modern/new fangled" stuff. A week ago I didn't even know what a TAD or TAB switch or valve was, or what they do. I'm learning fast!
I already determined that the EGR valve was stuck closed or had a bad diaphragm and a TAD switch stuck open and I wanted to have the pricey parts in hand before tearing into it. Totally lucked out at the pic-n-pull, brand new looking (inside and out) Ford EGR valve with a new Ford EGR position sensor and a TAD vacuum switch=$5.57 for all. Got home, tore into it, pulled the EGR valve (it was stuck closed but not clogged and after breaking the tit loose the diaphragm tested good=BONUS) and decided that the easiest/best way to clean the EGR gasket surface was to remove the throttle body and then the EGR spacer and clean them up real good while I'm at it. I started to remove the 2 little hoses at the top of the EGR spacer to get them out of the way and found the little (brass I think) nipples to be somewhat corroded/eaten away, hhmmm.... it was at this time that I realized that those little hoses were coolant lines that I can only assume are for helping cold start warmups and/or helping to cool EGR gasses? After getting the throttle body off I found a bunch of red gunk (typical cooling system sludge) in the outer chamber of the EGR spacer . The EGR spacer does not want to budge, which leads to my question(s):

1. -Before I go wailing on anything or otherwise causing damage out of ignorance, is the EGR spacer held on by the studs and a hidden nut or shoulder on the studs or should it just slide off?
   
   A-If it should just slide off, it won't, as the studs appear to be married/gunked to the spacer, I don't plan to hammer on anything as I don't want to break anything.
   
   B-Would a good solution be to lock 2 nuts onto each stud and attempt to turn them out?
   
   
2. -After getting the spacer off, I assume I should take off the small diameter coolant pipes along the top of the intake/valve cover, clean them out and flush out as much as I can without the engine running and then once it's all back together do a good, thorough cooling system flush?
   
   
3. -What can I do to replace the little brass nipples in the EGR spacer. Carefully drill them out and press or thread new ones in?
   
   
4. -Given that there was enough carbon to seize up the EGR valve, do I need to pull the intake, etc. and clean out all of the passages leading to the EGR?
   
   A-How involved is all of this and how far do I need to go?
   
   
   B-Do I need to take apart the whole top of the engine?
   

Any and all help and advice is warmly welcomed
Thanks In Advance,
Gene

[Mustang5L5]

Basically the EGR spacer is sandwiched between the throttle body and intake. The studs go through the spacer and thread into the intake.

If they are rusted in, i'd leave the studs in place and attempt to remove the spacer. PB blaster, and a rubber hammer would come in handy here, as it will take a while to crack it loose. You may have to resort to driving a thin wedge between the spacer and intake, but i'd try not to as this can damage.

The portion between the EGR spacer and manifold contains the EGR gaskets, while the side where the TB is contains coolant.

Depending on how bad it is, you could pick up another upper intake setup used, clean it up and just swap it over.

[horseballz]

Mike ,
Thanks for the response/thoughts. PB Blaster soaking overnight. Still, I will try to avoid wedging, prying or hammering. I'm going to try pulling the studs first and if that doesn't work we'll figure out what to do next. I'm thinking of pic-n-pulling an upper intake from a later Explorer which would give us the bigger Throttle Body etc., am I correct. If I do this upgrade, will I need to change the EEC, other parts or make adjustments?
Thanks
Gene

[beyondspexj]

nice to see another vegas member on here!

i just grabbed a explorer upper, lower and tb from pic-a-part about 3 weeks ago. i still need to put mine on after i have someone fix a broken vac source on it ( line was broken off before i got to it ). but as far as ive read, its a direct swap ( minus the arm on the tb that the explorer comes with ). Just grab new gaskets and toss that puppy on.

[ID89GT]

The egr spacer can be a pain to get off. I ended up soaking the studs and holes with pb blaster, then did what Mike said and used a rubber mallet and tapped it off. It will come off eventually. As for replacing the coolant lines, you would probably be better off just buying a new egr spacer if you still have the stock one. They are not very expensive and would save you loads of trouble down the road of trying to fix the one you already have. You could use this time to just upgrade to a bigger throttle body and spacer, but not everyone has an endless supply of money, me included haha so I don't know if that would be something you could do or not..