After 19000mls decided to take a look at my EGR valve yesterday, (not that i have had any problems) anyway apart from skinned knuckles it was pretty straight foreward, however mine was a little different than most i have read about, The square hole in the Ctre was relatively clear, but the 2 side holes were partially blocked, The difference being that this was fairly loose "soot" not hard carbon that i have seen in others, i was able to remove this with cloths + WD40 the 2 side holes were more gungy and i twisted 6 pipe cleaners together to scoop out the gunge, the worrying part is that despite using a semi industrial vac some of this must have gone back down the holes, I took the EGR valve into my garage and soaked it in WD40 (couldn't get carb cleaner) and blew everything out with an airline, after scrubbing with the wifes toothbrush, put it all back together, it started first time, gave it an Italian tune up (5000rpm) on the motorway, All is well + car felt a bit more responsive, but I am still concerned at the amount of "soot" in the pipe + where it fixes to the engine and "WHY" we are having to do this, Also my Rav has used a little oil for the first time 3/4 of a litre since last service 4500mls ago should i be concerned Stew