thanks for the response. I did clean the egr valve & port about 5 yrs ago - it was packed solid. did as u described, thru the throttle body and without removing intake mainifold - it was a really tight squeeze but doable....perhaps it is clogged again.

so if this is the issue, after I clean the egr, should i just leave the old oil separator in place? Would I normally see leaking from the box or associated hoses if it is clogged? I have always tried to fix things proactively to keep her running well

lastly, is it risky to remove the intake manifold? I'm afraid after over 300k miles a lot of the carbon gunk in there is actually helping to hold the engine together at this point!