It can still get stuck open even if it's unhooked. It can still blow open too. Just FYI.

Thanks mdub i will relay that info to the boss. The truck is running strong now but if this problem arises again I think he will go the delete route.

a tar kettle is where they melt the tar to make new bumps in the road. Think boiling tar, thick black smoke. Its also used to tar roofs Hot sticky work.

I just had the same problem two weeks ago, I was pulling my boat to the coast going up a long grade when my truck started acting up, same ol sh$t.. black smoke, no power, lots of stumbling, the more I put my foot into it the worst it got. when I got to the top of the hill I opened my hood and disconnected the egr solenoid. the problem went away and the truck ran perfect the rest of the week. pulling hills saw no loss of power, no smoke, no hesitations nothing... my check eng light is now on, I don't care. I have everything to do an egr delete, just no time to do the final tear down and install. I took the solenoid out when I got home and it was full of soot, I cleaned it with some break cleaner reinstalled but did not plug it back in, and probably wont until I do the full delete to the egr. by the way this is my 4th. solenoid to go bad in 3years. I can only imagine how gunked up the inside of my intake manifold is. I guess I need to make this a priority. also I noticed that the milage got better, I'm towing a 6k boat and trailer, I live at 5k feet in the mountains so either way down is a climb back home, and my milage went from an avrg. of 16.7 unloaded to 18.3. and 11.4 towing to 14.8. ???? sofar I'm liking this.