Just a small update..unfortunately no pics...
Took the whole thing apart this morning in the rain and it wasn't too hard to take the EGR unit off the car. You only need a 12mm socket, couple of small extensions and a pair of pliers. Removing the battery is a must as it gives you a whole lot of space to play around with. Overall it took me around 1hour to remove the unit from the car. Lost about 4 litres of engine coolant in the process and other than that it was just a breeze.
The power socket that actually connects to the EGR motor is just a 'push in' tyre socket with no real mechanism to hold it in place. Took me a while to figure that out as I was running my finger all around the socket to check if there is any plastic bit that needs to be pushed in before pulling the socket out.
The unit itself was in great shape and had no gunk or sludge in it at all(wish i'd taken pictures). There was a tiny bit of carbon buildup inside and around the valve which was easily removed with some carby cleaner. EGR unit comes in two pieces. 1.The motor unit 2.The aluminium enclosure that has the two valves in it.
One of these valves is operated by the motor and the other has a vacuum activated actuator.The motor is mounted on there with four small screws and it is a sealed unit.
Honestly I just don't understand why mitsubishi wouldn't sell the motor separately as it would greatly reduce the repair bill. The motor itself shouldn't cost more than $100-150 even after their ridiculous OEM surcharge. Even when you look at the whole assembly, it doesn't look like a complicated bit of kit that is worth around $950. Who knows, MQ series is still new and prices may eventually come down in the long run.
Anyway, put it all back together after a good cleanup and drove the car around 10kms and I had no CEL on the dash and it all felt normal. Driver has come and picked up the car and i'll know how successful the cleanup was by tomorrow morning. I am keeping my fingers crossed on this one and worse case i'll have to order a new unit from mitsubishi. I'll keep this post updated..
Thanks for all your input and support guys..
Cheers.