the valves were not adjusted recently. at least not that i know of i have only had the car for a couple of months. however we did check them and they were not overtightened. i have not seen the inside of the egr but what my shop teacher was describing was that it came apart on the inside and blocked off the air passagel. we have just sorta ran out of other ideas. i only have a couple more days in school before i grad so we are working with very little time. hopefully it will not come down to pulling the head off. but it might. thanks for the response Joe