Cadillac Repair: EGR valve, cadillac deville, solinoid

Question
Bill,  I was able with some difficuly, to pull and clean the EGR valve on my wifes 98 Cadillac Deville.  Took some effort to get past the fuel lines and all would have been OK if I hadn't put it back on backwards and had to pull it off again.  My question. How often might I have to pull the EGR and clean it?  The spring was frozen closed with carbon.  I cleaned it as good as I could and the car is now running just fine.  Before it was sounding like a diesel.  Will this cleaning last a few thousand miles or will I be doing this more often.  The car has 75000 miles on it and this was the first EGR problem I have had.  It had 51000 on it when I bought it.

Answer
Hi Herb, You are right they sure don't make this an easy valve to replace. And congrats on being able to clean it up and get it to work. Alot of times we toss them and install a new valve. As far as durrability until the next cleaning I really don't know what to tell you. Maybe another 75,000 miles? I would hope at least 30,000 miles but eventually a solinoid will fail but at least you won't have to pay the labor to change it since you have done it twice now already. Bill