Clean egr+manifold not going to plan.

If you're out of brake cleaner, you can finish the cooler with hot water and concentrated OxyClean or detergent.
A thinner wire might work better than your coat hanger in the corner slots of the cooler.
Don't put it back together until everything is dry inside.

 

If it's out for the night, just soak it in some detergent. Try and clean it in the morning.

 

Have you got a pressure washer or could you borrow one? This is what I used in combination with cleaning products. I then used a hairdryer to dry it all out as I was in a similar position trying to get it all back together quickly.

 

Take it to the car wash and spray it out, takes 5 mins.

 

Several hour-long soaks of a hot tap water, concentrated solution of "Oxi-Clean Versatile Stain Remover" (a powdered laundry additive) worked for me, got it like-new clean. Cork* one end, mix the solution as concentrated as possible, shoot it in, prop it up in laundry sink, wait an hour (while it bubbles), drain/rinse/repeat.



* I've got correct sized rubber cork now, but first time around I improvised, whittled a dowel into a roughly-round taper, and wrapped with a couple of layers of those thin mechanic's gloves, it worked.

When taking off bolts I set them on an adjacent window ledge, going left-to-right as I remove them, and put masking tape labels on the wall just below, helps a lot.

 

We find that Purple Power is also pretty effective. I'm toying with the idea of combining that with an ultra sonic cleaner big enough to hold the EGR cooler. Problem is that ones big enough are a little expensive.

 

Pressure washer and OVEN CLEANER!
You're wasting your time and money with the other junk.

 

Pressure washer is definitely the secret sauce.

 

These are the ones on the cooler? In particular the back one? IIRC it is laminated, one side embossed, has some thicker portion. I puzzled with that too. Maybe look at the exhaust manifold interface, see if there's any imprint that'd give clues.

Screen grab from pdf in first link in my signature:



It's the highlighted one? That's the repair manual, and they don't seem too excited, about the orientation. There's also one between the valve and cooler, and there I "think" you can tell by just trying, one way looks to fit better? Maybe...

Again, I found oxi got it like-new clean. If you've got the time.

 

Yes.

You mean this one:



I above pic you can see the tabs are pointing away from the valve. Funny thing, on mine it's currently flipped the other way:



I don't think it matters.

 

No problem. It's been about 5 years since I looked at them too, lol. I ended up just sorta following my nose. The one with somewhat eccentric holes you can flip one way, then the other, see if anyything sticks out. The grunge/abrasion imprints on the EGR elbow, valve, and cooler flanges may give you clues too.

 

Thanks for the great picture, @Higgins909! I hope people can read my chicken scratched annotations.

To try to clarify, The top left gasket, as I recall, goes at the top of the cooler with the ridge following the inward curvature of the flange on the cooler.

The middle top one, as I recall, goes between the valve and the cast part at the bottom.

The top right one, I do remember for sure is at the bottom of the cooler, again with the ridge following the inward curve of the cooler flange. Pinching that little tab to keep it from falling out while tearing up my other hand getting out the studs is indelibly etched in my memory.

The one on the cast part that connects the pipe and the valve, is in the right place and facing the right direction.

Edit to add: I just looked at the diagram in @Mendel Leisk's signature and it shows the tabs on the gasket between the cast aluminum part and the pipe facing the pipe. The ones I've taken apart have all (so far) been facing the other way as in the above picture. It does confirm the locations of the others but doesn't show the direction.