EGR tube finally rusted through.

[MalcolmV8]

My custom made EGR tube on the blue truck finally rusted through after almost 60k miles. I thought I had another exhaust header leak till I went to remove the EGR tube and it twisted in two. I don't have the time to try and fab up another one right now so I pulled the lower part of the tube and put a penny under the nut on the header to seal the hole. I then unplugged the EGR solenoid so the EEC can't open up the EGR valve any more and all seems to be good. I wonder if I'll notice any drop in mpg? The last few months have been lower than normal by about 1 mpg and I think it's due to that EGR tube leaking so bad. It also caused the MIL to light up in the mornings when it's really cold out (30 or less it seemed) when getting on the gas until the truck was completely warmed up and even then it did it occasionally. Checked codes back then and it said O2 sensor lean. I'm assuming because of the extra air it was sucking in the leaking EGR tube.