EGR blanked, now runs cooler.

[splitpin]

Decided to blank egr after seeing black crud that collects in egr pipe\inlet manifold union, and also to see if any improvement in performance and mpg. Did this three weeks ago, made blanking plates from sheet stainless. No noticeable improvement in performance, too early to tell if mpg affected but engine appear to run slightly cooler now. Have had digital thermometer with probe attached to cylinder head for last 10 months, on warm days and hill climbing temp used to go up to 100c max. After blanking, temp has gone no higher than 95c, very hot weather this weekend here and have done some long pulls uphill, work engine hard, 95c was max temp reached. Was expecting it to get hotter as thought egr worked by lowering combust temperature so was expecting to maybe have to remove blanking plates, will leave them now as mind at rest. Anyone else have this.
Thanks.