Chrysler Repair: EGR valve: can it stick and cause a miss when accelerating, lean mixture, vacuum line

Question
2005 Town and Country 3.3 L w/ 100,250 miles.  A local shop checked my check engine light and said my EGR valve needs to be replaced, or cleaned.  They cleaned it.  The light was back on within minutes.  The van has devleoped a progressively worse shudder when accelerating.  Around 40 MPH and again at 45 MPH.
Can this be a symptom of the EGR valve problem?  

Answer
Hi Laurence,
Yes, the missing when accelerating is a common symptom of the egr failing to close tightly when you accelerate. If it sticks ajar that will cause a too lean mixture condition and thus the miss.
I would suggest that you take a look at this yourself. You will find it located underneath the throttle body (where the air is taken into the engine) and it is fed by a small diameter metal pipe that branches off the the center pipe of the exhaust manifold of the cylinder block on the side of the engine that is close to the cabin. So find that pipe and it will lead you to the egr. It is bolted into that pipe and then it in turn is connected by a pipe to the intake manifold. It has a round top with a vacuum line attached to it, and between that round top which opens and closes the valve and the body of the valve connected to the pipe, you will see a flanged opening and if you look in that flanged area you will see a rod with a circumferential slot. That rod is the valve stem and the rod is supposed to move back and forth freely (hut against spring-action in one direction which tries to close the valve). If the valve stem get gummy inside the valve it hangs up slightly ajar. I have had good success using WD-40 to dissolve the gummy stuff and free up the movement. You should spray the WD-40 on the stem where it enters the valve body, then take the tip of a screwdriver and insert it into the slot and move the stem back and forth to free-up the movement and allow the spring action to close the valve to a dead stop. Then try to drive it, or even simply rev the engine in neutral and watch for the movement of the slot as you rev it from idle to 2000 rpm and back. This should solve your problem.