Chrysler Repair: EGR, right cylinder, gas pipe

Question
Roland, I have been reading some of your responses on about the EGR.  I believe I am also having this problem.  It's a 1995 dodge se caravan with 90K.  We took it on a long trip and it was find when the RPM's are over 2000.  Between 1500 and 1900 it seems like the car has a miss -- it sometime will burp up via the intake if you feed it gas at the right time.  I believe the EGR is located on the right side of this engine on the exhaust manafold.  Correct?  It's has a part number of 4287 179.  I had the car serviced before the trip and told the them about this problem.  After the trip I went back then they said that they sprayed carborator cleaner on it and it should have been fine.  That I probably need a Value job -- if that's so then why don't I have problems at other RPMs?  I'm very capable and I can remove this part but before I do I need to make sure it's really the EGR and not something else?  Could you let me know exactly where on this engine this part is located.  Thanks very much for your help.  

Answer
Hi James,
There are 3 possible engines in the van that have egr's (3.0, 3.3, and 3.5L) but they share the design that the exhaust gas pipe that feeds it comes from the right cylinder bank but it isn't mounted on the exhaust manifold, rather it is located in the pipe that runs from the manifold back to the intake manifold. The valve proper is in the pipe, the stem connects the valve to the vacuum actuator on the top of the unit and you can see the stem between those two parts in a flange that connects the two parts. The stem has a circumferential slot and you can try moving the stem of the valve back and forth with the tip of a screwdriver (it is closed by the action of a spring, opened by vacuum). Check to make sure that the spring pushes the stem firmly against the stop which would seal off the exhaust gas from reaching the intake manifold. If it seems to sticky in action (spray the stem again) or doesn't close all the way (then I would unbolt it from the pipe and clean the interior, using new gaskets) that will cause backfiring, rough running at low rpm, or inability to idle.
So check that out yourself and see if that solves the problem. I agree that you wouldn't want to assume a valve job is in order without first doing a compression test on all the cylinders.
Roland