Image will be forthcoming, but until then...

1995 Grand Caravan 3.3L

I thought it was my EGR valve, but after looking up the EGR valve online, I see that it is not. What it is is a maybe 3 inch tall black plastic housing (kind of bean shaped) sticking up at the top of the engine above the drive belt, toward the front left. It has a wire plugged in to it, and if I disconnect it, I get an error code about the EGR valve. I can't seem to find a picture of it online anywhere. My 1992 Town and Country (also 3.3L) did not have this object.

It's currently making a putt-putt sound as it runs, so It may need replacing (whatever it is).

What is this thing?

 

Here's a pic of the part in question. It's actually a little bigger than I remembered. Probably in the 4-5 inch range.

You can see the engine coolant reservoir to the left, the distributor near the top right, one of the belt pulleys below, and the passenger side wheel well at the upper left to give an idea of location.

As I said, my 1992 T&C doesn't have one of those, or at least not in that location.

 

Me again. I re-looked up the error code from when I unplugged it a few weeks back. It is error code 31. Allpar lists it as
So narrowing it down, and after checking what an EGR solenoid and purge solenoid look like, it looks like it's probably a purge solenoid, except mine is in a housing. Has the proper looking connections on it.

Can anyone confirm?

So if this little guy isn't working right, does that affect my fuel economy? I've had issues with it lately as seen in this post https://dodgeforum.com/forum/dodge-c...s-mileage.html