2004 town and country egr troubleshooting

my van has been misfiring and getting a check engine light. it starts as soon as you fire it up and start down the road. it actually idles fine. i started some troubleshooting and found by disconnecting the egr valve the van runs fine. of course i still have the check engine light because the egr valve is disconnected. i took it to my local dealership and told them it was misfiring but runs fine with egr disconnected. they called me at home and told me the egr valve needed replacing at $225.00. i mentioned again it runs fine with it disconnected. they stated the obdII said egr valve was bad. i know certain criteria has to be met to turn the egr valve on. i think something is giving a false signal since it is not warmed up to operating temp when its first started. does anyone know what criteria has to be met before the pcm turns the egr valve on?

First of all, the shop *may* be correct that the EGR valve needs to be replaced. However, any shop that told me that "OBD II said the EGR valve needs to be replaced" would immediately lose any and all business from me - I firmly believe that OBD II is simply a guiding light - it doesn't tell you a component has failed, it points to symptoms and you still have to diagnose them. From your description, this shop is not interested in proper diagnostic procedures.

If you're not into DIY, then I would highly recommend taking it somewhere else. Otherwise, why not buy an EGR valve gasket and a vacuum pump and test the EGR valve for proper operation (google "testing EGR valve").

FYI, an EGR valve costs about $80-100. You need to remove the air inlet resonator (big black plastic box near the battery) to get at it (removing the battery gives a little more elbow room as well), which takes all of 5 minutes if you work slow.