Help solve a mystery. . . .

I have a 2000 SEL, and the other day on a long trip my alternator died. While I was under the hood, I observed an item out of place just to the right of the alternator. There is a long thin steel rod that runs from front to back just to the right of the alternator. It is alongside of the engine and connects to a butterfly type valve thing in the front and rear. The front part of this looks like an old style type of choke near the intake.
Anyways, the rod was out of the front connector, which is just a small white plastic socket that the rod slips into. The p[plastic has broke and I can't get this to stay in there and all I need is the plastic piece. Only problem is I don't know what this part is for. Any ideas?

Is it on the side of the intake manfold? If so, it is the IMRC. The plastic part is a common failure. Stop in at Ford and show them and they will get the part or maybe someone else can post the part number so you can look around for an aftermarket? I haven't had to replace mine, but I doubt it costs much....

Which side is the manifold? All I know is that when you are standing at the front of the van and look at the Alternator, just to the right of it you will see a black plastic box. Hidden by this box is the rod that runs from the back of the engine up to the front. It is small in diameter, and is connected via a plastic grommet. It runs a valve of some sort that is kinda hidden by the intake cover.
What is the IMRC and what does it do? The van runs fine, but once in a while on start up it seems to load up and run rough.

It is the IMRC. Not sure I can explain the acronym, but I will take a guess...Intake Manifold Recirculation Control??? It is on the pasenger side of the intake manifold (the large black plastic box over the top of the engine). The small black plastic box is the IMRC unit that moves the rods. There is a second rod leading to the back side of the box leading to the back of the engine too. These rods open and close of butterfly valves for each cylinder. They are opened up a high RPM (i.e. high loading, I think around 3000 RPM???) and they allow more air into the engine to generate more power when you thump on the gas or pull out to pass someone. If the rod is not attached, the butterfly valves can open up when they are not supposed to and you will get too much air in the gas/oxygen mixture inside the engine. Ths will cause it to run rough! or the oppposite, they will not open when you need them too and there will not be enough power no matter how hard you push on the gas.

I beleive it is a pretty easy fix, but I have not had to do it before....I have been lucky.

IMRC = Intake Manifold Runner Control
My pictures are of my '96, which uses 2 separate vaccum driven actuators.
The 1999 and newer windstars use 1 electrical driven box to control both runners.

There is a front runner for the front bank of 3 cylinders......and another for the rear bank.
The runner is the shaft that passes through the bank of 3 cylinders......and has 3 "butterflies" on it......one for each cylinder......
Each "butterfly" opens and closes an extra port into each cylinder.
Now, the 2 ports....the always open one....and the one that is controlled by the IMRC both combine into 1 passage into the intake vavle.

FORD issued a TSB telling the technicians to check the IMRC clips whenever a customer brings in their windstar for a "pinging" concern.