My 1996 Tracker has been stalling when I pull up to stop signs so I did a little research in these forums and figured the EGR valve might need a little cleaning.  When I went to take it off I noticed the bolts were very loose and could come out by hand.  When I pulled it off the flat end of the valve opposite of the diaphram/plunger side had a cotter pin loosely holding a nickle in place?  Apparently someone drilled a small hole big enough for the pin!  I removed the pin and took the nickle out and it doesn't seem to be that full of carbon though it is dark.  My question is what is supposed to be there instead of the nickle?  Is that supposed to be a sealed end?  Could air be entering the valve causing the stalling?  And what about the loose bolts?  Could that also contribute to the stalling?  Any info would be sweet!
Thanks,
James

I think you should put in a new or used one, start it up and see what happens.

It seems someone did this to keep the diaphragm in place, but who knows why, it could be a fix for a different problem. In the 96's there ar 2 other pieces to the EGR system, so it could be one of thoes pieces that failed, and the PO decided to "fix"

a vacume leak would cause it to run rough and stall

since the nickle was just loosely sitting in there could that constitute as a vacume leak b/c air could be sucked in around it?  I guess I am not to familiar on how the egr valve works?

Now that's what I call a $.05 fix..........
Or Nickle and Diming you to death   

Yes, a leak there is a vacuum leak, the EGR
is supposed to open and allow exhaust into
the intake, it makes the gas burn slower, and
reduces the Nox emmisions

There should be a metal cap there, a bit like a core plug. IIRC someone recently said that they can come loose and possibly fall out. Time to get a new EGR valve.

I can sell you one for $1500. The only thing is you have to take the whole truck with it.
No five cent deposit either.

   My '95 would drop very low idle at stop signs, but never actually stalled, til I had the EGR tubes and valve cleaned.  I don't think mine came with the nickel though!  So it and the stalling could be unrelated.  I'd clean everything well & obviously replace the EGR valve.

Is the metal cap supposed to be airtight?

anybody know where the egr is on the 1.8L sport model?

Does anyone know the answer to my question if the end cap where the nickle was is supposed to be airtight? 

If the Nickle was behind the EGR. I dont think it would cause a vacuum leak. I think that plug just holds tension on the spring. Diaphram should be vacuum side. I'm only guessing never saw that before.

It looks like it should be. I don't have that type of EGR but looking at the FSM, the overall design is similar. The cap seals off the lower chamber, if the outlet to the EGR modulator and the intake from the exhaust are exposed then you will have a problem, the nickle looks sooty so I'm guessing that it is. It looks to me like the EGR valve would remain closed (ie the intake is closed off form the exhaust) so the idle shouldn't be affected, but I'm not entirely sure how the modulator works. If it does remain closed then you will have a problem with emissions and quite possibly pinking.
Have a good look at it and you should be able to see work it out.