I bought a 2002 Honda Civic LX coupe (this is the first car I have ever owned) about 3 weeks ago and introduced myself to the ecomodding community about two weeks afterward as I sought to make room in my small budget.
During the course of various mods and maintenance related things I noticed a cylinder shaped component that looked like it ought to have an electrical connector plugged into it, but it doesn't. (See picture here
https://imgur.com/yHDZYMc ) I googled the model number and found out that it's my EGR valve. As I understand it a properly functioning EGR valve can contribute a small amount to FE, but it also helps reduce emissions, and regulate burn temps in the engine. I am mostly concerned with burn temps as my temperature gauge usually stays quite a bit above the halfway mark on the temp gauge.
The car currently has about 201,000 miles on it, however, the previous owner told me that the motor was replaced at about 183,000 with an identical motor that already had 19,000 miles on it. So I have about 40,000 miles on my motor. I do not know if the wiring harness, ECU, or anything else was replaced along with the motor that could cause the absence of this connector.
My question to you is this: should I worry about finding the connector for my EGR valve? If so, how much should I be worrying?
Also, is it worth the time to clean or replace it once I get it hooked up?