I took my car to the shop and the mechanic said the egr was bad so they replced it. What i didnt know is they put a slightly different one on the car that didnt have the pig tail connector as mine did,so they broke off the connector and inserted the metal end into the egr where a small hole was.I questioned them on this and they said it wouldnt hurt it that it was just a temperature sensor and it would still work as before.Can this cause a vacum leak or problem with idling?

 

Should be fine but if I was you i'd just pull all that crap out and clean up the engine bay and regain some lost hp.