odd ball smog pump part

the part (looks kinda like a valve) that screws into the crossover tube on one end and has the rubber hose coming from the smog pump on the other. Its the part thats always in the way when your changing the number 4 plug. Mine has a crack on the rubber hose side and im thinking thats causing some kind of leak giving me an intermittent stutter and backfire. Is there any vacuum or some way this could give a lean condition in the exhaust causing the backfire?
no egr codes or any codes are showing.

if its not working right can it cause weird problems?

damnit, just realized that i posted this in the 94-95 tech and not the fox tech, but this is on my 88, im guessing the plumbing is mostly the same though.