I noticed while giving my 1979 Catalina's carburetor a good spray down with carb cleaner that a rather large metal pipe easily falls out of the air filter housing. It connects the housing to the valve cover on the right hand side of the V8. While running the motor and spraying carb cleaner, I checked to see what the pipe does, and it feeds gases from the valve covers to the carburetor. The gas smelled a bit like exhaust and had a very slight fogginess to it. I would guess this is something with the EGR system, but I'm not sure. Will this being loose cause a significant vacuum leak and cause the motor to run at a higher RPM than it should when it's hot?
It took a little creativity to figure out what to call that grommet, and how to get the thing out. The rubber was so badly cracked, it almost broke off in the valve cover. I found a Doorman PCV valve grommet that fit the pipe and stuck it in the valve cover. The guy at Advance gave me a free 2" cutting of vacuum hose that fit the pipe-to-filter connection and I put it all back together.
Lookin' good!
There is no vacuum present at this fitting. It is simply a breather hose connecting the valve cover to the air cleaner so any blow by gases not transmitted through the PCV valve will enter the carburetor instead of the atmosphere. Inside the air cleaner is a small, sponge like block that should be cleaned occasionally so the carb can suck in the fumes.
Don't worry about it. Pretty common for it to fit somewhat loose on old cars.
Would you even bother attempting to replace that rubber boot that holds it on the filter housing? That rubber is so dried out, basically tapping the pipe drops it out of the thing.
I'd replace it, also the grommet in the valve cover that the pipe fits into since that's probably not in any better shape.
Agree with Chuck. Not a big issue, but easy to fix.
is that a pre-pcv valve car?
I don't believe in putting anything into an engine but fuel and air.
no exhaust or oil vapor, thank you
It's a 1979. I'm not sure when PCV valves went into use. It is a Pontiac 301 V8, they were illegal in California when they were brand new due to emissions, lol.
PCV valves started being used in the early 1960s. (California first, of course.) Prior to that engines had road draft tubes that just vented the crankcase to atmosphere.