vacuum hose?

[jake the snake]

my 94 xsport idles like a racing piss horse. there is a vacuum hose or something missing. i need some help, please!

i'm going tto try to explain what i've found.
on the throttle body (or maybe intake?) towards the back (near firewall), there's a threaded hole with a fixture screwed into it. there's a few outlets on it, one has a thick rubber hose that connetcs with the power brake booster. there's another one thats just plugged with a cubber cap. in between those two, (while standing on the driver's side looking under the hood), just to the left of the big hose running to the booster, there's an outlet that up until a couple days ago had something attatched to it. i have no idea what is was. i saw no hose nearby to reattatch, if there was a cap, obviously its gone. what is it?

 

[MrShorty]

I'll take a stab at this one.
1st: account for all of the vacuum operated accesories
1) brake booster
2) fuel pressure regulator
3) bimetal intake valve (usually teed off of the FPR vacuum line)
4) EGR (may come off other than at the vacuum tree at the rear of the intake, I'm not too familiar with the EGR on these.
5) Cruise control (if equipped)
6) Automatic transmission (if equipped)
7) A vacuum "reservoir" mounted above the ac evaporator.
8) PCV (usually attaches to the intake just in front of the vacuum tree).

There may be others, but that's a good list to start with. If you can account for the vacuum line to all those accessories, then you may have just lost a second cap. Find the one that's not hooked up, get some tubing, and hook it up.
There's also the question of why it blew off. Check the hoses (especially the AT hose) for fluid. Sometimes when the vacuum modulator on the AT fails, it allows ATF into the hose and into the intake. The ATF can make hoses more likely to fall off like this.

 

[jake the snake]

thanks mr shorty,

i appreciate your helping me out, but all of that stuff is greek to me.

i am not familiar with those parts at all. i feel silly asking for help and getting it, but not being able to use it. is there somebody that can tell me what plugs into that outlet.

shorty, tell me more about this deal with the AT. I am having to add fluid to mine frequently right now. I had it worked on about 6 or 7 months ago, and its been fine up until about a month ago or so. i think i smell it burning tranny fluid, and when its low, it doesn't want to shift in and out of gear, or from forward into reverse and vice versa.

anyways, what the heck goes into that one particular outlet? the metal fitting that the hose slides over is about 3/8" wide.

help.......

 

[jake the snake]

more information...

after loking more, i found that there are two more outlets that do not have anything plugged into them. they are on the firewall side of the main vacuum fitting "tree" i also found two hoses to plug into them, that run along the back side of the motor to the passenger side, and connect with a joint of like three or four other hoses that connect with a plastic thing that looks like a big pill (vacuum canister maybe?), among other things. no telling how long those two have been unplugged. I wish i could post a picture for you guys to see.

help....

 

[jake the snake]

I know somebody here can help me with this.

let me explain further. the main vacuum fitting is 8 sided. going from left to right, in counterclockwise order, this is the way the fittings are laid out:




a: two fittings: inboard one is capped, one closer to fender well is in question

b: one fitting: goes to power brake booster

c: two fittings. one goes to what i think might be a breather assembly or whatever is attached to the throttle body, in front of the vacuum fitting. the other connects with a metal line that runs down the back side of the motor, perhaps to the transmission, i followed it the bast i could with my hand, but could not find the end.

d: two fittings: both disconnected. there are two rubber elbows connected to lines sitting right near there, but they do not fit on the outlets snugly, which makes me think they don't go there. plus which one is which, if they do go there?

somebody PLEASE go look under their hood or something and help me. I feel like an idiot, and just need a little help, thats all.

 

[slag]

the ones that dont fit snugly--are they thin rigid lines with flexible ends on them? if so, they go there, but have widened over time. Just put a zip tie on them and ratchet it down to make the connection air tight.

Generally a backfire will blow those connections off.

 

[MrShorty]

i am not familiar with those parts at all. i feel silly asking for help and getting it, but not being able to use it. is there somebody that can tell me what plugs into that outlet.

First let me say that there really isn't any difference between the different outlets of the vacuum tree, so don't worry so much about which accessory plugs into which port. Some of the plastic preformed lines fit better on certain ports, but that's because the plastic lines aren't real flexible. as for the parts mentioned above:
1) brake booster: you seem to know what this is
2) fuel pressure regulator: Sits on the forward end of the fuel rail. controls fuel pressure and engine vacuum partially controls the regulator. Usually one of the plastic lines
3) bimetal intake valve (usually teed off of the FPR vacuum line): temperature sensitive valve in the stock airbox. Just account for it (either plugged off or connected). It's not terribly important.
4) EGR (may come off other than at the vacuum tree at the rear of the intake, I'm not too familiar with the EGR on these). I'm not sure what this looks like. Might be the "breather assembly attached to the throttle body".
5) Cruise control (if equipped): You didn't say if you have cruise, but the cruise servo is usually mounted on the drivers wheel well behind the coolant reservoir
6) Automatic transmission (if equipped): that metal tube that runs down between the engine and the firewall on the passenger side of the bellhousing goes to the vacuum modulator on the transmission. Modulator is on the transmission about where the front seats are. If you are using ATF, but can't find any leaks, this is a common failure on these, so check for ATF in that line.
7) A vacuum "reservoir" mounted above the ac evaporator: This is the "big pill" shaped thing.
8) PCV (usually attaches to the intake just in front of the vacuum tree): Postive Crankcase Ventilation valve. Fits in the valve cover (on mine it's just forward of the vacuum tree) and connects to the intake manifold to vent blow-by gases.

 

[otterfluff]

Just a couple weeks ago I went through this with my 94 Ex's vacuum system. I had blown a cap off. Drove myself nuts trying to find which hose wasn't hooked up until I figured out it was suppsed to be capped.

There are 6 hoses that should plug into that tree (there are 7 stems, so one of them gets capped).

1. Brake Booster
2. Tranny
3. EVR/EGR (directly in front of the vacuum tree)
4. Speed Control (driver's side fender)
5. Fuel Pressure Regulator (passenger side, I think)
6. Vacuum control valve/ACL (passenger side)

 

[jake the snake]

guys, thanks.

i am going to check these things again. i'll post after i get it straight.........

 

[Glacier991]

Maybe this will help ? http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106677&highlight=Post+Pics

 

[jake the snake]

yeah, those pictures were pretty good. mine looks different than that, but there's the same number of them, i think, and if i can see where they come from i can do it.

 

[jake the snake]

okay, here's where i'm at with this problem....it blew off the one cap that was on the vacuum tree yesterday, and the two loose ones fell off again.

so, after ziptie-ing the two stiff plastic tubes with rubber 90 degree rubber fittings back on, i now know where they go to. they are both ran through a corrugated plastic tube between the intake and the firewall. one plugs into a joint with a few other stiff plastic tubes, leading into the vacuum canister, the airbox, and a bunch of wires taped together right behind the airbox. the other one plugs into this small unit down between the intake and the passenger side valve cover. it was disconnected, and very easy to see where it plugged into. the end of the tube has a male end, then a rubber female piece that plugged into the unit that has braided steel lines attached to the other side.

I decided to follow all of the lines again to make sure i knew where they were going.

one capped
one to the brake booster
one for the auto trans
one for the breather assembly directly in front of the tree
and the two i explained above.

now, listen to this. i was pacing around under my carport talking on my phone a minute ago and found a thick rubber cap on the ground. it may have been sitting there for a while. i don't look at that part of the floor because its usually covered by my truck which just happened to be out in the sun, because i was taking digital pictures of the vacuum tree.

it is bigger than the other cap that was on another fitting that i lost yesterday. the fitting on the tree that is the one i have been trying to find out about all along is right next to that fitting, and has wider diameter, just like the cap i found on my floor. i really hope somebody can tell me that it goes on that fitting and i cen be done with this mess. can somebody translate my explanations into which hose is which and help me sort this out?

 

[SteveVB]

okay, here's where i'm at with this problem....it blew off the one cap that was on the vacuum tree yesterday, and the two loose ones fell off again.

so, after ziptie-ing the two stiff plastic tubes with rubber 90 degree rubber fittings back on, i now know where they go to. they are both ran through a corrugated plastic tube between the intake and the firewall. one plugs into a joint with a few other stiff plastic tubes, leading into the vacuum canister, the airbox, and a bunch of wires taped together right behind the airbox. the other one plugs into this small unit down between the intake and the passenger side valve cover. it was disconnected, and very easy to see where it plugged into. the end of the tube has a male end, then a rubber female piece that plugged into the unit that has braided steel lines attached to the other side.

I decided to follow all of the lines again to make sure i knew where they were going.

one capped
one to the brake booster
one for the auto trans
one for the breather assembly directly in front of the tree
and the two i explained above.

now, listen to this. i was pacing around under my carport talking on my phone a minute ago and found a thick rubber cap on the ground. it may have been sitting there for a while. i don't look at that part of the floor because its usually covered by my truck which just happened to be out in the sun, because i was taking digital pictures of the vacuum tree.

it is bigger than the other cap that was on another fitting that i lost yesterday. the fitting on the tree that is the one i have been trying to find out about all along is right next to that fitting, and has wider diameter, just like the cap i found on my floor. i really hope somebody can tell me that it goes on that fitting and i cen be done with this mess. can somebody translate my explanations into which hose is which and help me sort this out?

The one you saw that runs to the canister with the braided lines is your Fuel Pressure regulator- Make sure its connected to the vacuum tee.

All of the fittings on the tee should be connected to something, or capped. Are you sure the cap you found was from the ex? It could be that the cap you found that blew off was swollen and just looks larger than the replacement.

If the tee has all hoses or caps you are good.

 

[jake the snake]

i am certain that the cap i found is NOT the cap that i lost. i know that if all the fittings are capped or connected to something that i am good. thats what i am trying to inquire about here. there's one thats not. thats what the problem is. i stopped and talked with the owner of a 93 sport today. the vacuum line configuration is totally dofferent. there is one that loops back into the tree, one that goes to this device attached to the inside of the driver's side fender. also theres a few more things around the vacuum tree on mine, such as the breather assembly and all the hoses and brackets around it.
somebody reading this has to have a 94 and a digital camera and the ability to post pics or links to pics. this is getting frustrating........