vacuum leak

[Tx_Atty]

Ok, now that I have attempted the AC mod I now have a damn vacuum leak. Whenever I turn on my air it blows up through the defrost vents and not through the dash for the first several minutes and it seems to be getting worse.

how do i track this little development down? All I ever did was cut and repair the black line and disconnect/reconnect the plug where all the colored lines meet under the center of the dash.

 

[DaveBen]

Make sure all of the colored lines are properly attached. It is a start.

Dave

 

[JOAT]

I agree, double check your work. Also test the vacuum part of the bypass valve. Maybe you got a bad one and it's leaking.

 

[welder79]

What is the AC mod???

 

[95_stroker]

What is the AC mod???

Link to mod.

 

[3-StarJ.R.]

Tex, you mentioned that you tied into the BLACK line coming off the vaccuum pod. Is it the pod that's approx. center of the dash? If so, the problem is you need to tie-in to the BLUE line, I took a few pics of the pod to show how I did it......One down side to this mod is that you loose complete temp. control when you have it set to normal air....your gonna get nothing but MAX cold air irregardless of the temp setting. This is a pain in tyhe butt on those days that you want just a little cooling like in the spring or fall on those warm days that vent air is too warm and this mod air is freezing the "big boys" off! At this time of year you can easily go back to normal (by-pass the mod) by placing a VAC line cap over the end of the white tee shown in the pic.......Hope this helps, let us know how it goes.....

 

[Tx_Atty]

yes I did use the black but had a reason. I have installed a vacuum solenoid in between the T in the black line and my water valve so I can turn on/off the water valve at will and not have to be redoing/undoing the vac line. I used the black on purpose because it applies vacuum in all settings. In hind-sight I would have used the Red line because it applies to settings left of "off". I looked at that pod under the center of the dash and tried to undo the red line but no matter how hard I tried I couldnt get it to come off the pod. I was afraid I would break something so gave up. The black line works just fine as long as my solenoid is in place.

I temporarily removed the T from the black line in order to try to use the red line and did a poor repair on the black line, hence my vacuum leak. I had taped the black line back together w/ electrical tape and it didnt hold. When I gave up on the red line at the pod, I went back to the black line and put the T back in and the leak stopped.

Another minor issue has arisen and I posted a question about this with no responses yet - my solenoid was described by the vendor as "normally closed" and opening upon application of electric current. It turns out it is "normally open" and closes with current. Not a huge deal but means that my water valve closes upon startup (black line applies vac even in "off" setting) and I have to turn on my solenoid to be in "normal" mode blocking vacuum to the water valve. I wanted it the other way but noone has a "normally closed" solenoid that I can find. Im still looking though.

So, I guess the leak is fixed because I put the T back in. How did you get the blue line to detach from the pod?

edit - I see now, you have some kind of rubber T on the blue line and must have cut it. Where did you get that rubber T? It might be useful to me. I have a plastic 1/8 x 3/16 T and the black line is significantly smaller ID than 1/8th and it doesnt fit just right. Maybe your's would fix my problem.

 

[3-StarJ.R.]

I cut the blue line and used the rubber tee. Is your model of shut off valve both electrical and vacuum operated? I'm confused, where is the solenoid?

 

[Tx_Atty]

I used a regular vacuum shut off valve from ebay. I found an electric vacuum solenoid on oldairproducts.com and it is basically a valve in the vac line between the water valve and the T going into the truck air vac line under the dash. The solenoid acts to allow or prevent vaccum from reaching the water valve.

is there anything special about your rubber T? or does it just slide over the cut ends of the hose? I would like to find one just like it but havent seen one here. Home depot or auto store? Autozone is out and so is orielly. Ive tried both. Thanks.

 

[3-StarJ.R.]

I'm in the ball game now!! Solenoid is on the vac line!! you're doing what I'm doing with the vac line electrically, I'm slow but I do eventually get there....rubber t, autozone, help department if a remember correctly.......