Well JDM7Garage helped me pull most of the **** off of my engine last week to get it ready for pulling. In the process, I broke a vac line.

Luckily, the car was sold to me with about 30ft of left over vac line from the last time they were replaced, so today I decided to go ahead and replace the line that I broke. Well while working on removing the remnants of the line that I broke, I broke another line that intersects with it. So I remove the other line, it comes out easily. a little too easily. I look in the end and there's a broken nipple stuck in there. So I go to finish the job I started and that nipple breaks off too.

Here's pics:


And for an idea of where in the engine bay it is




Halp! please advise! somebody?

lesson learned: never try to change vacuum lines when it's cold as a witches tit outside.

 

If you like boost you need those solenoids.

I guess you could repair them but I'd just replace them both. If you want a few good spares I have some that I've tested and are a lot cheaper than new.

Working with vac lines in this weather is not easy - the stuff gets really hard. Warming up the parts with a heat gun (not TOO hot, just not frozen cold) will help soften things a bit.

Dave

 

PM sent.

 

Replace them, don't try that superglue crap method unless you want to come back and do it right a year later. The lines are old and its pretty common to break the nipples off of the solenoids, its not hard to find used ones in the for sale section.

Good luck!

 

It is not wise to just pull them off 'cause you will most likely break them as you already know. Best thing to do it twist them with a pair of pliers first . Another thing you can do is, when you get one side off, spray some lubricant down the hose and then twist off. I have a couple complete rat's net if dgeesaman does'nt have all that you need.

 

That's a good idea with the lube. Use wd-40 so you don't damage the internals of the solenoid, and you can always cut the tube in half first so that you can take apart each end carefully.

Dave

 

Back at ya Dave! good idea on cutting the tube. Two heads are better than one!

 

I was using a pair of pliers with the first one, I hit the vac line with the pliers, as I slipped off the one I was working on. This made a crack in the vac line at one end, and cracked the nipped off at the other. then the second one, I guess I gripped too hard with the pliers or something, because the nipple ripped right off as I was twisting and pulling with the pliers.

 

I take a propane torch to my buck knife and it slices throught the old vaccum hoses like butter. Even if the vaccum hoses are rock hard. Good luck!

 

Sometimes it does'nt matter what you do 'cause they get very brittle after so many years and all the heat from the motor. You just have to do the best you can and, if you do break any, most likely someone here will have an extra. On another note; I'll be moving to Lower Macungie in March (near Allentown). Not sure how far that is from you. When I get settled in, hopefully we can meet up.

 

Here was my solution, I'm not the famed creator but someone else on here (the name escapes me at the moment) came up with it.



Get some carb jets and JBWeld, it is a good temporary solution until you can replace the solenoid, but to be honest it is rather sturdy if not stronger than they are in original condition.

My next step is new solenoids completely to compliment the boost/vacuum chambers and new 'rats nest' I made but again, nothing original and it has been done already and proven quite reliable.

_Kris

 

Hmm, now that is a really nifty (and safe) way to do it.

Dave

 

Wouldn't the tip of a soldering iron work better?

 

Allentown is about an 45 minutes to an hour from me, depending on the traffic on 222. If my friend is driving his FD, it's like 20 minutes..lol he's crazy.

But ya, allentown isn't that far, I have a client up there, and I go up occasionally to visit a friend.

 

That sounds great. Hey Dave, how far away are you?

 

Allentown is almost 2 hrs.

 

How to repair a broken solenoid:

www.rotormafia.com