PeteB wrote:Hi, There was a rubber elbow, that on our car went from 1/4" from the connection
on the side of the intake manifold and reduced down to the size for the hard plastic
line, then another at the other end going from the hard plastic to 3/16". Some here have
reported 3/16" at both ends, that would in no way fit on the 1/4" side on our car.
I think that people have done this without removing the manifold. If you are ready to
give it a try get a light in there and see if you can pull off the end between the thermostat
and the 1/4" nipple on the side of the manifold. The hose on our car was crumbling apart.
I would look or feel there and make sure that all of the old elbow is off. Then with new
1/4" vac line try to use needle nose pliers to push it onto the nipple. The vac is so high
and ours was so tight that I don't think you need a clamp. I ran this line forward then over
the top of the manifold with about 8" of 1/4" line, then to a 1/4" brass coupler from Home
Depot, and for some reason the 3/16" line would fit (tight use some grease) over the 1/4"
coupler, then go the rest of the way with 3/16" line. This goes to a nipple on the Flame
Trap cover and you should remove that cover to clean it and throw away the white plastic
flame trap. Be sure to clean the center of the small nipple with something like a 1/16"
drill bit because it will probably be clogged with burnt oil sludge.
If you can't get the 1/4" hose onto the manifold side connection removing the thermostat
housing might give you the extra room necessary. I did use zip ties on both ends of this
run but I don't think that they were really needed.
All of the hard plastic lines that carry the hot, oily blow by gases do not age well, they
become brittle and often break, some have reported them breaking in 2-3 years. The large
line that runs from the oil trap to the large connection on the Flame Trap cover also has
rubber elbows at the ends and a hard plastic line running most of the way. This was also
cracked on our car. The rest of the rubber parts on our car around the PCV systems were
in good enough condition, and if I could have reached the large hose under the manifold
I would have replaced that with 5/8" heater hose without removing the manifold. Heater
hose is soft enough that it should bend and make the run without needing elbows. I'd use
screw type clamps at both ends. I didn't try this but wish I had.
You risk breaking the now brittle oil trap plastic if you try to do this, but might be worth
a try before taking it to a pro, or doing the full PCV, if you think it needs it - it probably does.
If you take off the oil trap cover you should be able to at least see the top end of the large
hose and get some idea of the condition.
Our PCV system was not badly clogged with sludge so this would have worked, but others
report badly clogged systems and then this repair alone would not work. You take a risk
if you don't do the entire job.
Thanks for the tips. I've got a friend up here that loves working on cars. Looked at it for about two seconds before he said the best way to do it was to take the manifold off, replace any hoses that are iffy as well as the manifold gasket, and put it back together (which was my thought from looking at it). Should be finishing up today - got the manifold off and just need to replace the hoses and put it all back together.
I guess this has been my lesson in Volvo repair brought to you by my insane ability to break things further when I try to fix them
