hey guys today i went to crank my old car and go to change my antifreezE for the cold nights head and noticed smoke and fog coming out my hood when i took it for a spin. my heater diverter valve i think its called. has some hoses and one vaccum line coming off the top. well they were dry rotted and cracked on me and i dont know where the other end is suppose to go haha. ALSO then i went to remove my Fuel injected top filter and i broke that vaccum line off that sensor. could someone help me and get my heater back blowing hot. i have 1988 trans am fuel injected. heater was working fine and all my vaccum hoses were hooked up and blowing good heat. then i touched them dam vaccum lines and they broke and i dont know the correct place to put them. please help!!! oh yea and also guys what about the vaccum hose under my air filter to that line also came off... this has me upset having to worry about this bc my heater was fine today now vaccum lines unhooked!!! but atleast my car runs but i cant stand having lines unhooked.

 

HELP GUYS!!! i cant sleep until its fixed and when i leave i freeze to death!!! help!! hhahah

 

The diverter valve keeps hot water from flowing into your heatercore when the climate control is set to cool. If you broke that vacuum line, it's going to default to one setting or the other. The vacuum line goes into a harness that goes through the dash. Look straight back from the valve on the firewall. The vacuum line to the aircleaner has nothing to do with the heater, but it's part of the Thermac system that helps your engine reach operating temp faster. Fix the line, or just unhook it from the throttle body and cap the nipple.

You can buy replacement hard plastic vacuum lines and rubber splices at the autoparts store.

 

hey drew thanks for the help im trying to picture all this in my head ha. im just a begginner mechanic im 22 man and done all my work myself. SO one end comes out the top of the heater valve which has the radiator and heater coil hoses attached and goes back into the fire wall and hooks into what? then the other vaccum line off the air cleaner goes to where? man this has had me pissed all day!! i cant quit thinking about it man i love my car. o yea i know what the diverter valve does, i just unhooked it and my vaccum lines were dry rotted and broke off everywhere!!! some BS AYYY???? i just need your help running new ones.

 

I'm pretty sure the vacuum line from the aircleaner connects to a nipple on your throttlebody. Whatever is left of the vacuum line should still be there. It should go to any vacuum source really, the sensor in the aircleaner just opens/closes like a valve to restrict the intake snorkle when the engine is cold.

The heater valve line disappears into the wiring harness that comes through the firewall below the heater/a/c box. There should be two hard plastic vacuum lines coming through the firewall in that bundle. The other is the line that carries vacuum from the engine to the HVAC, to run all the doors and whatnot in the vent system.

 

 

Here's a vacuum diagram for the aircleaner... Port S on the TBI goes to the Thermac.

 

hey drew man thanks so much but for the help. the map at the bottom im trying to make it make sence to me man but i dont have TBI i have Fuel Injection man thanks.!!! i think the air cleaner hose goes in behind the injectors into the manifold on a nibble right?? then the heater valve vaccum goes in the that harness going into the firewall????? let me know thanks man!!! THANKS TOO MUCH!!! this site is 100% compared to askin newbs on the street!!

 

Oops, I assumed you had TBI... So it's a TPI car? TBI is fuel injection, and has the aircleaner on top of the engine. There isn't a vacuum line on TPI from the aircleaner. Can you post a pic of the part that broke?

 

oh yea i do have air cleaner, my car is fuel injected so i guess it is TBI! a picture... gettin dark outside let me go check man!! ill do whatever for ur help dog.

 

aite i just took pics bro, let me upload them aite. its getting so cold and i gotta get this fixed!!

 

You can post them as an attachment and they'll upload directly to the forum. Or create a photobucket acct and up them there, then use the IMG code to post them here.

 

here the pics to every part that im missin vaccum to.

 

oh and heres the valve it would only let me post 3 pics at time. THANKS DREW

 

Yep, that's TBI.

This one

goes to the one with the blue arrow. The other yellow goes to a vacuum source at the engine, probably on the intake or a connection on the firewall that eventually ties into the vacuum reservoir ball under the drivers front fender.


This one...

is the vac. motor in this image.

It goes to the widgit in the bottom of the aircleaner. There will be two nipples side by side. One connects to the vac.motor, and the other goes to port S on the throttle body. Each port is marked with a letter cast into the housing.


That's your map sensor, it connects to port F on the throttle body.

 

drew its 530pm now i gotta go into work at 6pm and want be off til 10pm tonight. will u be on tomarrow? im gonna try in make this work tomarrow and put some stuff to work. ur the man bro!!! Drew i PRESHATE U MAN!!! its dark outside now, i might be cold tonight but not tomarrow!!! thanks to drew!! everyone applause this guy!! (clap) (clap)

 

That second vacuum line with the yellow arrow probably goes to this valve...


Yeah I'll probably be around, send me a pm if you need to get my attention.

 

BTW