Hi
Noticed some vapor wisping out of a vacuum plug after shut off. It's a plug on the vacuum port where egr lines and the brake booster line are connected right on the intake manifold. Instead of being a normal plug like the good lord intended its got a fat hole going through the middle allowing air in. Should I replace this or leave it? I have always had a high idle and rough driving issues but couldn't find a leak.

 

Replace it and adjust your idle.

 

Like he said..

Not an intended leak..

 

Hey. I plugged the hole up but as far as adjusting the idle speed goes i've always been unclear. When I adjust the idle screw-the one at the base of the carb- it does control the rpms but it seems to me that a more accurate description is that it controls how smoothly the engine runs. Bringing it down to the specified six hundred makes it shake and seem like its going to stall out. But when i bring it up to 800 or 900 it runs much more smoothly, so that is where i keep it. On top of that, the idle screws on the back of the carb -the ones that sit on the throttle cam- i keep them screwed all the way out, just so they touch the cam because this allows for the lowest possible rpm, which is still too high compared to specs. Any tips?

 

Adjust the idle mixture with the idle screw. (set for highest vacuum, smooth running)

Adjust the idle speed with the throttle stop screw.

Sometimes you have to go back and forth until it is right.

Tips?
You still have a big vacuum leak, somewhere.

 

I would comb everything over and look for leaks.

Take a can of brake cleaner or carb cleaner, lightly spray all the vacuum connections, hoses and base of carb. Don't hold the button all the way down or you might get some sucked in the carb. The idea is to listen for the motor to speed up while you are doing this. That will tell you where the leaks are.

 

Hey Blob ! I have a new gauge sitting on my shelf, waiting for nice weather
so I can install it. Back in the day, they used to call these gauges, fuel economy gauges, the more vacuum you have, they better the fuel mileage.
The further you step down on the accelerator, the less vacuum. I may be
wrong, but at idle speed, this is where you would have the most vacuum.

 

I saw a similar gauge in a U-Haul but it had colored pie wedges, red, yellow, and green.