5.0 liter - gas - auto 4wd.

in the engine compartment - I have two "soup cans" - one on the left near the driver's side headlight.

It has one vacuum line running to it - another port that's closed off.

Is it supposed to be like this? Just one line to it?

It's also hissing - which I assume means I need a new one - haven't gotten it out yet to see what's leaking on it.

What's IN these things? are they just empty cans? or is there some kind of bladder in there? I've never opened one. Just curious.

Do I even NEED the thing? can I just block the line off?

Thoughts?

 

As far as I know, they are empty. They just store vacuum. There are vacuum reservoirs that have check valves, but I don't know if that one does or not. Yes, I think that one should only have one line to it.

The reason they usually start to leak is because the can rusts. Many times, the rust is on the bottom so you can't see it. You'll want to remove the two nuts that hold it to the fender liner and lift it up to see if there are any holes in it.

You could plug the line. The vacuum in that tank acts like a buffer to supply vacuum when the engine isn't supplying enough. These are usually for very short durations, but it can cause other vacuum components to act screwy if their vacuum supply gets too low.

Chris