G'mornin' Ford lovers, i'm the proud owner of a 1995 E-350 boxtruck that i turned into a mobile canvas shop. I made a video showing the conversion here but, onto the problem. I've searched and read every single thread here about a/c heat vacuum so i'll tell you what i found, what i've done and what i plan to do but i'd like some opinions please.

The heat and A/C blows fine and the temp. control works, but it only blows out the dash defroster. I found a small black hard plastic vacuum line broken off with the rubber grommet/nipple that the vacuum line goes through. Here's a pic of the hose and location-pass. floorboard. I jb welded the grommett back into the hole as it was loose & wouldn't stay.





And the hose, with an upholstery pin in it to keep it clean from jb weld



So, i've located the hose under the hood but i can't reach or see any further than when it angles down by the pass. side fender beside the blower motor/heater core casing. If i've researched correctly, i need to do this, cut myself an access panel to find the broken line inside the compartment behind the passenger tire.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...efrosters.html

I searched online for 4" grinders and found a nice 7amp porter cable w/ extra cutting wheels at TSC, i'd just like to have some thoughts or words if you guys agree with what i think i need to do. I expect to find the check valve, the tee and the reservoir inside that chamber, and probably the rest of the broken vacuum line?

There was a mouse nest above the headliner when i bought it so it may have been the culprit in the broken line, this was a service truck for one of my upholstery customer's fleet trucks. I found some wet felt padding under the rubber mat and traced it back to the factory seam at the bottom of the first pic, a small crack in the epoxy or whatever they used. It only leaks when it rains, this morning i removed the wipers and cowling and cleaned all the debris in hopes of finding some areas that need caulking. The rubber weather stripping under the engine box inside had a dam of dirt, sand, mud and debris, i guess from the years of abuse as a hvac service truck and stuff getting flung up there from the highway, the previous owner kept all the sevice records, just didn't service the interior. The dirt and sand under the step kick panels was shocking, enough to build a nice sand castle.

I pulled the seats and the mat and plan to dry & clean the seam and west system the hell out of it once it quits raining. After i know i've fixed the leak, i was thinking rubbercoat spraying the entire interior floor before putting the mat w/ new felt back in, thoughts on that?

This model has the access panel on the top of the dash and all of the vacuum motors work so i know i can manually rig the A/C vents to work. I found about 10 ewwy gooey melted cough drops up in that access panel, how wonderful

Thanks so much for any help/advice. Thanks for having me here & i look forward to a follow up soon with good news i hope.

 

You shouldn't need to cut into anything like the linked post shows. While that's a great way to access and replace the factory vacuum reservoir there's another easier almost elegant way restoring your vacuum operated system.

Allow me a short bit to find and link you to that post---you'll owe me big time how easy and cheap the other way is!

Be patient---back ASAP with a link!

 

Here's a lengthy but very helpful thread that will save you a lot of time, effort and aggravation: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...rosters-2.html

And one more great thread on this: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-problems.html

Be sure to read each thread all the way through, several times if necessary---lots of info in them that ultimately will be useful----hoping so anyway. I know for me it was pretty eye-opening the ingenuity shown in solving a common Ford problem.

The stock vacuum reservoir is almost impossible to find. We kinda know where it is but almost none of us have dug deep enough to actually see it in our own vans.

As far as operation goes the system doesn't care where its reservoir is, who made it etc etc etc---it just defaults to its design condition for various reasons. Since Defrost would be a bit more important than cabin heat or Vent that's an understandable default condition.

Anyway hope those links give you more possibilities to fix your problem, easily and cheap without sacrificing anything.

Let us know if more help is needed!

 

Thank you JWA, so you're saying do the bypass and make my own reservoir and buy a generic check valve....i'd read that option too. I just printed the diagram and have no prob working with pvc, thanks for the heads up !!!

 

No no no no!

One of the threads member OHSO (or something similar) posted an AC Delco part number for a replacement reservoir that includes check valves.

Read through them again---that's the direction I was trying to lead you to.

 

Just got back with the parts to construct everything. Thanks again for your help.

 

Please post photos of your fix-----hope it goes well!

 

JWA, I will post a pic, pixplace is acting up atm, there's a storm overhead atm, all i got was a cell phone pic. I used 1" pvc and bought a tee vs drilling it, then a galvanized adapter to down size, then a barbed brass nipple. The dorman check valve, 8ft hose, the only thing i didn't think about was a short pc of a larger sized hose to connect 'over' the check valve source side ( bigger flange ) thankfully i had a piece of clear hose on a jig i use to prime my well, worked like a charm.
I did indeed need the switch selector i ordered, it wasn't blowing thru the vent at first, but when i reached up behing the switch selector and pressed the vacuum female side of the switch into the control side so the vacuum kicked in better, it kicked right in.
In my efforts yesterday, when i replaced the old switch selector back in place after trying to super glue the two pieces together, the nuts sheered the brittle plastic prongs the vacuum hoses stay secured by, so i went ahead and ordered it from local ford dealer for $42, that's the 8 prong vaccum and 4 pronged elec. switch (backside) of the a/c heater switch selector.
Thank you so much for the advice, i'm glad i didn't go with cutting the steel i slit the rubber boot on the inside of the pass. door that the spkr wires travel thru and routed along the inside of the fender and back out up between the headlight and the heater core box.

I'll load this pic asap, i got chased in by a bad approaching storm, so better pics tomorrow when it's not raining.

 

 

I'll push the hoses on better later, a reported tornado/funnel cloud hit gloucester earlier when i was fixing this. Thanks again.

 

Great job there guy!!!

and thanks for the pics too.

 

Thanks James !!! This place is a plethra of info, love it.

 

I love your Franken-Reservoir! I'm glad we were able to save you cutting into your body for what turns out to be a simple and cheap fix.

We all try to add what's helpful, most of us hoping to save someone else the aggravations we've faced.

In fact you've done your part too---reps sent BTW!