Air Cleaner Hoses

[CJHoss]

I was looking at the cleaner a few weeks ago and noticing it lloked like some connection hoses were missing between the cleaner and the front of the engine compartment. Its called the fresh air induction hose apparently. There is another inlet on the air cleaner assembly just below the mouth were the fresh air hose is supposed to be, just an elbow. I can't figure out its purpose though. Someone shed light on the air induction assembly of this engine? What purpose does each hose have? Thanks

 

[Saddle Tramp]

Many OEM air cleaner assemblies prior to fuel injection have two inlets, fresh air and exhaust manifold heat. The fresh air enters at the end of the air cleaner horn as you described and would have a flex hose from the front of the horn to a fitting attached to the grill area to capture cool air from outside the engine compartment. Cooler air is more dense thus more oxygen and improved performance. Of course with a carburetor no mass air flow sensor is required so with the fresh air hose removed the motor still runs albeit not as efficiently. Usually the hose would tear after a while and just be discarded.

The hose to the exhaust manifold is made of light gage flexible steel so it can be adjusted and allows heat from the manifold to rise and be drawn into the carburetor to help the motor run more smoothly while it warms up. Usually there is a flap attached to the manifold or the air cleaner housing that opens and closes depending upon the temperature of the manifold or the air flow. Its good old fashion mechanical technology. With time the flap system would rust and work hard or not at all and the steel hose would bend up and be pitched.

 

[CJ007]

I was surprised, Oreilly didn't carry but Auto Zone had both of those in stock, I just replaced mine a couple weeks ago.

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/pa...yKeyWord=air+cleaner+intake&fromString=search

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/pa...ord=air+cleaner+heater+hose&fromString=search

 

[CJHoss]

OK great, thanks guys! Ordering new hoses from AutoZone soon!