At 03:52 PM 3/22/98 -0700, Eric S wrote:
>At the risk of appearing ignorant of mechanical things and totally gullible,
>I will relate my experiences with chattering clutches:
>
                -- megasnip --
>Inspection of the engine revealed a hairline crack on the underside of the
>intake hose elbow that connects to the airfilter.  There are two other
lines >that connect here (I don't know what they are).  Once replaced, the
chatter >disappeared, and coincidentally, so did the various shades of white
and blue >smoke exhaust that used to occur when the van was cold started.
>Driveability improved substantially through all speeds. The theory, as I
>recall, was that  air leak was causing the engine to lose torque , and
>especially to perform poorly at low speed.

Voks,

I've discovered, in my '87GL, several parallel cracks [more than hairline,
look like they've been there awhile]  on the top side of the air intake
elbow.  Looks as tho it might have been burned.  Haven't taken it off to
explore further, but wouldn't be surprised to find other cracks underneath.
Am not aware of any impaired performance, though i continue to hope for
improved gas mileage as i take care of various things.

They don't seem terribly expensive to replace [at least I think i remember
seeing them advertised on one of our listees' websites, and not fainting at
the price], but i was wondering if it would be okay to take it off and clean
up the surface, and then just apply a duct tape "bandage" around the cracked
area.  It probably gets pretty hot around there, but might still make it
airtight.

What do others think?  Are the cracks important? Could they be symptomatic
of something?  Would it be helpful to just cover over the cracks?  Is it OK
to use duct tape in there?  Or would it be better just to replace it ASAP?

TIA,

gail
__________________________
Gail Fitzpatrick
'87 GL Westi, 125k   [Frieda]
Sacramento, CA
<redwood@speedlink.com>