Ok so I have the hood popped out in the cold the other day trying to get my car started and after it runs and dies I notice smoke rolling out of this thing just above the intake, its black, rubber, and has a chunk of hose coming out of it it leads to this that leads to more tubes that go into the head. I at the time had no idea what this was but looked it up in the FSM and found it to be the air pump inlet check valve. My has has dual webbers and no smog pump. I got her running decent today and decided to see if this is related to my running issues, I put my finger to it and notice smoke shoots out in rythm with the engine I plug it with my finger and idles drops, and car quiets way down, it had a lot of under hood racket before. I rigg up a bottle cap temp plug and start it up again it seems to be running way better, I can now open the choke without it dying, but something still doesn't seem right, the idle is going up and down. My question is this, what is the proper way to deal with this thing and make my car run right? It's hard to find any info on, and I think it's a key issue so I want to fix it right. Do I just plug it? Do I remove it and then plug the hole? Does it need any sort of breather? How do you experienced guys deal with this? My car had been acting like it had a bad vacum leak and the power brakes felt soft could this be effecting like a bad vacum leak?

Thanks

Danny.

I now see that it leads into the exhaust manifold, and by that token would not effect running, too much but, makes tons of racket.

When someone removed the air pump on my car, they plugged a piece of hose with a bolt. Over time the bolt and hose acted like a pendulum and would resonate at certain frequencies. Eventually, the nipple on the check valve cracked and started leaking. While feeling around for the source of a noise the nipple broke off in my hand.

The "air injection check valve" is still required in some states and is available on ebay and other places. I ordered one and got a rubber cup style plug at the auto parts store to seal it off.

When someone removed the air pump on my car, they plugged a piece of hose with a bolt. Over time the bolt and hose acted like a pendulum and would resonate at certain frequencies. Eventually, the nipple on the check valve cracked and started leaking. While feeling around for the source of a noise the nipple broke off in my hand.

The "air injection check valve" is still required in some states and is available on ebay and other places. I ordered one and got a rubber cup style plug at the auto parts store to seal it off.

In my part of Iowa, you can drive anything if it has turn signals and insurance. If I switch to a header it won't matter anymore. I thought about pluging it right at the manifold.

Removing the tubes feeding air into the exhaust ports is apt to prove difficult due to corrosion. A new header won't have them of course. The easiest way is to simply apply a rubber cap to the nipple if the check valve body is intact.

Removing the tubes feeding air into the exhaust ports is apt to prove difficult due to corrosion. A new header won't have them of course. The easiest way is to simply apply a rubber cap to the nipple if the check valve body is intact.

That's what I was going to do but it's fubar, I want to install a header and duals in the spring, so maybe I'll throw a bolt there until then anyway.

Yes the brake booster takes it's vacuum from the balance tube so any holes that go into the balance tube need to be plugged. Also sounds like an exhaust leak from the air galley. Not good especially if fumes get into the cabin. My air galley was rusted out, leaking exhaust. Had the tubes cut off inside the manifold and welded closed on the outside.

I've also seen the air galley tubes cut off, bent over and crimped shut with vice grips, quick fix. The balance tube fittings are BSPT, mostly 1/8", plugs available at McMaster-Carr.

Edited December 20, 201311 yr by Stanley