I finally stopped chasing a vacuum leak that wasn't there

Tbh, an old mechanic named Frank at the shop told me to stop spraying brake cleaner everywhere and just use a smoke machine instead. I kept replacing hoses and gaskets on a 2002 F-150 for two weeks, wasting about $80 in parts. Turns out the PCV valve was cracked in a spot you couldn't see. Has anyone else had a simple fix like that bite them after overcomplicating it?

3 comments

3 Comments

kevin_harris782d ago

Yeah those PCV cracks are sneaky bastards.

sage_ramirez422d ago

You're not wrong @kevin_harris78 but I'd push back a little. The whole PCV system is just cheap plastic that gets brittle after a few heat cycles, so calling them "sneaky" feels generous. More like "doing exactly what a piece of 20 year old brittle plastic does" (which is crack, eventually).

the_thomas6h agoTop Commenter

Figure out if there's a way to stop that plastic from getting so damn brittle in the first place... or is it just a matter of time no matter what you do? I've seen some guys swear by heat wrapping the lines to slow down the degradation, but I don't know if that actually helps or just hides the problem until it's really bad. And what about those metal replacement kits people sell online... are those actually worth the money or do they just create new problems with heat transfer and corrosion? Seems like every option has a trade off and I'm trying to figure out which one fails the least over 10 years...