Odd addition to the Vent line

[Stkelsey]

I've had my truck for about 6 months now. I started noticing a stronger and stronger smell of gas after about 15 minutes of operation. It didn't take me long to find the culprit. I had gas literally pouring out of the prefilter on my air cleaner. (I have the old style air cleaner) Upon further inspection I found that the fuel vent line coming from the fuel pump was pouring gas into the prefilter, so much that the pan of the air filter had about 3 or 4 tablespoons lying on the bottom as well. I took a closer look and discovered what looked like steel wool shoved into the vent?? hole on the bottom of the air cleaner. I removed the steel wool only to find it completely clogged. I searched through the manulas found only on this <AWESOME WEBSITE> and couldn't see any reason for this "addition" being in place. I removed the steel wool, fired up my truck, and "I'm in lOVE"...Man it's like a completely different rig! Runs smoother, idles like a kitten, even runs quieter! I'm wondering if anyone has seen this before? The vacuum lines leading to the carb and air cleaner were missing some clamps, replaced and WOW!!! What a total difference. I've included some pictures to illistrate what I am looking at on my truck. I'm starting to get into some more serious restore and tuneup, so stand by experts! Great site and I'm so glad to be a part of it!
<I can't figure out how to post the pics I took>Oh wise ones?

[Binford]

E-mail your pic to me timulator@earthlink.net and I'll post them up for ya.

[brute4c]

The bolt and plate holding the air cleaner down isnt stock...these type had a rubber collar on the bottom of the air cleaner that went over the carb neck and had a hose clamp type of ring over the rubber part with a long handle sticking out to the front that allowed it to be turned by hand to loosen or tighten it.

Glad it is running better...usually fuel coming out of that vent is due to the fuel pump diaphragm being wasted.

It been so long since I have had the stock air cleaner, I cant be sure, but I dont remember anything there...maybe it is a mesh type filter screen and ees to be cleaned really bad? It may not belong there at all either...like I said, its been a while.

Glad it is running good now...ENJOY!!

[kwai]

you might not have the stock carb. It doesn't usually have the threaded center stud. The stock air cleaner has a metal clamp and a threaded rod to close it. Also, as Jon said if you had lot's of fuel in your air cleaner then the fuel pump diaphragms are likely bad. Don't run the engine until you fix it. If you fill the crankcase with gasoline (which will happen with a bad fuel pump) you will burn up your main bearings in short order.

Vacuum leaks will cause it to run poorly. Another place for leaks is the wiper switch and vacuum lines.

[adk4x4]

My air cleaner has the same wool screen in that hole, good or bad. My rig has been running pretty good, always room for improvement though. I'm going to check it for the build up you spoke of.

Also, I though that the vacuum system on the wipers didn't effect the engine performance, separate systems. I've heard of people noting a slight idle change if completely open to draw air though.

[kwai]

Some trucks have replacement fuel pumps without the vacuum pump and run the wiper from manifold vacuum. One of the first things to do should be to replace the 40 yo fuel, vacuum and radiator lines with fresh rubber.

[wrecker]

My air cleaner has the same wool screen in that hole, good or bad. My rig has been running pretty good, always room for improvement though. I'm going to check it for the build up you spoke of.

Also, I though that the vacuum system on the wipers didn't effect the engine performance, separate systems. I've heard of people noting a slight idle change if completely open to draw air though.

Any vacuum leak will affect performance to some degree.

[randyscycle]

Any vacuum leak will affect performance to some degree.

There is a vaccuum pump on top of the fuel pump for the wipers. It is an independent circuit of the engine vaccuum, so if it leaks it shouldn't affect engine performance at all. That's unless someone has improperly routed the lines in the past.

[brute4c]

That is correct...a leak in the factory wiper vacuum system would just make the wipers slower or non functional...it is independant of internal engine vacuum so no effect on engine performance.

[ColoradoSpringsRob]

Took off the air cleaner to soda blast and paint, and upon inspection, I also have the steel wool in the vent at the bottom, and it appears to have been glued in there with a spot of glue.

I removed it to strip the paint, but will replace it with a fresh wad of steel wool, as I figure that it was in place to prevent anything from getting back down into the crankcase from the air filter. Anyone know the real reason for the mystery wool in the crankcase vent inlet?