On my 77 300d a vacuum line going to the driver's door has a cut in it. The lines passes through a rubber tube into the door at the hinge. I think what happened was that the rubber boot which protects the line from the metal edge of the hole in the door, came out and the line chafed against that metal edge.
I'm considering cutting the line the rest of the way and putting it back together with a piece of rubber vacuum hose. Anybody else done this? Anybody see any problems with it? It saves having to pull the door and footwell trim pieces off to replace the whole hard plastic line.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Kerry,

That's exactly what I did. I have always meant to go back and put in new plastic hose, but it was such a pain in the neck to replace, I haven't.

My crack in the plastic hose was right about at the door frame, so I had to remove the interior kick panel and remove the line from the inside. I remember that it was a major pain to get to and there was a real risk of losing the vacuum line inside the door frame such that I would never be able to retrieve it. I took my time and spiced in rubber repair hose and she has worked OK for about 1-1/2 years.

I still plan on replacing it......when I can't answer.

You should be OK

JCD

That was a bear, getting that splice in there. Needle nose vice grips and long needle nosed pliers helped. I'm not sure it is holding vacuum 100% but at least the engine shuts off now. I could only get the body end of the splice onto the hard plastic line about three eighths of an inch. I may try again later to push the splice on a little further.

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

When working on things in tight places like this, surgical hemostats work wonders. Get em at Wallyworld in the sporting goods section. They call em fish hook removers.
Just don't carry em in the car, cops might think they are for something else
Hope this helps, Jeff

__________________
1971 R600 Mack toterhome (SuperDawg)
99 NU-WA Snowbird 34+2 SE 102 5er
If it's not diesel, it's not in my stable!
53 F100 617.951/auto
95 Dodge 3500 Cummins/5 speed service truck

I tried a hemostat but it had smooth jaws and would not grip on the hard plastic. It was my intial tool of choice.

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13