Ever break something when you're working?

[Ohtooman]

My son-in-law and I replaced the middle injector and replaced all of the injector return lines. While he was putting on the return lines, he rested his hand on the vacuum lines that run up to the cruise control. This would be a vacuum plug with 5-6 ports and he broke one of the 2 lines running from the front of the engine along the top of the valve cover and into the plug. The car in question is a 1982SD. The lines appear to run towards the cruise control.

What is the best way to patch this?

Thanks

[speedy300Dturbo]

Do you mean this? I use rubber hose to temporarily reconnect snapped vacuum lines. Remove that black cover and replace ALL the rubber hoses underneath. Years of heat causes them to become very brittle. It might not be a bad idea to replace those plastic lines either. After this many years, they have a tendency to snap like twigs!

[Ohtooman]

Sorry I wasn't more clear. The lines that I was referring to are the clear ones that go into the vacuum module. The info that I was looking for was what others have used to replace the very thin lines or to repair them. They are brittle like glass; tried to use fuel injector return line to bridge the gap but wound up breaking them again in another place.

Thanks for the speedy reply and for posting the picture.

[md21722]

If the lines are THAT brittle I'd suggesting replacing the entire line. Short of that, you can get a shorter piece and some of the black vacuum hose. The black vacuum hose acts as a union/coupler between two vacuum lines or a vacuum line and a switchover valve, transducer, whatever it may be. Both are reasonably priced (usually) at a MB dealer or on this site.

You may be able to find something that will work at a McParts. I have a collection of lines I have gathered from local parts shops, and scavenged from wrecked cars. The problem is getting a line that is close to the right diameter to work. Seems the over the counter stuff is always to large.