Vacuum Leak Diagnosis

The air handling system is designed to provide defrost when no vacuum is applied to any of the three air door vacuum motors. This is done to prevent a situation where defrost cannot be obtained due to a system vacuum leak. Instead, a leak in the vacuum control circuit will send all airflow to the defroster outlets. This condition may occur during acceleration (slow leak), may exist at all times (large leak) and may happen only when certain specific functions are selected, indicating a leak in that portion of the circuit.

The vacuum hoses used in the passenger compartment control circuit are constructed from PVC plastic material. The vacuum hoses used in the engine compartment are constructed of Hytrel. Because of the materials used, the vacuum hoses should never be pinched off during diagnosis to locate a leak. Use Rotunda Vacuum Tester 014-R1054 or equivalent to locate vacuum leaks. A wood golf tee can be used as a plug when it is necessary to plug one end of a vacuum hose for leak test purposes.