PCV hose removal / cleaning - CV side

[budwich]

On my 2008 TB 4.2l with 240kkm plus, I thought that perhaps its a good time to pay some attention the the PCV path.... especially since it appears that perhaps the system is not working "well" (ie. "chocolate" residue). In particular, looking at the "CV" (ie. driver's side port). The short hose on that side is very hard / dried making it seem impossible to uncouple it from the upper barb fitting. Of course, I don't want to break the plastic barb. Is it wise to cut the hose in "half" and maybe use a coupler and a new piece of rubber for that upper "half". Getting at the hose clamp at the bottom nipple appears to be next to impossible to release the bottom section. I can move the top portion of the hose about 1/4 inch down on the barb but that's not enough to get it past the barb.

Any hints or ideas beyond the "cut idea"? Thanks

 

[02FailBlazer]

Moving the brake booster vacuum hose out of the way gives you a bit more room to work and is easy to do.

The plastic barb is, hopefully, tougher than you think. I say hopefully because you never know with plastic and age deterioration but I pried my old hose off with a pry bar. Just apply downward force and work it around the diameter of the hose as much as you can. If your hose has a clamp on the bottom (mine did not) you'll want a flexible, long reach hose clamp tool to help release it. You can get a cheap one for like $15 or so.

If necessary, cut it off. Just be careful not to damage the plastic.

Also, just get a new hose. They're still available and cheap so there's no point messing around with fabbing one of these up.

 

[budwich]

Thanks for the hints. As suggested, removing the brake vac line helped get better leverage and hand access... plus I was then able to see what I was up against in terms of the length of the nipple. Anyway I got the hose end off. Now some more questions...
Based on readings around, people are putting in some cleaners (b12 / carb cleaner, etc), letting it sit and then starting the engine to suck up the "crud" (if any). I have read that a further check to see if things are "ungummed", is to "feel" a slight vacuum at the dip stick to indicate that some form of circulation is happening... maybe. I have tried to "feel" this as a start point but don't really feel anything different.... maybe because it is "gummed up". I was wondering if any one can confirm feeling a vacuum at the dipstick on their "working system"... or is this "misinformation" ...

ADDED: ran the engine without the hose attached to the nipple. This results is a rough idle / almost stalling condition. This is probably the result of loss of vacuum so it appears that the "suck" is there at the intake manifold. It would appear that perhaps the "metered fitting" at the block is either plugged or failed (not sure of the design but I assume it some sort of "calibrated orifice").... hopefully more cleaner will get something happening.

ADDED: I decided to try "measure" the vacuum at the dipstick... what a "dipstick"...

Anyway, I got a clear piece of tubing (~3/8od maybe) which fits directly into the dipstick. Put some oil in a glass bottle and inserted the tube into the oil. Started the engine and looked for the oil to move up the tube..... nada!!! :-( From this, it appears the vacuum is not very much... at least on my engine... disappointing.... BUT wait, when I removed the tube from the glass bottle, there was a slight amount of oil in the tube wall. I could see a slight "slurping" happening when ever the oil wall film filled enough of the inner diameter of the tube to "react" to a small bit of vacuuming coming from the engine / dipstick holder. Is this good enough? Don't know but in a regular PCV value situation, the "full amount" of vacuum has to pull on the weighted internal valve in a some "calibrated" fashion.... is it that small of vacuum "dribble"?