--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

Mistakes are the portals of discovery. -James Joyce

Codes, to god-damned hell with codes! We have no codes. In fact, we don't need codes (with apologies to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre).

Original air intake hose had been patched years ago with electrical tape for rub through wear. Repair lasted 10+ years. Symptom of break (identical to Art's photo) was bucking on acceleration, when engine movement opened up the break. Otherwise car ran fine at any throttle level as long as it was constant.

My conclusion was that the hose finally became stiff enough with age that it broke just beyond the repaired section which was slightly less flexible.


Regards,

Tatra Mike
Seattle, WA

1985 244 "Alfsen" (wife's car - the good one)
1984 245 "Buster" (the kid's car, now sold)
1985 245 "Cosmo" (parts car, sold off for move to WA)
1985 245 "Daisy" (back seat down, full of tools, the work truck)
1985 245 "Earl (CA vehicle 'retirement' program)

Seems you grasped well the hidden point in my post. The interpretation of those OBD-1 codes (for those of you familiar with LH2.4) lead people to replace expensive things like AMMs and injectors. Really, there could have been many simple causes for any of those numbers. This hose was just one example.

Now and then, I really wonder at the forced design of OBD-1. For example "rich or lean at part load." The system knows damned well whether it was rich or lean when the map was adapted out of range. Almost seems as if the obfuscation was a "work to rule" design meeting the letter of the law. I guess OBD-II was the pendulum swing in legislated technology, but for me it is only a guess, having never owned a vehicle that modern.

So, having swung the other way, the computer knows 90% of the time exactly what is wrong with your 21st century car, but the techs may be losing the basics in the bargain, resorting to part-swap diagnosis in those 10% cases.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

"the computer knows 90% of the time exactly what is wrong with your 21st century car, but the techs may be losing the basics in the bargain, resorting to part-swap diagnosis in those 10% cases."

There is no "may" about it. Not all have lost the ability but if you frequent any of the boards regarding some of these newer cars you will find out there are known common failures where the failure is NOT specific to the part indicated by the OBDII (or manufacturer specific system that goes beyond ODBII).

No where is this more obvious than when you cruise the BMW boards and look at posts related to Vanos system failures. I was considering a later model wagon not that long ago and the BMW 3- and 5-series wagons were high on my list. I had a Wife-Approved spending limit of the $7000 so some cars that would normally be out of my reach suddenly were an option. I looked at one poor schmuck's 2000'ish 5-series wagon that he was selling for way too cheap. Riffling through the BMW DEALER repair records he had more than $4000's in Vanos related repairs and still was throwing codes. A quick search of some of the BMW-version of the Brickboard brought up three no-to-low-cost tests that could be done to determine the root of the code.

In the end I bought my 940 wagon but I did send the the perspective seller the links to the tests as well as the name of a (as reported on the same site) reputable independant BMW specialist.

I pick up recently replaced Volvo hoses when I find them at the junk yard. I have had a couple OE hoses rub through where they are touching something they should be touching, but never a big tear and these are 20+ year old hoses.

I also have repaired a couple of these with "Shoe Goo", this stuff is excellent and very strong. If you haven't used it yet get a tube, you will be impressed and will find many ways to use it.

Dan

That's a beauty! Is that aftermarket?
Dan

"Is that aftermarket?"

Yes it is. Mission Trading Company. Little over 3 years and 47K miles. It didn't rub through, it just split wide open across the outer radius of the bend. Complaint was "stalls a lot, and engine light is on."
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

If you have a lot of tension and you get a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle: "Take two Aspirin" and "Keep away from children"

Actually, Art, 3 years and 47k miles sounds pretty good for an aftermarket hose to me.

Very nice to put error codes and clear symptoms with the problem. Thanks!

Did not realize OE intake hoses were reasonably priced - I wonder if they are as good as they used to be?

Probably not but they would be better than aftermarket at a similar cost. FCP Groton has them for $33.
Dan