ICV to Intake Manifold seal

[bobdavisnpf]

Cleaning my ICV I discovered a metal-to-metal sleeve connector that has a bit of wiggle to it. Is there supposed to be a seal for this? It looks like there's some gray stuff kinda smooshed up around its connecting point. The pipe section slides in and out pretty easily. Could this present enough vacuum leak to mess up operation of the ICV? ICV works fine when engine is cold, works sorta ok when engine is a little warm, and works poorly when engine is fully up to temperature.


First shot shows ICV in relation to connecting hoses/pipes:
WP_20170826_09_57_17_Pro by bobdavisnpf, on Flickr

Second shot shows close-up of pipe connection; red arrow points to gray smushed-up hard stuff:
WP_20170826_09_57_17_detail by bobdavisnpf, on Flickr

The hose-to-pipe connection is strong; the pipe-to-manifold connection is easy to slip in & out, especially when warm.

To clean the ICV, I used spray-on electronics cleaner per in-store recommendation at O'Reilly's: https://oreillyauto.com/detail/crc-i.../05103/4176079
There was a little gunk on the metal sleeve valve in the ICV, and it did seem to move a bit more smoothly after cleaning. But I didn't soak parts for hours or anything, not wanting to overdo it in case that might kill the part, so I'm thinking I may need to go back for a more thorough cleaning as well.

[earthwormjim]

There should be zero wiggle, and you should not be able to remove that hard line fitting without significant force. Those are epoxied in at the factory, but over time the epoxy fails.

That location, and the other hard fitting for the brake booster were the sources of my vacuum leaks.

I used a very light coating of JB weld on mine.

[nando]

yeah, JB weld is the answer here - remove the fitting, clean it up to bare metal, and then put it back together with JB weld. mine has held up for the past 10 years like that!

that ICV looks pretty new so I bet there is a vac leak - and that fitting might not be the only one.

[bobdavisnpf]

ok will do. The pipe section that fits inside the manifold is about 3/4" long; the old epoxy seems to be all at the end that seals (where the red arrow is in 2nd pic), not at the end that slips in. Is it enough to apply the JB weld just near the sealing end, or would you apply it along the whole 3/4" pipe section?

[nando]

I would apply it to the whole thing, if you don't put it on too thick it should look fine.