Fuel line question.

[raymccullie]

Hello, I'm new here and figured this was the place to ask.

 

I have a 96 Cutlass Supreme that's been acting up lately. It's my daily driver and it takes more abuse then it should. It's also my first car. Decided to hang onto it. Even with the age piling up it's still a really nice car to drive.

 

 

If you don't want the back story, you can skip ahead to the end for the question.

 

The problem is, here in Missouri, I've yet to find an honest, good and honestly good mechanic. I've done simple swaps myself but never really delved any deeper. So who knows what's been done to the poor car at the hands of the grease monkeys I've encountered so far. An embarrassing example, had the manifold gasket go out, replaced. Which messed up the low coolant sensor. Got tired of it, took it to a place which did $2k worth of "work" and still DIDN'T CHANGE the damn sensor. They charged me a good chunk for BG treatments which I didn't ask for. Wasn't happy.

 

About a month ago, when I'd start it up, it would chug, just at first. Then it was fine, ran fine, plenty of power. One night I parked in the driveway and remembered I forgot to hit the store. It wouldn't start up again. Next day, it did the normal chug then run fine. Drove it to work, no prob getting home. Week went by and needed gas, oops, it was dead and even coming back the next day, wouldn't start.

 

No real options so I had it towed to a brake shop in town. Guy says I'll run the diags on it but sounds like a fuel pump to me. Next day he calls me and says "We need to replace the pump, the relay, the filter and the battery." I replied "Now hang on, the battery is just run down because I kept trying to start it and left the hazards on all day." "Oh no," he said, "It won't hold a charge. It's dead a doornail." "That'll be $800."

 

Needless to say I didn't guppy this time. The battery thing always pisses me off. I just changed it last year myself and it's still under warranty for crying out loud. $110 for an off brand battery I don't need?

 

So after checking things out, myself. I think I have a bad regulator and a failing fuel pump. Pressure is only 20lbs KOEO on a good day, goes up to 35lbs engine running. Pulling the vacuum line on the regulator does nothing. I'll check again after I change the pump. Yes, I did change the filter first and tried a bottle of HEET.

 

The Question:

 

Once I was under the car I found this:

 

 

As I said in the video, What is this line for?

 

Thank you for reading, sorry for the long post.

[RobertISaar]

looks like the purge line for the carbon cannister.

[raymccullie]

Thanks for the info. So is this just a standard hose then or do I need a part number?

[RobertISaar]

it's a pretty standard piece... just get something rated to carry fuel vapors, is the correct diameter and from the looks of it, a couple of worm-gear hose clamps. that will probably outlast the rest of the car.

 

i don't think it's the cause of any of your listed problems though... having that exposed will cause some unfiltered air to make it into the engine when the CCP solenoid is active though, so even if you were to not hook it back up again. at least plug or filter it somehow.

[95 vert]

Where in MO are you?

[raymccullie]

Republic. Near Springfield.

[raymccullie]

Looks like the fittings coming off the carbon canister are going too. Guess it's off to the auto store. And I still get to drop the tank. Those dang bolts are hard to get to in the back, above the rear suspension. I'm starting to like the smell of gas...