Removing old heater/ac vac lines

[hgeranium]

The two vacuum lines that go from the vacuum canister to the firewall for the heat/ac controls are so old and crumbly. The way that they're attached is not very secure and they frequently come off/break more when tinkering in that side of the engine bay.

 

In regards to replacing them, are they supposed to just pull out of those holes going into the firewall side? I've tried removing them but that just leads to breaking the hose off at the spot that I'm pulling them from. I don't want to get it so short that I can no longer get the old hoses off or reattach them to the canister side so I'm curious about any tips on removing them. The heater side line is especially sensitive; it has no flex and crumbles into dust when I try to remove it.

 

I think the heater side is a different material (plastic?) line, so I'm also wondering if I need to put another plastic line or I can just replace it with rubber.

[eaglescout526]

Actually at one point in time they were small rubber flexible lines. 
 

What I’ve done is just find a vacuum line that slips on to the failing line to further protect it without pulling the dash out. That way I have something that’s easily replaceable in the future if the hose ever dries out. 

[hgeranium]

27 minutes ago, eaglescout526 said:

Actually at one point in time they were small rubber flexible lines. 
 

What I’ve done is just find a vacuum line that slips on to the failing line to further protect it without pulling the dash out. That way I have something that’s easily replaceable in the future if the hose ever dries out. 

So you would just put a slightly larger hose on the broken side and attach the canister lines to that “sleeve”?

 

Thinking about it, I feel like worst case scenario I can get out as much old line as I can from the hole going to the dash and stick a fresh line in there. I figure I can clear enough room by hand to get adequate vacuum for the HVAC. 

[eaglescout526]

Yup! That’s what I’ve been doing to no illeffect. 
 

That line goes all the way up to the HVAC controls. If you can get your hand and that line up there and get the old line out of the harness connector, more power to you. 

[hgeranium]

38 minutes ago, eaglescout526 said:

Yup! That’s what I’ve been doing to no illeffect. 
 

That line goes all the way up to the HVAC controls. If you can get your hand and that line up there and get the old line out of the harness connector, more power to you. 

Ah, so the line goes much further into the dash than just a few inches into the firewall that I originally thought?

[eaglescout526]

8 minutes ago, hgeranium said:

Ah, so the line goes much further into the dash than just a few inches into the firewall that I originally thought?

Yup! All the way to the HVAC control.