Cold Air Intake temporary fix

GA

garyb1st

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2010
Posts
6,054
Location
Sunny So Cal
Discovered a hole in mine yesterday. Probably been there for a while. Haven't noticed any performance issues. Plan on doing a temporary fix which involves wrapping with Duct Tape. We're traveling and will be on the road for two months and another 3,500 miles before home. Don't want to replace hose at this time. Hopefully the simple fix work. Looking for suggestions if Duct Tape not a workable solution.

First pix shows extent of hole. Second just shows where hose starts.
 

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Why not change the hose if you can find one. If not, get the best tape you can find and tape it up. There is a tape used for installing a vapor barrier on a house. It it super strong, sticky and is 4” wide. Home Depot and Lowe’s has it.
You can also install a piece of metal strip to make a split to keep it from bending and tearing more. It shouldn’t be a big deal to make it work
 
Duck tape is often called "Duct" tape but.. it is not for ducts.. May work on a cold air intake not on warm air.

A good quality cloth tape is better.
 
Wrapped it with a silicone tape I picked up at Tractor Supply. Problem with the tape is it's only about an inch wide and there isn't much working room to wrap it without twisting. Also I'm not sure I stretched it enough since I was concerned about making the hole larger or even breaking the hose. Ended up using the entire roll which was probably 6 feet. Picked up some Gorilla Tape and if the silicone tape doesn't hold, I'll try that next. Hopefully it will adhere too the silicone tape if I need to wrap it with the wider Gorilla Tape.
Rene T said:
Why not change the hose if you can find one. If not, get the best tape you can find and tape it up. There is a tape used for installing a vapor barrier on a house. It it super strong, sticky and is 4” wide. Home Depot and Lowe’s has it.
You can also install a piece of metal strip to make a split to keep it from bending and tearing more. It shouldn’t be a big deal to make it work
Click to expand...
Rene, I thought about replacing the hose but there is no room without removing some other parts. I'm not that confident in my mechanical skills to attempt that. As long as it holds, I'll have it replaced when we're back at the SB.
 
John From Detroit said:
Duck tape is often called "Duct" tape but.. it is not for ducts.. May work on a cold air intake not on warm air.

A good quality cloth tape is better.
Click to expand...
It was originally made from duck cloth. When I was in the Air Force, a red version was nicknamed "500 mile per hour" tape, since apparently it could withstand high air speeds for some temporary use on aircraft.
 
First thing to consider is that this is an air line, not water, and an intake line pulling a very modest suction. You don't need a waterproof seal nor do you need to contain much if any pressure. That hose is just a duct to pull the air from a cooler, dryer area. So basically the job is just to block up that gap enough so that most of the air comes from the far end of the hose rather than the gap.

It's difficult to get a seal on a corrugated & flexible surface like that. I think it's more a matter of careful workmanship than the type or brand of tape. I'd be inclined to attempt coating that gap with a real gooey sealant of some sort, something like Lexel. Lay it carefully in the groove and let it dry for 12-24 hours and then test to make sure it won't fall into the hose itself.. Then wrap with a sticky, broad tape to give it some mechanical strength as well. I would not use any of the stretchy hose bandage tapes on anything that flexible - trying to stretch the tape would simply collapse the hose underneath. There are thin, sticky tapes designed to conform to and stick to corrugate hoses. Lowes, Depot, or hardware stores usually have them. Here's an example.

If the gap is too open or too brittle to hold the Lexel in place, cut a piece of very sticky, thin tape lengthwise to fit in the groove and form it as good as possible to the shape of the corrugation. Make it long enough to extend well beyond the gap. Then overlay it with a broader tape as described previously.
 
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I would do pretty much the same thing as Gary suggested, in his last paragraph. I have not used Lexel but I have done temporary repairs on an air hose with the tape method, successfully.
Gary RV_Wizard said:
cut a piece of very sticky, thin tape lengthwise to fit in the groove and form it as good as possible to the shape of the corrugation. Make it long enough to extend well beyond the gap. Then overlay it with a broader tape as described previously.
Click to expand...
 
Just completed 200 miles. Checked the tape and it's holding. I'll monitor it until we're back to the SB. Thanks for all the suggestions.
 
The important question is: is that split before or after the air filter. If it’s before the filter there’s no reason to worry about it too much. If it’s after the filter it’s time to worry. Dust does very bad things to diesel engines.
 
8Muddypaws said:
The important question is: is that split before or after the air filter. If it’s before the filter there’s no reason to worry about it too much. If it’s after the filter it’s time to worry. Dust does very bad things to diesel engines.
Click to expand...
While I can't be certain, I'm pretty sure the Mass Air Flow sensor is beyond the repair. The tear is maybe 2' from the wide air inlet at the grill. The other reason I'm comfortable, is because there were no performance issues and the Pace has recently been getting almost 7 mpg.
 
garyb1st said:
Discovered a hole in mine yesterday. Probably been there for a while. Haven't noticed any performance issues. Plan on doing a temporary fix which involves wrapping with Duct Tape. We're traveling and will be on the road for two months and another 3,500 miles before home. Don't want to replace hose at this time. Hopefully the simple fix work. Looking for suggestions if Duct Tape not a workable solution.

First pix shows extent of hole. Second just shows where hose starts.
Click to expand...
Unless the MAF sensor is ahead of the split don’t worry about it. If it is you will have already seen a check engine light
 
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