Air Inlet Tube???

My 1995 302 F150 has a snapped air inlet tube. It has been broken for a while and the exhaust has been patched, but this has not been reconnected. It may be related that when I ford flooded roads the transmission seems to have trouble shifting before it dries out and the engine has majorly reduced power. Are these related issues or maybe an EGR issue?

What the hell is the air inlet tube?

9J454 Air Inlet Tube (Number 4 on the diagram.)

I know my car has an air injection system that adds oxygen to the exhaust stream to increase catalyst efficiency, especially on cold-start ups. Your air inlet tube is just before the cat, so maybe it has the same purpose?

You sure you're not sucking up a little water into the intake every time you ford a flooded road? And if any of that water gets into the electrical connectors all over your trans, I'm sure that would cause some havoc.

Twin_Cam wrote: I know my car has an air injection system that adds oxygen to the exhaust stream to increase catalyst efficiency, especially on cold-start ups. Your air inlet tube is just before the cat, so maybe it has the same purpose?

That could be it. The truck may increase idle speed for about 20 seconds in response to poor catalyst efficiency.

Twin_Cam also wrote: You sure you're not sucking up a little water into the intake every time you ford a flooded road? And if any of that water gets into the electrical connectors all over your trans, I'm sure that would cause some havoc.

The intake is very high. The truck has a 2" stock lift and the intake is at the top of the grille. The water today was no more than 8" deep. The electrical system could have been effected, but the only wires I can think of that may have been effected are at the transfer case. I guess it should be kept in mind that the rooster tails were going well over the level of the roof, so water could have been anywhere in the engine bay. I wish I knew what it effected, so I could waterproof it.

Figure out dia. of air tube & repair it with silicon hose & stainless steel hose clamps. I got mine at NAPA.

redrabbit wrote: Figure out dia. of air tube & repair it with silicon hose & stainless steel hose clamps. I got mine at NAPA.

Not possible. It busted on the exhaust. Just patched the exhaust shut to stop the leak. There is no hose or nipple to attach a hose to. The higher RPM is not a big issue. The larger problem would be those mentioned after driving on flooded roads.

EDIT: Actually, after thinking about it, I could grind the remaining of the bracket and weld a proper diameter pipe on to create a nipple. Its a thought and I may do it.

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UPDATE:
I just read on an F150 forum that a vacuum leak will cause a "hissing noise" which my truck used to make (when flooring it) from what I thought was the air inlet hose. What if there is a nasty vacuum leak and water gets all over the fwiggen place? What say you?

that broken AIR tube won't affect how the truck runs- you just aren't injecting compressed air into the exhaust any more and have a slight exhaust leak before the cat converter.. i don't think you've got a downstream o2 sensor after the cat, so the engine would never know if water got in there other than maybe seeing increased back pressure for a little bit until the water got blown out.. also, the trans shouldn't have any electrical controls on it- the auto trans would be some derivative of either the AOD, the trusty C4, or even more trusty C6 and would be totally hydraulically controlled with the only electrical connections being for the VSS or reverse lights/neutral safety switch.

In reply to novaderrik:

Thanks. In that case I will be looking over the vacuum lines before driving it down any flooded roads. FYI the transmission is a strange mut of sorts. The main transmission is an A4OD and from the extension housing back is C6, which it probably shared the transfer case so maybe its just a C6 housing......?