Hi... I'm having a problem with my '87 Astro 4.3 liter, and I'm thinking that it's a simple question.
My alternator died, so I replaced it. While I was getting the new one in, I knocked a hose that led to the valve cover off and put it back on. It kept coming off and I kept putting it back on a few times. It was on the driver's side of the engine around the middle of the valve cover.
So I got the alternator in and everything was great. Three days later, I'm driving down the road and the van started getting really choppy - if it was in gear it would stall out unless I kept pumping the gas - it made it kind of hard to drive.
The next day I managed to get it to the shop down the street and they looked at it and told me that I needed a new throttle body - that there was too much oil in mine... And that's a ton of money...
So today I'm talking to a guy at work and he explains to me what a throttle body is (I had no idea) and suggests trying the pcv valve, which really fits in my budget better than a new throttle body.
When I got home, I checked under the hood and found that that hose that I'd been knocking out when I was replacing the alternator was out, and whatever it was that was connecting it to the valve cover was gone... I assumed it was the pcv valve that was missing so I went and bought one. The only thing is that the valve defintely won't fit in this hole. I'm guessing that the pcv valve is on the other side (that I wouldn't be able to see unless I took out the doghouse).
I went ahead and took some duct tape and taped the end of the hose shut so that it wouldn't suck air and the van ran absolutely fine...
My question (finally) is - what is it that's missing? And will I cause any problems if I drive it with the duct tape closing the end of the hose?
Thanks for any suggestions!