Okay I feel silly but I have an 88 Ford Ranger. I just bought it and I realized that there was an aluminum hose running from the air intake to a metal cover over the manifold. The hose actually is part of the cover but the metal end of the hose broke and the actual cover was all rusty as well. I think the cover is a manifold heat shield or a fresh air hoseI don‘t know.it‘s an older car and I have never seen this before. Does anyone know what the part is called?
That sounds like the air tube for the thermostatic air cleaner. It draws heated air into the engine when it is cold to help vaporize the fuel mixture better. This helps the engine runs better when cold. After the engine warms up, there is a flap in the air cleaner that closes and stop the heated air flow and allows outside air to enter.
Like the others said. But lots of them have rotted off and the performance is negligable. Hard to say if its worth fixing. If you experiance extreme cold then yes. But if it never gets below 45 dont worry. Older cars never had them and they ran fine
If you go to a dealer or parts store tell them you need a warm air intake hose. The cover over the manifold traps warm air and the hose sends it up to the air cleaner thru this hose.
