FAQ: What is the Black Box? (Series I SC)

i am adamant in my stance that dabby doobers abound within the engine bay of the riv...there's nothing for it

robotennis61 wrote:

i am adamant in my stance that dabby doobers abound within the engine bay of the riv...there's nothing for it

Well yeah, especially 'cuz you have a '95, before they started phasing out dabby doobers...

I have an all-electronic, non-dabby '97, but what he's describing sounds like a '95 cruise control line.

jeff thompson wrote:

is that a vacuum holding unit like the old ball i used to see? Thanks
Jeff

Yes it is a vacuum tank, '95 is the only year with it there

Look at your emissions sticker on your radiator support... That box is for vacumm/and emissions use... You need it-make sure that vacumm line and all vacumm lines on that car are good--not cracked or broken

The box has nothing to do with the brake booster, too small vac hose to do any good for the brakes...

98inSFl wrote:

The box has nothing to do with the brake booster, too small vac hose to do any good for the brakes...

Ummm.... really, need to either plug the line back in where it belongs or cap it.

A performance improvement should result when that (admittedly small) vac leak is fixed.

Albertj

I really have no idea what this thing is, and since it has a vacuum line running to it, will these cracks give me a vacuum leak?

That would be your vacuum box. If it won't hold air then yes that would be a vac leak.

it's the vac reservoir for the cruise control. They *may* be discontinued but last I checked GM still had them as parts, you need to check monsterpartsonline.com, or your local dealer, OK. Others have said don't bother patching it.

Temporarily, black RTV over the cracks should get it to hols vac while you wait for the replacement. Another solution would be to get heavy duty aluminum foil and spray cement, spray the cement on the foil and apply it to the vac box cement-side-down. Seal the seams with RTV. Again, a temporary fix while you wait for the replacement to arrive, which if it is in Martinsburg (GM/vintage warehouse IIRC) it will take a couple weeks to get.

Albertj

I think i may try to seal it with flex seal. I just removed the box out of curiosity and changed the vacuum line.

it is the vacuum for the cruise control i forget the exact name of it

RidzRiv wrote:

I think i may try to seal it with flex seal. I just removed the box out of curiosity and changed the vacuum line.

If you can't get it to hold vaccum you could use most any kind of vaccum canister to replace it with. Even a bit of ABS pipe with end caps and the same volume would work. Just tap in a barb for the vaccum line.