Bypassing the CAC?

[K Sarich]

Hello All,

Wasn’t looking, but stumbled upon a ’98 41’ LXI with a Series 60, bought it drove it into storage all good except for a bit of black smoke. Turns out I have a leaky CAC. Boost doesn’t get above 18psi, Pyro stays in range on the hills so no ill effects except for poorer mileage and a bit of smoke.

Given that the CAC probably isn’t doing much now, what might the downside be of bypassing it completely? This would be a temporary solution 2-3,000 miles at which point I would pull it and the radiator and have them rebuilt.



Thanks
Kevin

[K Sarich]

Still curious as to the downside, but gonna start pulling CAC and radiator tomorrow and then have them re-built. Let the fun begin!

[Arcticdude]

You would probably see higher exhaust temps, as a guess. A good shop should get them back to you within a couple of days, so you should be able to start reassembly fairly quickly. While you’re that far in, make sure you take a really close look at your exhaust. Mine had a thin spot in the curve that was about to blow through.

[K Sarich]

Thanks John,

Yes, I will definitely be taking a look at the exhaust and anything that is suspect will be replaced.

[Itchintogo]

I would inspect the fan hub and also the PTO drive splines on the fan drive at the transmission at the same time. LXIs have been known to wear the splines down so if you are doing cooling system service might as well check everything out all at once. Some people replace OEM and some convert them to a wetdrive off the transmission. i havent seen a wetkit that I am 100% comfortable with yet so I would stick with OEM and remember to grease it very regularly.