I have a 1984 Dodge W350 with the 5.9l 360ci gasoline engine. I have just set the ignition timing, and have some vacuum leaks. That’s not as much of my concern as it’s a simple fix with the diagram provided in the engine bay. What I am seeking help with is the egr amplifier; it appears to have been bypassed… I honestly don’t know what I am talking about so my apologies for any improper terminology or just incorrect statements. When we set the ignition timing we pulled the vacuum advance line from the distributor and blocked it off. We got the truck timed and ran great at idle. With the timing light and distributor at 8 degrees of advance it showed to be at zero on the harmonic balancer. When we put the vacuum line back on the distributor it didn’t run as it should. Other lines have been cut and plugged and the amplifier has all of the vacuum lines cut off. My main question is should I put the lines back through the amplifier and put it back to original dodge routing or should I leave it blocked off and replace or redo the plugs and even anything there is I should to to the amplifier as it has had the lines crudely cut from it. What are the reason(s) for bypassing the egr amplifier? Any additional information on vacuum problems or ignition timing would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

You could try hooking it back up, but, I suspect it was bypassed because it failed..... Looks like it has two vacuum sources, and then a line off to the solenoid, that controls vacuum to the valve itself...

Fix all of your vacuum leaks first. Figure out if the amplifier is bad or not. If it is.... just run the vacuum line from the carb to the EGR solenoid. (I *think* that is ported vacuum, so, the more throttle you give, the more vacuum you get.)

Reset timing. Have the timing light at zero though. I've seen too many folks set the timing let, but, it's backward, so, base timing is actually way off.

 

Awesome, Thankyou. I’ll see how that works.

 

You're welcome! Give it a try, and feel free to reach out if you need further assistance. Good luck!

 

You should not have any vacuum advance at idle, If there is vacuum at the line at idle something is not hooked up correctly.

 

The reason that removing the vacuum advance while setting timing has ALWAYS been the procedure is it removes the possibility of timing being affected by a throttle screw intentionally set too far open to mask/help other engine issues like too much cam.
Correct hookup or not, you will have vacuum at the advance port. Muscle car 101.