Can anyone identify this part? Looks like a Vacuum Container. This small hose broke off.

[James Morse]

You can have situation where it seems ok except as noted under accel it can revert to default mode (defrost only).
They made it that way because you can live w/out heat through the dash/floor vents but if it's winter you -need- defrost for safety reasons.
I just went thru this on my '97. When it's working, if it's like mine, on "OFF" or "MAX AC" it should close the heater valve so no hot water goes into the heater core. You can check this (again - if it's like mine) by feeling whether the valve closes on those settings.
It's not a big deal to fix and your a/c will be colder when you need it. Plus you don't want vacuum leaks anyways, again as noted previously.
I had to replace the line from the firewall to the heater valve, very hard to find the part, I was fortunate a TRS member had one for me and mine is 100% now.

 

[Angry Possum]

Thanks for all the responses, I'll get to it today possibly after I get my tires mounted.

 

[Angry Possum]

I was able to drill out the plastic part of that vacuum tube end that broke off inside the rubber fitting on the vacuum cannister. Then allI I needed to was insert the vacuum tube back in. It worked for me.

 

[James Morse]

That's great. I had mentioned that on OFF or MAX AC the heater valve closes and if you feel under it with your finger you should be able to feel the little lever arrangement being activated (shuts off the hot water), in a different position than on other settings. It's just a good way to check that everything in that respect is working. Glad it was an easy fix.