Can a small vacuum leak up front cause engine troubles?

[Timebender]

Hi everyone.

This may sound like a silly question, but knowing that a vacuum leak around the engine can cause it to run rough, misfire, etc, can a leaky hose up behind the center console - say the main vacuum line that hooks up to everything for controlling the heat/ac, cause some minor engine issues like hesitation while under load (accelerating up hill for instance)?

Greg

[Ron]

Yep. Any vacuum leak screws up everything.
Temporally blocking off the main vacuum feed (on the back of the intake horn) feeding the front might tell you a lot...

[David T]

It should not be so bad as to be noticeable and certainly should not cause a problem like hesitation. Fix the vacuum leak but there is something else causing your hesitation. A vacuum leak closer to the motor or worn spark plugs, bad ignition wires, bad gas, dirty injectors, etc.

[Timebender]

Good to know. I replaced the distributor the other day as the other one was kinda rusty inside, and I don’t think the vacuum advance was working anymore (I have a Chevy 350 with HEI in case anyone was wondering). Putting in new ignition wires tomorrow. Then replace the plugs - which really wasn’t that long ago.