Hi All,

I'm busy slowly but surely trying to repair anything that's not 100% on my Ranger.

The other day, I found this part (with a piece of tube siliconed to it at the base, to widen the base and was fitted (Jerry Rigged) into the place where the engines breather hose connects to the air intake (just asfer the MAF sensor), I took it out just to check if it was clean, noticed this thing, that didn't look right at all, considering the breather hose was just sitting there loose, with this thing plugged in its place.



It doesn't seem to be electrical, as there seems to be a plastic pipe (vacuum?) in the sleeve that I'm holding.

 

Look 'straight down' from the MAF sensor and you'll see a spherical can fastened to the right wheel well.
It's a vacuum reservoir used to fully close a blend door when "MAX AC" is selected.
If your reservoir is like mine, you'll easily see the hole which accepts the fitting you pictured.

If I understood you:
You said the 'breather hose' is not connected to the [large] intake air tube?
This hose is a hard plastic. It goes into the side of the right valve cover.
Is the pipe there at all? Is there a hole in the side of your right valve cover?

If so, that's not good as unfiltered air is being fed into the PCV system.
Also, given the likelihood of this errant repair [in the large intake tube] not being air-tight, unfiltered air is being allowed to enter the engine's intake circuit AFTER the MAF sensor.
This air is unmetered and lousing up the engine's computer's ability to calculate air : fuel mix.