I searched the archives, came up empty. Just bought an 88 245 with unknown miles. (around 250K miles?) Intact (one owner) but not terribly well maintained.

Long story below, but there's a point:

Yesterday I removed the flame trap to see if it was plugged. It wasn't. All I pulled out was the flame trap fitting: (I squeezed it out from between the "big" upper/lower hoses, leaving them both in place. ) I cleaned out the brass nipple going into the intake manifold and replaced the 1/8" vacuum hose that connects to it. (The old hose there was a little too big to begin with, and pretty loose on both ends.)

When I restarted the car, I had a dead cylinder. The only part of the engine I had even touched was right in the vicinity of the flame trap, so I wiggled/reset the wiring/connectors going to the injectors, and the dead cylinder was fixed.

Now, however, I'm getting some hesitation on normal acceleration. It's not even terribly noticable, but I'm pretty sure it's a little sluggish. Could it be that cleaning out the brass nipple has altered the vacuum enough that it changed the timing advance or the base idle settings?

Has anyone ever experienced anything like it?

I have seen a slight hole in the throttle body intake hose, so I'll start with that. (Anyone ever used that spray rubber sealant on one of these hoses? Or just wrap it with wide black tape?)
Then I'll step through a full base idle and timing setup. But I wanted to see if it rings a bell with anyone.

Thanks in advance,

Bob