I had been putting off replacing the plastic clips on the IMRC rods for some time now on my 2000 F150 4.2L. But last week the water outlet in front of the manifold rotted through, motivation for me, so I took the manifold off to replace the clips, put in new tubes and do the valve cover gaskets.

So on the back of the upper manifold I saw where the previous owner had bypassed what appears to be a PCV outlet heater where small maybe 3/8" coolant hoses were once attached. It was also rotted and had apparently leaked a long time ago, I never noticed before. This motor has another vacuum source just behind the throttle plate though, where this rear supply port joins with the foremost port.

My question to you folks who know this engine better than I do is; do I need to replace this or ignore it and just put the manifold back on as is?

I live in GA so cold weather is really not a terrible problem for me here. If it is recommended then maybe someone can point me to a source for the part?

Regards,
Charles