vacuum advice

[THENEWMEXICAN]

my 70' Blazer has a 350 with a Edelbrock carb and intake, mild cam, leaky automatic tranny, am/fm radio and a vacuum problem:

with the warm weather I noticed I was idling kinda high. figured I'd adjust that with a turn of a screw this week during my bimonthly look-around. BUT this weekend I have developed a vacuum leak:

symptoms:
1. hesitates and nearly dies when coming to a stop
2. at a stop dies and if it doesn't die sounds like it's going to and shakes.
3. runs fine in Neutral or Park without dosing some gas
4. hesitates upon acceleration

I've been reading all the posts I find about looking for vacuum leaks. BUT if you have some suggestions to lead me in the right direction I'd appreciate it.

[bo-w]

well its not the safest method but hitting suspect areas with brake clean should work. hit one area at a time with a shot and wait a couple of seconds, the rpm will either raise or lower if that area is leaking. systematically shoot each suspect area one at a time untill the rpm changes there is youre leak. be vary careful brake clean is extremely flamable and any spark or even a hot header can ignite it . dont burn youre self and blame me please, you have been warned lol. I have had a leaky spark plug wire ignite brakeclean and its not so fun.

[SeventyOne]

Whats your RPM at idle in gear (at a stop)? What is it in park/N?

Do you have any stumbling/engine dying issues when making a sharp turn?

[THENEWMEXICAN]

bo-w - i don't have the balls to start spraying yet... but i checked all the hoses and i don't hear a hiss anywhere to attack with some spray. think carb cleaner would be better?

71 - a few weeks ago I thought I was idling alot higher because I'd drop hard into gear but since this problem started last week I noticed my Park/Neutral idle was around 800(->1200 temp dependent) and it'd drop near 500-600 in gear (nearing death)... thats if my gauge is functioning right...


UPDATE:
This morning I sprayed a little carb cleaner down the hole and started her up. she idled ok but started to fall down to 500 and die. so I gave her some juice and up'd my idle. now in Park/Neutral I'm idling around 800 and in gear right above 600... (without feeling like I'm dropping into gear nor going to die)

[bo-w]

carb cleaner should work fine. if it is a vacuum issue you should be able to find it that way .