I am wondering in general how important those spring steel clamps on some of the hoses are. What would be some guidelines for determining how important one is?

More specifically, I lost one tonight on the breather(?) connection from the the air flow tube(?) (on the black tube that leads from the air filter to the intake manifold, it is a hose connected to the valve cover). How big of a problem is this?

Er, also this is a 1997 Honda Accord LX 2.2L i4 (non-VTEC) MT. I haven't figured out how to edit my signature yet.

 

Those springs are the best, I always replace them with like springs only..

WheelBrokerAng

 

Haha yeah, I like them to. They are a lot easier to work with than the screw ones.

But I guess really my question is for both types. Are the just there to make sure the hose doesn't fall off (and how likely is that), or do they actually apply enough pressure that without them the hose will leak or come off.