1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass idle problem

The idle goes up and down and won't stay at a steady pace.I called the smog place and they said there might be a vacume hose loose.When you get to a certain speed,it sounds like there's a alumnium flex hose ratteling.When I was attempting to check the vacume hoses,I found a small flex hose and put elec. tape around one end but can't reach the other end without takng some things off.It looks like that hose is the wrong hose for that part.But it did seemto make a little difference.I need to know where to look for the vacume hoses,and if that is the proabale problem.Or is there something else I should be looking for? I only have a short time to figure this out so I can go get it smoged.When we took it out,it wanted to go all by itself.So we had to lay on the brakes and when we got home,just a short distance,maybe after a 7-8 mile round trip and then a short 5-6 mile trip home,it smelt like the brakes were burning.