Well I just got around to ripping off the intake since I got it 2 weeks ago. This is the first ten minutes I've had to myself to look at it.

The elbow was ripped and torn in like 4 places right where it connects to the throttle body... I'm sure there was a good amount of unmetered air getting in.

I also have a manifold gasket leaking on the top of #7 and possibly #5 I can't tell for sure.

My symptoms seem to be a slight power loss, sometimes... other times it feels fine and pulls hard. I also wanted to know if an exhaust leak can cause false knock readings and pull timing?

Also what would I need to do a datalog?

Edit: I also forgot to say that I don't want to trust that my car was well maintained... the throttle body alone looks very dirty. Assuming nothing has been changed in the 55k miles of this car's life, what should I be thinking of doing for a basic tune-up?

I hear good things about sea foam, but is it as great as everyone says? Any horror stories? I'm afraid of doing something like this and then messing something else up.

Thanks

Chris

 

Intake leak at the elbow can make a HUGE performance difference!! I put mine on with the bottom lip rolled in once, and the car ran HORRIBLY. Fix that first and see how it is. You might be surprised at how much power comes back.

Air filter, plugs, wires, clean TB/IAC/EGR. New belt, even if it looks good it's 10 years old. Clean batt connections. Change coolant, diff, trans fluids. Don't forget posi additive if applicable. Check hoses. Check/clean rad fins. Look for chafed wires, corroded grounds, etc.

That's a pretty good start.

 

Intake leak will have a huge effect. Also, if the exhaust leak is before the first set of O2 sensors, that will make the car sun SUPER rich. I've been there. 6 mpg until I fixed it, then it went right back to the normal 21 mpg.

Be careful with seafoam, it will kill your O2 sensors. If you are going to do it, then either plan to replace your O2's or pull them and plug the holes before using it. Don't use it in your gas. Get a good fuel cleaner like Techron to clean the fuel system.

Also, look up how to clean your MAF. Be VERY careful though. It made a difference in my car. It smoothed out my engine.

Dan

 

I've already ordered a 1LE elbow and CAI. Thanks for the replies, everyone's been a big help to me so far.

Well, I wasn't necessarily considering doing seafoam, but there's always some kind of post in here about it. Seems kind of weird to me to suck up some kind of liquid into the motor to stall it out... but what do I know? I was just trying to get a 411 on the stuff... so thanks for your reply Dan.

Now if I can just figure out a route to take to get my exhaust leak solved (I really want to use it as an excuse to upgrade). I'll be able to go from there if I still have loss of power issues.

Thanks

Chris

 

exhaust manifold need to come off to replace the gaskets...id say thats a perfect excuse for headers

 

Yeah, just make sure to break one removing it. You'll have to try really hard, though.....