manifold crack?

crow75

hi, my 2004 corsa has had engine light on for couple weeks. diagnostics said fuel trim malfunction. apparently this can be anything! mech has taken it couplr tims and cleaned filters checked lambda etc ,everything and cant find the problem. today he told me that it might not be fixable, it might just be a tiny crack in manifold but otherwise the car is fine and ok to drive. it passed nct last month. the only other repair im getting done atm is a gear fluid leak. my main concern is safety obv, i had a one yr old daughter in the car and am concerned about this. mech said it is safe. can anyone please advise me?? tia

Pov06

Could be anything like a vacuum leak or faulty MAF sensor.

How is it idling?

I doubt it's dangerous though.

Get the gearbox oil leak sorted. You don't want to be buying a new box later...

crow75

thanks so much Pov06,
i think he checked the MAF sensor. will ask tomorrow, he has it overnight. i have a limited knowledge of cars, only finding out things as they go wrong seemingly, so im not sure how to ans q re idling, the revs of the car sound fine to me but cant really say otherwise! what should i be looking out/listening for?
gearbox leak will be sorted tomorrow, he has to get a new rubber seal (cant rem name) and that will be that hopefully. he says he will check all again tomorrow.
if it is indeed a crack in the manifold, would this be easily spotted by him ? can it be replaced?

Pov06

crow75 wrote: »

thanks so much Pov06,
i think he checked the MAF sensor. will ask tomorrow, he has it overnight. i have a limited knowledge of cars, only finding out things as they go wrong seemingly, so im not sure how to ans q re idling, the revs of the car sound fine to me but cant really say otherwise! what should i be looking out/listening for?
gearbox leak will be sorted tomorrow, he has to get a new rubber seal (cant rem name) and that will be that hopefully. he says he will check all again tomorrow.
if it is indeed a crack in the manifold, would this be easily spotted by him ? can it be replaced?

By idling I mean you would notice the revs going up dramatically and then dropping back down and repeating.

Finding the crack can be tricky if it's in a position that can't seen but you should be able to hear it. It could also be some kind of gasket leak between the manifold and the engine block.

If it is the manifold then it can be replaced no problem. I guess it's best to leave it to your mechanic as we can only guess without actually seeing it. If it sounds normal then it shouldn't something too bad. Another possibility is a bad oxygen sensor or a bad connection somewhere.

crow75

thanks again, i wish i knew more, i hate the thought of driving an unsafe car or beig ripped offf as i have before, not this mech, he seems sound and wont charge me until its sorted. the revs sound normal and theres no unusual sound of it apart from a cracking noise when i lock hard to the right but i think that is the cv boot joint as it has happened before. i hope he gets it sorted tomorrow! he checked and cleaned the sensor last week and it was using more petrol than usual before he did that but seems to be back to normal now
cost of manifold replacement approx?

crow75

update
turns out there was no crack in manifold and after a couple of times when the car cut out when starting i brought it bck to mechanic and he said it needed a new fuel pump. so hopefully this will be the end of the engine management light saga!