Help, Replaced the exhaust mani and now car runs bad

[03SLVRMSP]

hey guys, seeing if anyone has had this problem or may know what is wrong... took the proto in last week to have the exhaust mani replaced. mine had several big cracks in it and i dont have the tools to do it myself :/ , so i bought a used one with 82000 from a member on here. when i got my car back it seemed to be running well. afr's were a little off and first but not to far. later that day and over the past few days it has gotten worse. i have had my engine light come on twice. it idles rough sometimes, it is running very rich (12 afr when cruseing, sometimes down into the 11's), and my gas mileage has gone down dramatically. when i took it back to the shop that had worked on it, the scan they ran came back with "lean bank 1" or "bank 1 lean", not entirely sure? could the new mani messed with the current tune this much? has a plug gone bad? any help is appreciated

 

[njaremka]

its possible the gaskests haven't seated correctly.

 

[Spiced MSP]

I had that code and come to find out, one exhaust mani bolt had backed out all the way and disappeared and another had the head of the bolt break off causing a leak. So what ^^^^ said, gaskets may not be seated correctly or there is a leak somewhere around that area

 

[shane02pro5]

Just to clarify you will need to pull the mani and possibly replace the gasket due to the glue on the gasket will most likely have already set. Also what about the tb gasket? Check the injector seal grommets also...they may not be bad enought to leak fuel but they can cause a vac/boost leak. With the car idling try spraying some carb cleaner around the im area near the tb and injectors and listen for the idle to raise.

 

[shane02pro5]

Disreguard... reading is fundamental!

 

[powderider87]

the probably f'ed up your 02 sensor in the process of replacing the mani...

 

[SeR_Cyclops]

I would check what powerrider said.

 

[03SLVRMSP]

thanks for the input guys, i am going to have a friend help me tomorrow and take a look. all sounds possible.

 

[03SLVRMSP]

ok guys just dropped my car off at the shop and they are taking a look at it. i have one more question... if everything would have gone as planned and the parts where on there right... would have have expected the car to run a little lean on account of the no cracked, better flowing mani? i am still kind of new to alot of this but i am just trying to diagnose the problem. if i understand right, it is running rich because there is a leak, but if there wasnt and the tune didnt change, would that cause it to be slightly lean?

 

[03SLVRMSP]

So just got a call back from the mecanic... and he told me he found a hole/crack in my intercooler piping. his logic was that my car ran fine before i took it in because there was a leak in the intercooler and in the exhaust mani... now that the exhaust mani is fixed and not the intercooler, it is running rich. is his logic correct? could this be my problem...?

 

[powderider87]

Hard to say, Usually the cracks in the mani will seal up when it gets hot, thats what mine does, unless you have a huge crack somehow... Id say all your issues are related to the leak in your piping, get that fixed, reset the ecu and see what happens, i still think there is another problem.

 

[KrayzieFox]

I'm willing to bet money the shop broke the IC piping during the install. Their logic makes zero sense whatsoever, how does a cracked manifold compensate for a cracked IC pipe?

 

[03SLVRMSP]

thanks guys, i got a buddy that is going to help me weld the piping this week and then we will see what happens. i guess his logic was that if both the intake and exhaust have a leak that is roughly the same on both sides, the computer wouldnt sense it? this is why i asked what would cause the car to run rich and or lean. if one causes the car to run rich (hole in intake/ intercooler), and one causes the car to run lean (hole in exhaust mani), would they cancel each other out? sry i am obviously no expert but really want to get to the bottom of this. my misunderstanding probably comes from the lack of knowledge of what will cause the readings i am getting from my gauges. please dont be to critical but i am still learning. thanks for the help guys.

 

[hornsfan10609]

The stock plastic piping is notorious for breaking, i dont doubt it was broken before you took the car in. Get the mani, gaskets and hardware replaced and it should run better. A leak will make the car run lean, the tune on the car will always make it run rich.

 

[03SLVRMSP]

got her fixed. needed a new o2 sensor and one of the plugs was bad. runs like she is brand new! thank god!