1.8 Intake Manifold leak found. What is this component and can I repair it?

[akeinc]

Air is freely entering and exiting my intake manifold through this rectangular slot that sits to the right of the evap purge intake on this linked photo. What is this slot and can it be repaired?

Much thanks. First post. Been lurking here for a long time and been my goto for repairs and code 82.

Don

2013
LS
1.8
Inferno
Gas

 

[akeinc]

Quick update for those who might encounter this problem:

This guy at the Cruzetalkdotcom forum had the same problem I did and has a closeup of the slot I was talking about on his 1.8L intake manifold.

Here's a link to that thread:

LINK

Ultimately what I ended up doing was apply JBWeld HighHeat putty over the slot and problem solved; no more P0171.

tl;dr

The last diagnosis I did was test intake vacuum integrity by blowing into the brake booster manifold inlet (which immediately revealed the source of the leak) which would of saved me from:

- Air filter replacement
- Intake boot replacement (already had been changed by recall)
- MAF replacement
- B1S2 O2 sensor
- Evap purge replacement
- Cam cover replacement
- Gas Cap (what other parts could I throw at it? - desperation sets)

Always learning.


Donald