Ok so just picked up my first HHR with the 2.2l and it seems to have a leak in the stupid plastic intake manifold. I am not sure if this is a normal problem with these things or if there was a recall on the manifold or not. Just wanted to know if anyone else has had this problem or not.

I cant pinpoint exactly where the leak is but my best guess is it is at the bottom back drivers side corner on the bottom seem, I kinda ghetto rigged it for now and smeared jb weld on all the seems to see if this fixes the problem.

If anyone has a spare intake manifold that the wanna part with for a good price pm me and let me know and we will see if we can work something else.

Thanks for all the help!

 

Welcome to the site, I have a 2.2 never had or heard of a problem with the intake manifold.
If by ghetto rigged you mean jury rigged than did you check to se if JB Weld is impervious to gasoline ?
Did you verify the crack in the plastic?
Is it possible the last owner of this 8 year old car did something or their mechanic ?
And why does it mean that there would be a recall?

 

hey thanks for the response. I was not assuming that there was a recall was just curious as to if there had been a recall. I dont know to much about the history just that it was a 1 or 2 owner car. seems to be well taken care of. Engine is clean with no significant leaking of any sorts.

I cant pinpont exactly where the crack is but as best I can guess by the looks of it I think it is on the corner of one of the seems. Looks like the adhesive that they used has come off of that portion and the plastic is separating. I spread the JB weld over the full length of the seems on the manifold and packed that specific of the seem with the jb weld.

Last I am not sure that it is impervious to gasoline but I know that JB weld has been used on many different parts of a car with success and it advertises that it can be used on automobiles so I am assuming it will be ok. Now the JB weld job is not a permanent solution to this leak it is just temporary until I can get a new manifold for it. But if I am successful it will mean I dont have to be in as big a hurry to get a new one.

I do understand that the car is 8 years old and that there is a good possibility that the manufacturer made a poor decision in using a plasic manifold that had to be glued together and so it has over time begun to separate. Was just getting a feeler of what has gone on in others cases and maybe someone had the same problem.

Thanks again for the help.

 

It is a ONE PIECE molding, no adhesives, no SEAMS, nothing to separate.

Other than one member that broke one of the vacuum fittings, I have not heard of any such thing.

What evidence do you have for a leak? Any vacuum leak would cause at least a bad running motor and probably a CEL. In other words: if it's running good, why do you suspect a crack?

 

It could be one of the rubber o-rings they use to seal each port.
Taking off the manifold to inspect it is not a hard job, just don't drop anything in the engine.

 

1. The intake does not have gas traveling thru it, only AIR. The injectors are in the head.
2. if you had an intake leak, it would throw a 'check engine' light (as Donbrew pointed out), & you would need to get the code read, Auto parts do this FREE.
3. If you still think there is a leak, fill a spray bottle with soapy water & with engine running, spray intake.

If there is an issue, engine will suck in the soapy water & run noticably BAD.

 

Thanks for the responses all. Ok so first. It is definitely a 3 part manifold. I got a pic Im gonna post to shoe you what Im talking about.


There is a check engine light on. Sorry I forgot to mention that one. It is saying misfire because at ideal it is missfiring and running rough. I believe there is a leak in the mani for that reason and the fact that I can hear a massive sucking noise while its running. Not a normal one that you hear AND I took a bottle of starter fluid, sprayed it along the intake manifold and, as predicted, the engine ideal accelerated.

I am replacing the o-ring gaskets on the manifold today. The parts store didnt have one in stock yesterday.

 

I suggest a little grinding to clean up the plastic and groove out the crack then two part epoxy the seam together, follow the directions and let it cure at least over night.

Sleeper is correct there is no fuel going through the intake manifold, but fumes can be present.

 

well turns out I didnt even get to try it out. While putting it back in the nipple on the bottom of the manifold broke off so I had to go source one at a salvage yard. That manifold seemed good until I got it home and found out that the hole on top behind the throttle body for the MAP sensor was too small. So I ground it out a bit and got the sensor to go in. Unfortunately there is no bolt mount for it like the 07 has so it is just stuck in there. Hopefully it will stay in place. The car is back together and seems to be running better. I need to reset the ECU so the CEL goes away and all will be well.