Torn intake tube

[JoelB]

My fiance's 2014 chevy sonic has had some stumbling issues randomly and a CEL for lean. I looked around when she bought it but saw nothing, then yesterday i noticed a decent tear in the rubber intake tube. I expedited a new one and once that gets here it will get fresh oil since the oil is most likely contaminated.

There has been nearly 2,000 miles put on this car in this condition and I'm wondering if this could have harmed the engine. Clearly it would be running slightly lean as the rip was after the MAF sensor. Am i overthinking this or could irreparable damage have already been done?

 

[Rand]

how do you know when it was damaged? Is there more to this story?

I'd guess it will be ok. engines usually outlast most other car parts with just the bare minimal maintenance.

Changing the oil is a good idea though.

 

[SatinSilver]

I'd say it's most likely fine. Just keep checking fluid levels and change the oil when it's due. No need to split hairs. It will likely get traded in well before the engine croaks.

 

[dlundblad]

If you're set on changing the oil, have her drive it a week then change it.

This should imbed those said contaminants in the oil filter.

 

[goodtimes]

I found both intake hoses cracked on an 02 Camry. Replacing them with Toyota OE completely fixed the same issues you stated. Actually the car always had a stumble on deceleration on the highway at times. This was 80K driven like that. All fixed. It threw o2 sensor codes and right away the advice I got was replace o2 sensors. Wrong. You will be fine once the hose is replaced I bet.

 

[fdcg27]

This would have been a vacuum leak and would have involved some miles before detected so the engine did see at least some unfiltered air.
Whatever damage was involved is done and it will be so minimal as to be inconsequential.
No early oil change will fix this, so I'd chalk it up and not worry about it.
Almost every application with an elastomeric boot to the manifold will see this at some point in its life. I have with my old BMW, where I had a stumbling idle and occasional CEL when at idle. One day, I was checking the oil level and saw the crack and that was the eureka moment.
I happens. Life goes on.

 

[Kool1]

My neighbor had a check engine light and poor acceleration on his 2006 Chevy truck. He looked under the hood and found his air intake tube was sucked into an inverted form. He swapped out the rubber intake tube and factory air cleaner for an aluminum K&N performance air intake kit and this solved his problem. He still has the truck today with the same K&N filter kit without any further problems.

 

[JoelB]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I did a lame duct tape repair to hold it over the 2 days it will take to get the new intake tube. Seems the new ones are a different material. Hopefully this one won't self destruct after only 50k miles.

 

[Number_35]

Had this on our '01 Mazda Protege - it started running poorly, and was driving me crazy. The codes were all very general and didn't help. It was indeed a Eureka! moment when I found the splits in the hose. I did a duct tape fix until I could buy a replacement a couple of days later.

Although I worried about all of the stuff ingested after the air filter, the engine continued to run well and outlasted the body of the car which succumbed to rust years and years later.

On a whim I phoned my friend who had one a year older, and asked how it was running. His was doing the same thing, and for the same reason as it turned out.

This has since been a part I've watched on my subsequent cars.

 

[circuitsmith]

A friend's 5 series BMW back in the mid '80s developed a tear in the intake hose.
It got to the point where it wouldn't start before he came asking for my help.
The duct tape patch fixed it and he left it just like that for a couple years.

 

[JoelB]

Got the new air intake tube installed yesterday along with an acdelco air filter. No more check engine light and the car feels less jerky on acceleration. I looked at the old tube and it was in terrible condition. When i removed it it split in 1 or 2 more spots. Seems like poor material choice by GM for it to do that after 2 years and 50k miles.

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: JoelB
Got the new air intake tube installed yesterday along with an acdelco air filter. No more check engine light and the car feels less jerky on acceleration. I looked at the old tube and it was in terrible condition. When i removed it it split in 1 or 2 more spots. Seems like poor material choice by GM for it to do that after 2 years and 50k miles.
It's a Daewoo not a Chevy.

My mechanic maintains a 2010 Chevy Aveo. Meticulously maintained, the guy brings it in for everything. At 3-1/2 years old every single hose under the hood had to be replaced. They were cracking like crazy, some were brittle and others were all gummy. I saw it myself. It had motor mounts go bad, A/C compressor, water pump, alternator, you name it. This thing was as clean as a whistle and low miles too.

Then the catalytic converter went bad, my mechanic told the guy to go to the dealer since it was still under emissions warranty. They replaced the catalytic converter and found the camshaft was worn out. They replaced that under power train warranty too.

 

[JoelB]

I believe you're thinking about the aveo, the previous version of the sonic. The second generation from 2011 to now is a totally different car. If wikipedia is correct it was designed by GM Korea with some Australian input. Nowhere does it mention Daewoo at all.

But yes those aveos were garbage cars which is why we avoided them. This sonic is a really solid feeling car with decent power from the 1.8. Just a strange issue with the intake tube rubber.

 

[compratio10_5]

Thank you, Joel for posting about this problem. I have found this same problem on several generations of Mazda Protege's. The original air intake tubes are too stiff and develop stress cracks and finally break in the bottom of the corrugations of the rubber tube. Some times the break is on the bottom of the tube where you have to flex it up to see the crack. In my experience, I have cleaned the tube inside and outside and patched the corrugation with silicone sealant while waiting for a new tube to arrive. Changing the engine oil and filter is a good idea if the tear is significant and the engines have continuee to run well with no evidence of damage.

Now I inspect the air intake hoses, clamps, vacuum hoses and air box connectors very carefully every time I change engine oil. I have installed air filter minder gauges to indicate maximum filter differential pressure. Since dry air filter efficiency improves with loading, I do not change air filters until the DP reaches about 15 " H2O.