blowing flexis? help please

[Heppy997]

Recently been hearing a blowing noise coming from the front of the car, its quite noticeable, suspected it might be flexis so had a poke down there and they don't look in too good shape....just wanted someone's opinion though are they deffo past it? checked the welds on the manifold also and they seem fine. cheers

 

[Sean197]

Without stating the obvious, if they're blowing then they're past it. Could also be the flanges blowing but either way it'll need repairing. The same happened to me just this week, collecting the car tomorrow after having a toyosport manifold fitted. There is the option of having new flexis welded in but you still have the cost of removal and refitting of the manifold which is why I decided I may as well just get a new one.

 

[Heppy997]

[MENTION=1918]Sean197[/MENTION] what was the labour charge for fitting the toyosport if you don't mind me asking?

 

[tspringbett]

the fitment of my Toyosport was about £250 I think

 

[Sean197]

@Sean197 what was the labour charge for fitting the toyosport if you don't mind me asking?

I had coilovers, powerflex mounts and brake lines fitted at the same time along with the manifold, and was £324 all in.

 

[Shortass12321]

That looks like a dead flexi.. Mine looked exactly the same when i took it out... as a double check, if you can; reach in and wipe the flexi down with something, see if there is any soot, thats a sure sign its split.

 

[chris mcm]

Would a knackered flexi result in a noticible loss of power?

 

[Shortass12321]

It could.. The flexi's are before the sensors, so with a large leak, the ECU isn't going to get correct readings...and could end up running too rich, resulting in poor performance. I MOT'd mine with split flexi's, it passed but only just.. I will try and hunt out the MOT emissions results, and post them up.. I posted the emissions results from a MOT after fitting a toyosport manifold a few months back.

 

[chris mcm]

I've toyed with the idea of replacing my manifold but having to put in hard engine mounts etc really puts me off. I wonder if there is a different solution using stock mounts, or even putting in fresh stock mounts.

 

[Sean197]

Fresh mounts would definitely help. I've gone for powerflex mounts with the toyosport mani and already a few hours later I hate it. I'll be ordering 2 new flexis and having the garage weld them into the original manifold and having that refitted.

 

[chris mcm]

Why don't you keep the manifold on and try replacing the power flex stuff with new Renault items? Or is it not the vibration that's doing your head in?

 

[Sean197]

Oh and if you decide to have new flexis welded in, the ones you are after are bosal 265-567.

 

[Sean197]

[MENTION=52440]chris mcm[/MENTION] - it's more the noise that's getting on my tits tbh. I can live with the slight vibration at idle as the handling improvement outweighs any negatives of the mounts. I just don't like the sound of the manifold, guess I'm just getting old!

 

[chris mcm]

It's the vibration I'm worried about, I know if would really annoy me a lot.

 

[Shortass12321]

The hard mount only benefits you, the engine doesn't move at all when you're driving, feels so much better. I didn't notice an more vibration or anything, which is what most people worry about i guess.

There is another solution, i believe the powerflex inserts are enough to stop the sub-frame clearance issue. People have also bent / cut the subframe to give enough clearance, so plenty of solutions

 

[chris mcm]

I've sat in a car with a toyo mani and power flex mounts, the vibration was annoying, a road car shouldn't feel like that so I don't want my car feeling like that, the handling is good enough already with it being a cup for my needs. If I ever need to change I think il go down the fresh renault mount options and if need be bend the subframe. Thankfully I don't think my manifold has any problems right now, only a matter of time with these cars though isn't it.