Breather on inlet manifold

[GreySnowOgre]

My mechanic recently replaced crank shaft sensor on 06 plate 197.

He noted that the "breather on inlet manifold is noisy, possibly split internally".

I'm not 100% where this pipe is and what it actually does. Can anyone kindly educate me so I can decide if I want to get my hands dirty again? Preferably using big, biffo pictures and small, simple words.

 

[PITA]

That’ll be the PCV valve. Most of the time it’s an easy fix just by taking it apart and cleaning it

 

[PITA]

Guide

 

[GreySnowOgre]

Brilliant thanks for this will have a go on weds when I'm off work.

Is the pipe referred to in the guide the "breather..." my mechanic was referring to?

 

[GreySnowOgre]

So I finally took a look at this today. PCV was a very easy check and so too was the breather pipe. They were both perfectly clean with no visible signs of damage or wear. The noise however is definitely there. I can only liken it to a bit like a quiet "party blower" type noise which seems to come and go every second or when I apply pressure to PCV.

Can anyone advise me:

1. While this is noise is happening am I likely to do any harm by using the car? (Our first sprint tomorrow which we'd like to try and enter!)
2. What is the next logical step to fix? Replace the PCV and/or pipe?
3. When trying to access the crankshaft sensor (wrongly - went from the top!) I took out the airbox and inlet hose and gubbins. Tbh it was easy even for me and can't see how I could have got it wrong... But am I likely have done something stupid?

 

[GreySnowOgre]

Update: now resolved

I was able to get to the bottom of this thanks to other resources on the site

1. PCV is seemingly very unlikely to cause a short term issue if it's simply making a noise (note: possible risk of over pressure to crank case if it was entirely failing) so I was happy running the car
2. Next logical step was to replace the valve (on order) however because there was no obvious crud inside I didn't clean it out the first time around. I decided to use some carb cleaner anyway and took it all apart completely. Refitted and noise seems to have gone away.
3. Therefore, it wasn't down to me being clumsy on a previous job