I think you're right.

 

I was fooled by his expression - to look at the back of the engine you have the hood up....

 

My apologies for the bad expression

I did replace bank 1 breather hose which is the long hose from cam cover to below the TB.

Also as a test I unplugged the hose from breather valve and restricted the flow a little with my finger to allow un-metered air, this affected both banks fuel trims.

 

I'm wondering how to rule out a cracked exhaust manifold. Or leak in/at the EGR. I suppose there are other items (just a few lol).

 

Today I plan to check the exhaust where the catalytic converter was replaced. The code didn't pop up till a week or 2 after that was done. Maybe something has worked itself loose.

 

checked out the exhaust today-

there is an exhaust leak where the flanged catalytic converter meets the manifold. it's not noticeable from within the car, but underneath the car while it's running i could hear it easily. I wish I would have checked that a long time ago!

I unbolted the catalytic converter and tried to adjust it a little. Bolted it back up and started her up. There's still and exhaust leak but Bank 1 is now *only* at around +17 now. A little less and the lean code has gone away for now. I plan to take her back in for the exhaust to be fixed.

 

Good find!

(Although you should not have had this pain!!)

 

dunno how i missed this post!

i had the cabin filter box removed to take a look at the egr and i also plugged the coolant lines that go through the egr and TB. even with that box removed it's tough to get at the egr

 

yesterday i took her in to the muffler shop and had them fix the exhaust leak at the manifold.

Happy to say that she is back to normal! No leak and the fuel trims are back to baseline.

thanks JagV8 and bfsgross for sticking with me through this complication!

 

Regarding EGR:You'de also remove strut tower cross brace and wiper cowl. Happy she's doing well.

 

Good news - thanks for posting back!