Does the top of the engine (piece with the logo on top) come off? I have a CEL (Code P1497) and an obvious air/vacuum leak. The car struggles to idle and when I shut it off, it sounds like a balloon running out of air (SSSSSSssssss.......). It sounds like the leak is under this piece towards the left side. Any ideas?

 

Could it be the connection at the top left (in the picture) (driver's rear part of valve cover). I know this is a large vac line for pulling seafoam through.

 

No, this whistle is about 3 inches from the tube connection. I also took that off and cleaned it really good and re-attached it.
Looks like a trip to the dealer tomorrow.

 

Well, $1000 later, it was a cracked valve cover. Ouch!! Good thing is that I found out that my car has a maintenance program good up to 100K miles and found out the history on my car. Perfect maintenance history.
Just bought the car a month ago and didn't know it had any kind of warranty.
Still, the $1K is kind of hard to take, but the car definitely runs better now.

 

What exactly was it that made the repair bill $1k?

 

Since my car is out of warranty, there was a $150 Diagnostic fee, parts were around $350, labor and I had them do the service to clean out all the carbon buildup ($260) since they had everything apart.
Adds up quick.