Corsa-B.uk - Vauxhall, Opel and Holden Corsa B Owners Club

The "check engine" light comes on when I start my 1998 Corsa 1.0, and it goes out after a while. I have also noticed that it seems to be burning oil, judging by the smoke coming from the exhaust, and the engine is rather noisy.
What should I check for please?

What colour smoke? Stanard exhaust? Does it run rough if light on/off? Have checked/changed/tested anything? Its hard to say anything from the info you gave

It's blue smoke. Yes, it sounds rough whether the check engine light is on or off. The water pump seems a bit noisy and I had a look underneath - there is a joint on the exhaust line that is made of flexible wire mesh and this seems to be split.

Flexi pipe split would cause an awfull noise and drop power quite alot but if it puffing blue smoke thats new engine type bad, means a rebuilt head or new piston rings and the bore skimmed or a new engine is normally cheaper

Is the flexi pipe a standard part of the exhaust system, or is this where the previous owner cut and rejoined part of the pipe?

Flexi pipe is standard in.all.cars, a solid pipe would break with all the movement of the engine

I would say rings aswell cheaper to replace engine