cdmdriver

My car just passed the California smog inspection and week later the dreaded CEL light came on. Checked the codes and just my luck, they came up as 0410 along with 1411 codes (SAI and Aux emission controls)

At least I have two years to get this fixed. Because I have some time to work on the problem I was wondering if anyone knows of a spray or a weekly treatment that could possibly break down and open up the air passages without having to rip apart the engine.

Kika

I have been running ferox http://www.feroxfueltabs.com/
I have no evidence that it is really working, but the car runs a little smoother. I also run up to redline once the car is warm. I have been using if for about 6 months now, hopefully over the long term, the ferox and the Italian tune ups will clear out the deposits.

b5audia4

Does fuel treatment help (ie: Redline, Lubro-Moly, etc.)?

TheOtherEric

NO!

The SAI system has absolutely NOTHING to do with your car's performance. Fuel treatments will never be in contact with any part of the SAI system.

Read here for more info on the SAI system:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?t=313946

cdmdriver

I'm asking if perhaps something could be sprayed into the air intake.

Robin 993DX

The only thing I can think of is to add another tube to the SAI air distribution manifold and then once in a awhile spray some sort of fuel injector cleaner into the tube during the cold start cycle when the air pump is running. Put a cap on the tube when you are done.

Thinking about it some more, another possible place would be to make a "T" pipe fitting in between the SAI valve and the manifold, and then add a ext. pip to the T fitting and run it to a accessible area in the engine bay where you can introduce the cleaning agent during cold start cycle.

Sounds far fetched, but it might work!

TheOtherEric

Yeah, I guess it's feasible. You definitely would NOT want to spray Whatever into the air intake since, in addition to going into the SAI pump, it'll go into your engine. So you could remove the airbox and plumb in an aux hose, into which you'd spray Whatever.

But then again, Whatever is going to be flammable, so perhaps it could ignite in your SAI pump due to heat/spark. Or ignite in the actual SAI passages due to heat.

Or if it makes it thru, it'll ignite in the exhaust stream. That'll be AWESOME! Please take video!!!

henkinc

My two cents on this: I had the SAI for the lef hand bank come on 3ooo miles ago. After getting an OBD2 guage, this recurred 300 miles ago. THEN I started driving only at 3000 rpm or higher. I now get a second cylinder misfire CEL (my spark wires are due to be replaced, being 10 years old at 56k miles) reading, and NO SAI code. Bottom line, it appears low-rpm driving really makes a difference, perhaps in my case having been exaccerbated by a pending spark plug wire degradation. But hard driving stopped the SAI reading.

porscheralph

Another idea that has worked for me - replace the SAI check valve every several years. This check valve gets rusted/cruded up over time and if it stops working or works only intermittently it will cause the CEL light and the codes you are seeing. It is not a simple job but can be done without removing the engine. Ask your mechanic.

henkinc

Oh yes, the darn check valve is certainly getting replaced. Let me see - probably $2000 for the maintenance and plugs/wires, and for a little extra labor should I replace the valve? Yep. I have no doubt it led to the SAI codes in the first place. But I still am surprised that higher rpm driving would alleviate the SAI condition once it had occurred. For 3000 miles, even after a few CEL resets along the way, the CEL alwsys came back on. Of course, this could have been a misfire CEL and I did not know it untilI bought the OBD2 system. btw, I am in Arlington and in the Porshce club. I'll send you ane-mail. Charlie