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Code P0492 - Secondary Air Injection Insufficient Fl
Hey everyone,
My 04 CTT through me a nice CEL yesterday, so I scanned the code and it came up with:
Code P0492 - Secondary Air Injection Insufficient Flow Bank 2
I knew something was weird b/c on startup I didn't hear what I normally hear from the SAI pumps (didn't know the driver's side wasn't working at the time) and the idle took about 10-15 seconds longer than normal once the bank 1 SAI pump went off. I had to wait for the car to cool completely to test again and this morning I started the car and put my hand on the bank 2 (driver's side) SAI pump and it was not running during cold start up. The F4 fuse is not blown so I don't believe it is jammed up or shorted in any way, it just isn't working. My question is I know these are notorious for destroying fan blades and then shorting themselves out but since my fuse is not blown how likely is it that maybe the pump just died? I plan on pulling the pump and bench testing this evening just curious what some of the experts think is going on?
Well just to follow up the air injection pump was pulled and I bench tested it. It would blow the fuse on my 12volt power supply. I took the pump apart and the below carnage is what I found. Lots of fins smashed off and the fan is pretty much locked in place. After getting all the plastic bits out I was able to rotate the fan but it still blew my fuse before it got going since there was a lot of resistance. I found this fascinating since I didn't think the 40amp F4 fuse in the car was blown, it just didn't make any sense...until I went back and looked closer at the fuse, and sure enough it was blown. It was hard to see because it was just down in the middle deep in the fuse and I had to remove the glass cover and physically move it to see that it was gone, *doh!* Anyway I'll be ordering a new SAI, should I do both sides or just the bad one? Suncoast Porsche has OEM right now for about 250 with tax and shipping which is pretty decent from what I've seen around the net. One thing that is really weird is the pump says "made in the USA" (see pic below) on it, that can't be right can it? I think I remember reading somewhere that a Camaro or something's pump will work, maybe that is what went on here? When I cross reference the number I see it is for Cayenne's, were these pumps OEM from the US? Here are some pics:
Check Cayenne parts sources (like Pelican Parts) where they stock both OEM and 3rd party replacements. They are often really good about saying "OEM supplier" for items they carry that they get directly from the component manufacturer rather than getting the same part after it becomes a Porsche part and has a 2 to 5 times markup. Pelican and other similar sites (even Rock Auto has some Cayenne parts with similar info about source of the part) are getting better over time about identifying money-saving ways to get the the right part without paying an arm/leg for it. Also VW dealers may sell the part for a fraction of the Porsche price for the same part. The biggest trick is figuring out where the cheapest version of the actual part or of a "perfect" 3rd party version of whatever you are looking for. Example: 957 Porsche alternator is about $1600 from a dealer... it is an alternator made by Hitachi. Several sites sell the same Hitachi alternator with Hitachi being the source for as low as $830.
Does it look like the foam filter came apart and fouled it? That seems to be an increasingly common problem posted on here. I offer the following advice:
1. There is only the need to replace the bad one. This is only an emissions related part and a bull**** one at that. It will not leave you stranded and as you know is easy to replace.
2. I would take the foam filter one off of your old existing one and whatever new one you purchase. They only run for 60 seconds on cold starts and unless you live the 1920's dust bowl or the sahara during a sandstorm the foam does more harm than good. You may have pieces of the fins deeper down in the valve. Put a borescope down the pipe to check before you put things back together.
1. Any harm in running with bad pumps. I cleaned my out and the pumps looked just like that. Code came back in a week. Driving it now for 15k miles as is.
2. Anyway to remove/bypass and clear the check engine light. No interest in replacing these unless it will damage something down the line.
Just an update, I ended up ordering from Pelican, package arrived today (paid for 2 day shipping). I'm going to also put the car up on the lift tonight and remove and clean the check valve as well, I'm pretty sure some plastic bits made their way down the pipe and would hate for them to blow back up the pipe and ruin the new fan. I've read that removing the air filters as was suggested a few posts ago is a good thing, is that the common consensus? As far as knowing which part that would work on a Camaro I don't know, when I referenced the USA number it still came back as Porsche Cayenne part. I ordered the OEM for almost 300!
Well just a final update to close the thread as help for anyone in the future, the install went fine and that solved the issue as expected. I also pulled the cover off the passenger side (bank 1) and the below filter condition is what I found. It wasn't terrible but was starting to come apart but nothing had been damaged yet so I removed it. The fins are all in excellent shape so hopefully this will delay the other one coming apart and causing the same issue. The only tricky part is getting the checkvalve back on the manifold and putting it in from the underneath side of the car. I suggest you have a helper just hold it as it makes getting the screws back in so much easier. You will need about 2 feet of extensions and a universal joint on the end to get the valve off but it is very straight forward. Do not skip this step if you have an air injection pump that has come apart b/c there will be pieces down in the valve (see picture). After cleaning the valve and hose it was like new which is better than buying a 200 valve. If you skip this step it is likely the exhaust could backflow some of the pieces if the valve gets stuck open and ruin your new $300 air injection pump and you would have to start over.
Honestly the hardest part of the job was when I dropped a damn screw off the passenger side cover and heard the familiar "bing, bang, bump, bing..." into the abyss of the engine somewhere. After searching with my bore scope camera to no avail, It took me over an hour to locate it. I only did so when I cleared my mind, went into a Miyagi like state of consciousness and made love to the bottom of the engine with my hands. Incidentally I found 2 other fasteners left behind I assume by dealer mechanics that must have dropped them
Picture of check valve and pieces of fin that came out of the valve:
State of the passenger side pump filter, removed it after seeing the degradation:
I just found the same issue on my '06CS on the passenger side. I'm gonna guess there are pieces of plastic and foam (the foam filter was gone, but may have been removed previously?) in the check valve, but looking at getting to this one seems to be out of my reach, literally. I'm sure I could get it out, but I cannot reach to put the screws back in so I may be taking this to a shop to have them clean it out before I put another pump on. For now I'll live with the code. Oh, and the fuse was blown. And, this work was done not just because of the code, but because I had recently gotten codes for idle too lean and the car bucked like a bronco yesterday when it was cold. Found the AOS diaphragm torn. Have a new one coming from Paragon. Anyway, old pump is back in place for now, but thanks to this forum I knew what else to look for on both problems.
YES! They are on for such a short period of time and unless you are cold starting in the middle of a dust devil it will be fine. Just remove the pumps and you will figure it out.
05-21-2018, 10:27 AM
Code P0492 - Secondary Air Injection Insufficient Fl
