i have been throwing a code for incorrect secondary air injection for awhile now and i decided to tacklethe issue last weekend. i checked for blown fuses first but couldnt find one in the normal fuse box so then ipulled out the pump to check its condition. i then read on the forum that its fuse is not kept in the normal fuse box, but instead its located in the box with the ECU in the engine bay. well sure enough, the fuse was blown. so i thought great, thats it. so i put the pump back in and started the car and now i have a weird noise coming from the area of the pump. everyone on the forums described a dieing pump as sounding like a jet engine and mine doesnt really sound like that. but what most concerns me is that i have an idle surge now while the car is cold. in the first 30 seconds after starting the car (when the pump would be on), the car surges and it actually makes the headlights and interior lights dim when it surges too. the only thing i can think of why its surging is cause when i was taking off one of the hoses, the little latching clip broke on 1 side of 1 of the hoses so the hose doesnt stay attached perfectly anymore. would that cause the surge though?? it threw a CEL yesterday too,and threw 2 codes. 1 for the secondary air injection (so i guess the blown fuse wasnt the problem) and a new one p1117 (manufacturing control fuel air meter) i'm guessing that has something to do with theMAF but i didnt unplug the maf and i looked anddidnt find anything unplugged so i dont know about that one. any connection??? i figured i would pull the fuse out again and see if that makes my noise go away, just so i know if its the pump or not making the noise, but that still wont help my idle surge. any help on this would be great

 

Likely that the fuse blew because your air-pump has already self destructed. I have been running without mine for better part of a year now. constant CEL, but not hurting anything.

As for the surging - not sure. MAF can cause that - might just be coincidental that it is happening now.

Now, p1117 can often point to a short-to-grounding issue, which in turn can cause MAF and O2 sensor malfunction. I would think you have a wiring issue somewhere (probably the wiring harness by the ECU - you were mucking with that right?).

 

no i didnt mess with any wiring at all. i only checked the fuse in the ECU's box and the only wiring at all that i unplugged were the sensors that i had to unplug to remove the airbox. i know that the secondary air system is not crucial, but the CEL drives me nuts. and i dont have a vag to erase the code so i have to undo the battery everytime and then i have to reset my clock and everything again afterwards and that is getting really annoying. i would really like to just fix this stupid problem so my CEL wont keep coming on. where would some grounding wires be located that might be shorting to ground?

 

any other suggestions??

 

I would be surprised if the problem with your SAP were electrical. It's a pretty common problem and I've never read anything about the cause being bad wiring. My headlights and interior lights don't also dim, but on cold starts, my tach starts out at about 1200 rpms and then drops to normal after about 30 seconds...is that what you're talking about? That's normal...rpms drop when the SAP shuts off. If you've checked all the hoses and you have a constant CEL, the pump itself is probably bad.

 

no thats not what i'm talking about. i know that the rpms are higher on first start up and then drop after a little while to normal operating rpm's after the SAP stops running. but my car is idle surging in that first 30 seconds. as in, instead of idling at like 1500 and then dropping to 700 like normal after 30 seconds, mine is idling at 1500 then 1200 then 1500 then 1200...up and down. it does this idle surging the entire time that the SAP pump would be running but after the 30 seconds or so, then the idle drops down to around 700 like normal and the surging goes away. so my questions is this....why would me removing the SAP and then reinstalling it make me have this idle surging problem while its running? at the time that i did this work, i aldo threw a code for the mass airflow sensor but that hasnt come back since. either has the CEL for my secondary air pumo, but i havent let the car idle long enough on cold starts for it to come on. my CEL only comes on when i let the car idle for a couple minutes before driving. any more advice?

 

check for the sai hoses for cracks and the vac line to the combi valve is intake. The pump could be takinga dump also.

 

so if either of the hoses connected to the secondary air pump are cracked then that will cause the idle surging? cause one of the hoses is definitely messed up a little bit at the connection point to the SAP. the locking clip broke on one side so it doesnt stay conencted flush against the pump on one side of the hose. i dont think my SAP is even working though cause i cant hear it at all on start up, and i have reached under the car and felt it with my hand right after starting the car and it doesnt feel like itsvibrating or making any internal movements. so if the pump isnt working anyways, why would it matter if there is an air leak in the hose?

 

The secondary air system in NO WAY will affect engine performance, if you're worried about idle surging then i would check the fault codes.
Another common problem for idle surging is carbon build up on the throttle valve, take off the hose going into the throttle body and clean off all that black crap on the valve with some brake cleaner.

 

i checked my codes last weekend and the only codes i threw were 1 for the SAP and 1 for the MAF. the MAF code popped up for the first time on the day that i removed and reinstalled the SAP. the MAF code went away and hasnt come back and either has the code for the SAP. but i havent let the car idle long enough for the CEL to come on for the secondary air pump though so that is why that code hasnt come back. the only reason why i'm making the connection between the SAP and the idle surging is because the idle surging started as soon as i pulled out the SAP and reinstalled it. all i did was take out the airbox and remove the SAP, then reinstall everything...and ever since then i have had idle surging. but it only surges when the RPM's are higher on cold starts (the initial 30 seconds or so, when the SAP would be on). that is why i'm trying to figure out what is making the idle surge. i havent found any disconnected or damaged vacuum lines and the car runs great once its warmed up. so what am i missing here? i mean, i can clean out my throttle body but i find it hard to believe that buildup on the valve all of a sudden starts making my car idle surge on the exact day that i was working on the SAP.