Hey fellas,

I need help determing what part or parts are the culprits for this CEL code.
I went to Autozone to have it read and they gave me a printout of the code:

P0411 - Secondary air injection system fault
Probable causes:
Circuit relay defective or fuse open
Check connector and wiring
Air Pump defective or hoses blocked.

I did a search and some people had this same code but there were never any posts about what solved this issue. I recently changed out my valve cover gaskets, spark plugs, plug wires, breather hose, and suction pump. If it's an air pump, where exactly is the air pump or the hoses going away from it????

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

P0411= Secondary air injection system incorrect flow detected. So from what that fault is showing there isn't a problem with the electrical system. You either have a bad secondary air pump, or a vaccum line is broken somewhere by the combi valves on the back of the head. The combi valves are the steel looking canisters on the back of the head with a small vaccum line going into each of them. Follow the vaccum lines from the combi valve until you find a break in the vac lines (most likely) NOTE: you won't hear a vaccum leak un-less the pump is engaged.
The secondary air pump is directly under the air box, you have to take the belly pan off to see it.
My money is on a broken vaccum line.

 

THANKS SO MUCH AUDITECH. I'm looking now and have pretty much removed everything in sight and am searching lines. question: you say combi valves are on the back of the heads...so are there two?? i think i found one...round and has a vacuum line leaving it. i haven't found a second one yet. also the one i found is on the passenger side close to the firewall.

 

do u advise starting the engine with the air filter and Maf removed along with the beauty covers in order to hear a vacuum leak?

 

There should be two of them, one bolted to the back of each cylinder head. Starting the engine won't help because these really aren't vaccum lines, they are only active when the secondary air pump is running (sounds like a vaccum cleaner) So you would need a VAG COM to manually activate it which you don't have, so your gonna have to do it the hard way and followthe linesmanually.

 

okay i followed the line from the passenger side combi valve and it seems to run to the other combi valve only. are there other vacuum lines that i need to look at?

 

Nope, time to take the belly pan off and start to follow the really large lines from the air pump for any large holes. These lines are plastic so finding a leak should be easy if you feel around the hoses. On of the hoses that comes from the pump goes to the air box, follow that big plastic line from the air box down to the air pump for any leaks and there should be one other one.
If no problems with these lines are found the secondary air pump is bad. Your not gonna be able to test the voltage to the pump un-less you have a VAG COM so make sure you do a real good inspection of all the lines before condeming the pump.

 

does the secondary air pump like like a steel drum with lines coming out of it? is it located under the passenger side headlight?

 

No it looks like a huge honkin black plastic thing under the air box. Your gonna see two of those big black plastichoses coming out of it. Gotta take the belly pan off to see it. Passenger's side.

 

Thanks for the help. I'll have to reattach everything in order to start the car and put it up on my ramps. Then I can trace the big lines from the air pump that you were talking about.

Thanks again.