I've got 115k miles on my 1.8T, and I'm getting an engine code that says there is a problem with the secondary air intake system - blocked air hose or bad air pump.

I had it at the shop and they said the air pump is noisy, cleared the code (after replacing a ruptured air hose), and it didn't come back for 2 days.

My question since I don't know much about engines:
How important is this Air Pump?
Can I wait until it fails?
And why oh why is the part in the $300-$350 range?!?!?

Thanks.

 

It's not very important. It runs for the first 30 secs- 1 min. after a cold start to inject fresh air into the cylinder head for cleaner emissions. You can certainly wait for it to fail. You'll just get a steady CEL, and it might sound like a jet engine on a cold start for a minute when it completely fails, but no big deal. Don't know why its so pricey. There is a writeup somehwere that shows how to crack open the pump and replace the bearing(s) that go bad. If someone could find it that would be awesome. I'd sticky it.