Secondary Air Pump: Filter Ingested. Downstream Damage to Valve?

The check engine and anti-slip lights came on in my 2011 4 cyl. I'm getting two codes, P0418 Secondary Air Injector Relay A Malfunction and C1201 Engine Control System Malfunction. After searching here, I pulled the secondary air pump and took it apart. Sure enough, the foam filter had been completely ingested and part of it (I think) was stuck in the fan blades (see photo). I was unaware of this issue and the uni filter mod until reading several threads here.



I called the dealer, who said that a CSB (I've only heard of a TSB?) might cover this issue but their system was down, so I won't know until tomorrow. Assuming its not covered, my question is how far down the line should I be looking for damage from the ingested filter? I'm concerned that parts of the foam filter made it thru the pump and into the valve or beyond (I only found the rolled up portion of the filter shown in the picture--there was nothing in the filter cavity).

Can I check the valve without disassembling it? If parts of the filter made it thru the valve, would they clog the port where cold air flows into the exhaust or cause problems with the catalytic converter? Or would they just burn off when the exhaust combusts.

I'm likely going to try cleaning the pump and reinstalling it with the uni filter mod (assuming the dealer will not fix it under some sort of extended warranty). I just don't want to reinstall it and keep running if there is further damage to worry about. Also, is there any way to pull out the impeller and clean out the bottom side?

Any advice or ideas would be appreciated.

 

If this were me. I would reassemble everything and have the dealer look at it and make a determination is they will pay or not. If yo tamper with it and they know that you did they may refuse under the grounds that you have tampered with it. It could be a thousand dollars or so to repair on your dime.

You have a 4 cylinder. I haven't heard of too many cases of the 4 cylinder having issues with this.

 

I agree. I'm just thinking ahead for when they tell me its not covered. I don't necessarily want to spend $1000+ having them fix it, especially if something else might break as a result. I'm not going to mess with it further until I hear back, but I don't have much hope that my model year is covered, and I'm out of warranty. Any advice as to how to troubleshoot things myself if the dealer is of little help?

 

If they won't touch it, I would attempt to remove the rotted filter element and clean the pump assembly. Open the top of the injection valve and clean it also. As for down stream of there it is only the exhaust system. Give it a shot. I have seen several threads about how to delete this system, but I don't know how great that has been or what it would cost.

I hope that they cover it for you. Let us Know as I have a 2012...

This is how it works basically:

 

When you say injection valve, do you mean the "air switching valve" in your diagram? Is there any way to disassemble the pump to clean under the impeller? I will definitely follow up with what the dealer says.

 

Yes Injection valve = Air Switching Valve (ASV).

I don't know if you could disassemble the impeller or not. It is plastic and prone to breaking.

 

Thanks for the quick help!

 

You have a 2011? What's the production date of the truck?

 

Nov. 2010 is my production date. So I don't think I would be covered under that program.

 

As a relative newcomer to TW, I don't have any valuable insight into this issue. Just want to say that it sucks you have to deal with this, @championsleeper. Hopefully you can get it fixed quickly and for little cost.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go pop the hood and ensure my uni-filter is mounted securely.

 

Have you tried clearing out the debris and clearing the codes?

 

Dealership said my model year is not covered under any warranty or recall, etc. He said they typically replace the valve at minimum when they find an ingested filter.

I cleaned out the pump and reinstalled, but it doesn't run on startup. The electrical connector for the pump is showing about 9v at startup. The pump runs if I connect it to a car battery. Is 9v normal or does that indicate a problem elsewhere (alternator)? I'm also thinking I should have checked for a bad relay to begin with (I only played with the fuse).

Edited: Found some alligator clips to connect pump via connector, so that's not the issue.

 

I think I am going to inspect my pump and install the Unifilter I bought a few years ago.

 

I was concerned about water splashing up onto the unifilter perhaps being pull into the pump or, worse, the valves. I have no cap as other do. I cut a can that now covers the filter and tube. I found one with about a quarter inch of clearance around the filter. I drilled a hole at the end of unilter and can. Then I put a matching size bolt through the filter and one nut of either side of filter top to hold everything securely and tightened it all down. I slid the cut can over the filter on to the bolt, I tightened that with a wing nut (because that is what I am) and tightened that final nut. The wing nut allows me to take the can off easily and inspect when I get the urge. The can fits pretty snug up against the filter housing but yet with plenty of room for air flow. If there is a splash it hits the can not the filter.

 

Buy this and send that SAI system to the bin where it belongs

https://hewitt-tech.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=82

 

From what I've read, the pump doesn't run continuously. It will run during initial start up on the 12's (yours being a 2011 has me puzzled as to why you have one) and from your bio, the 11's (and maybe 10's? Sorry, rambling). From the 13's and on, the pump runs during startup and again about 5-15 minutes after shutdown. So if you're worried about water ingestion, unless you start or shutdown your vehicle in a river, I wouldn't worry about water ingestion. The pump only runs for a min or two during those times. IIRC the 13's were supposed to fix the filter issue by having the pump run again after shutdown to effectively dry the filter/components from moisture accumulation to help prevent the filter from deteriorating.

-J

 

All of the 05-15 4 cylinders had the SAI junk unfortunately. The 4.0 didn't get plagued with that until 2012 like you mentioned

 

O.P. this problem has had lots of threads for years now on how to avoid this,you should of did the uni filter mod.

 

I've ordered the UNI filter. My issue remains how to get the pump to turn on. I think its an electrical issue at this point. The original code was Secondary Air Injector Relay A Malfunction. I can't find a relay for this motor anywhere. I checked the fuse box, but the closest I saw was A/F heater (another thread mentioned an A/I relay being responsible). I switched that with the horn relay and no change.

Where the heck is the relay that turns the pump motor on?