"check engine" light

Hi Forks, I have questions again with my 1996 Volvo 850, it just turns to 90K tonight, I was thinking I may have a birthday Party for it -:)

Anyway, ever since this car was after 60K, the 'check engine" light goes on every 3-4 weeks. The error code is always P0410, which has somthing to do with the bad air pump. What I usually do is

  1. disconnect the battery for 5-10 minutes.
  2. reconnect the battery.
  3. re-enter the car radio code, After that that light will be off until the next round. As long as it does not damage the car, I am OK with it.

But this time, something is strange, the "check engine" light is on again, I did the same procedures as usual, and after I start the car, the "check engine" light comes back right away. I have tried several times, it keeps the same.

I even borrowed that "OBD-|| " box from AUTOZONE to erase the CODE. Still no Good !

Any ideas what the problem might be ?

-cji

Reply to
chunji08
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I fount this at another site:

P0410 Secondary Air Injection System code.

Turns out the valve has allowed water into the pump which was saturated when it was removed. The assembly is located below the battery and pump + valve was almost $400! I had to get this fixed due to emissions testing, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered since there is no performance issue.

Another person replied:

If you don't want to fix it, you don't have to. The CEL will stay off for anywhere between 300 - 1000 miles in my experience and if your car is good an hot when you bring it in for inspection there's no reason for it to fail (unless the check engine light is on). The air pump only helps heat the cat up at cold start, so if you are at operating temp it's not doing anything.

Mine has been out of commission for a few months now and I passed emissions in NY with flying colors.

No drivability implications either. The only concern is that I have heard fuel trim is cut if the check engine light is on, so you may want to keep reseting the light to avoid running rich/lean for too long.

Reply to
Dale

When my '96 850 started periodically kicking on the P0410 (Secondary Air injection) code, I replaced the bypass valve, the air pump, and the solenoid valve (in that order). In all, I spent $600 on the problem, in parts alone, and it never fixed it.

-----

-RL ('76 262, '78 264, '87 240, '89 240, '96 850, '96 850, '05 Acura TSX)

Reply to
Robert Lutwak

My question is it should be at least 3- 4 weeks before the check-engine light goes on again.

Why this time it goes on right after I reset the code ?

-cji

Reply to
chunji08

OBDII systems put a lot of codes in "pending" - a sort of purgatory where conditions are watched for a while. When the system decides it has had enough it sets the light - which could be after a number of cycles of watching and deciding it was a false alarm. If you have a condition that is getting worse (which is what it sounds like you have) it will progress more smartly from "let's keep an eye on this" to "that's enough of that."

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

My suggestion is now you have something else wrong too. The air pump system is only checked by the computer after the car has been driven for some time (i.e. warmed up) and is at idle. Anything that turns the check engine light on right away has to be something that is continuously monitored, like an oxygen sensor.

Reply to
Mike F

Whould there be some OBD number that I may get when an oxygen sensor is failed? And what is the symptons when this part is mul-function.

thanks,

cji

Mike F wrote:

Reply to
chunji08

Yes, there are several different codes possible, depending on what exactly is wrong. Symptoms can be anything from none at all to poor mileage and right up to rough running and low power. You need to know what the codes are to proceed from here.

Reply to
Mike F

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