RAW gas smell! - 98 V70R Air Pump & fault codes...

[mr_chase]

Check Engine light on... & I smell raw gas after reducing speed from hwy driving:

- code PO 410;
- told that I need a new secondary air pump & air pump check valve;
- air pump cycles on when cold start -- extra strain on battery, coupled with weak alternator...

Does all this make sense? There was a hole drilled into the bottom of the air pump to ensure that there was no water "hitch hiking" in there...

Secondary Air Pump kit (incl. check valve and gaskets, etc.) avail on eBay for $383.00 -- good deal?

Thanks, guys!

123K 1998 V70R

[chuckcintron]

If you can hear the air pump running (and it doesn't sound like a dying hamster on a broken hamster wheel), then I'd be surprised that you'd need to replace it. There are three other electro-mechanical components that need to be considered:

a. The SAS (check) valve.
b. The SAS valve control solenoid.
c. The air pump relay.

I might want to bench test the air pump first before I replaced it. Same for the solenoid. Pretty easy to remove and jumper with 12VDC to see if it is opening and closing. Also, check the vacuum line from the solenoid to the SAS valve, to make sure it hasn't become brittle and cracked.

Maybe the problem is that your air pump is working fine, but either the SAS valve has failed and won't open, or the solenoid has failed and won't route vacuum for the SAS valve to open...either would throw a P0410.

If the air pump is working then the relay is okay.

-Chuck