Secondary Air Injection Shutoff Valve

[ImageX]

Greetings! First time posting.Anyway, got my vibe last wed. (11/05/03) and love it! On mon. (11/10/03) I was getting ready to leave work and started her up to let her warm up. CEL comes on. Ok figured I got stupid and didn't get the gas cap on properly. Shut her off reset cap knew it had to cycle three time drove her home. No joy on CEL shutting off. Called dealer to get it in to get looked at.Tues. they call me and tell me that the secondary air injection shut off valve is stuck closed. Error code P2441. They replaced the valve after having to next day it in from chicago. Cleared code, test drove it, everything fine.They called GM tech. assistance after comparing the two valves and GM said they have one other case of a P2441 that is still open and couldn't help with further assistance as my vibe is operating properly at this time.Got my vibe back today so hopefully it is fixed and my CEL won't come back.Can someone explain/point me to info. on what the SAI is? Tried a serch here and came up dry, and didn't see anything metioned in the manual.Thanks!

[cohocarl]

Not quite sure what they are calling an air injection shutoff valve. My guess would be something to do with the fast idle/fuel enrichment mode when it's cold, but just guessing.

[joatmon]

I can't find anything like that in the service manual, which doesn't mention error code P2441. The only error code ending in 441 is error code P0441, which is "Evaporative Emission (EVAP) System No Flow During Purge", so if the error code was P0441 instead of P2441, then I would expect what the dealer called a "Seconday Air Injection Shutoff Valve" is probably some control valve that the engine uses to control how much air in allowed into the intake from the evaporative emission controls system. The manual mentions a device in the EVAP controls section that it calls "Auxilliary Intake Air Control Solenoid", which initially sounds different from a SAI shutoff valve, but the words could mean the same thing. If the valve was stuck shut, maybe it wasn't making use of the EVAP system. So, my best guess is that it was an emissions thing.

[MadBill]

New for '04 is, I believe, a secondary air injection system (often called a "smog pump"). A sticking check valve in the line from the pump to the exhaust manifold would prevent the air from flowing, thus affecting emissions, so likely there is a sensor to detect this problem and turn on the CEL. (If Nova was still with us, bet he'd have this one nailed...)

[joatmon]

I only have the 2003 service manual That would explain why the error code wasn't listed. Thanks for correcting me (I agree about Nova)

[threekrows]

The secondary AIR system helps reduce exhaust emissions. The system forces fresh filtered air into the exhaust stream in order to accelerate the catalyst operation. An electric air pump, the secondary AIR injection pump, provides filtered air on demand to the AIR shut-off valve. The AIR shut-off valve controls the flow of air from the AIR pump to the exhaust manifold. The AIR solenoid valve supplies the manifold vacuum that is used to operate the AIR shut-off valve. A pressure sensor is used to monitor the air flow from the AIR pump. By comparing the measured pressure against the expected pressure, the pressure sensor can detect faults in the AIR pump, AIR shut-off valve, and the AIR solenoid valve. The pressure sensor can also detect leaks in the secondary AIR system plumbing.The code p2441 sets when the pressure sensor does not detect exhaust gas pulsations when the AIR shut-off valve should be open.

[ImageX]

Thanks for the info. everyone. Yes I should have mentioned it is an 04.