SandwichZ28

Hey All, new to the forum. I own a 2001 Camaro Z28 with 86,XXX miles. Here's what's goin on, my service engine light came on today. So i took it to autozone to shoot the code and they told me the trouble code was P1416 which was Air System bank 2 fault....probable causes were bad air pump or check valve on passenger side.....how serious is a bad air pump...the camaro is my daily driver and i won't have $ for the parts until next week. So i was wondering how bad it is to be driving the car around with that problem?

myk

iTrader: (4)

This applies to most cars: you could drive a car around that has a check engine light on (not flashing) for the rest of the car's life and you'd never hurt the motor or anything else on the car. Check engine lights are for emissions related issues only so don't worry about it...

lazyhomie

iTrader: (3)

Most of us that have modded our cars have gotten rid of the AIR system in our cars as the only thing it does is put air into the cats to warm them up faster or something along those lines. Pretty much completely useless to most people. Its one of those things put on there by GM to keep the emissions people happy.

SandwichZ28

Awsome! i appreciate the help

myk

iTrader: (4)

Are you in a state that requires your smog equipment to be 100% intact and operational?

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

Whoever told you that lied to your ***. Have you ever seen all the codes listed out? They have become quite extensive and cover just about every operating part of the drive-train in some way shape or another.

myk

iTrader: (4)

No one lied to my ***, but I have to say that 100% of my car knowledge comes out of the Racer's Lounge. When you say "have become quite extensive" do you mean our cars as well? Or just newer cars?

Edit: I looked up my shop manuals so let me amend my post: unless the 'OP is experiencing driveability issues, including gas mileage complaints, then in all likelihood the code is emissions related and will not adversely affect the car in any way during a short term, and that certainly holds true if it's just an AIR pump code...

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

Not trying to bust your ***** here MYK, but cars computers, including 4th gens have become quite extensive and in-depth. Have you ever seen HPTuners in action? Jeez that **** is crazy complicated. I can't even begin to understand the full depth of what goes on in that program. But what it comes down to is the computer monitors every single sensor throughout the car, runs complicated algorithms, and has error codes related to each and every sensor. There is absolutely no telling what system it is related to until you pull the codes. You can have no drivability issues and still have some **** outta whack.

It reminds me of the old school guys who think all you need is air fuel and spark to make a motor run. It is so much more complicated once you give the computer control over the ignition timing and fueling duties. Just because its sparking/fueling doesn't mean its being done correctly bc its not like the old carb/distributor set-ups.

99FormulaM6r

iTrader: (2)

I think one thing to note, however, is that if there's something very serious (braking, cooling, oil, etc.) they use a different light than the "check engine" light. I'm not saying that "check engine" can't be serious, but at least it's not life threatening or will IMMEDIATELY cause engine problems

Either way, I say remove the air system, just waiting for a nice day to get mine off.

blade2222

To the OP, it's more then likely the air pump check valve on bank 2. I've replaced both of mine in the 4 years I've had my car.

joshp14

iTrader: (5)

x2. Check valve gets stuck and wont open. One way to check is to take it off and blow throw it. You should be able to blow through one way and not the other. Common problem on these cars and the C5 corvettes.

cowboysfan

I have air pump and associated hose's removed. HPTUNERS was used to delete this so my engine light would not come on specificly for this.... H/C package here for almost four years and no codes for air pump!!

BRUTL

iTrader: (27)

Wow, you are GROSSLY MISINFORMED. OBDII codes cover a wide variety of issues, not just emissions.

OBD II Codes
P0001-P0299 relate to Fuel and Air Metering/Aux Emissions
P0300-P0399 relate to Ignition System
P0400-P0499 relate to Emissions
P0500-P0599 relate to Idle and Vehicle Speed
P0600-P0699 relate to Computer control circuits
P0700-P0899 relate to Transmission
Then don't forget about all of those Manufacturer Specific P1XXX codes.

Seems like a lot more than emissions there buddy. Go tell someone that they can leave a check engine light alone and watch em melt a hole in one of their pistons because that annoying orange light on the dash is trying to tell them that the motor is dumping a copious amount of fuel into a specific cylinder. Bet you'd feel pretty dumb then.

Carter Hays

Before you go and delete the A.I.R system make sure that your location does not do visual checks when you get it inspected. If they only do OBD II checks then delete it and make sure that you turn the light off and leave the system to a "ready" state. Any capable tuner in a smog test area should know what to do to get it to pass.

FiredUpZ28

.....Please tell me thats a joke. If not, I wouldn't go around spouting that out.

And AIR check valve has no affect on engine performance, get the valve fixed, but I wouldn't classify it as high priority.

The only time a check engine light NEEDS to be addressed then and there is if its flashing. Otherwise unless its causeing a driveability issue its probably only going to affect emissions and fuel economy.

99FormulaM6r

iTrader: (2)

Here, quick question (sorry OP), but does the lack of the AIR system have any effect on the life of your cats? I know it makes them more efficient at first by pumping air into your exhaust (I believe that's how it works, helps with oxidizing the bad stuff....right?), but if you let your car get up to operating temps (get the cats hot) would it really hurt them in the long run?

Carter Hays

Yeah it works to complete combustion (burn off any leftover hydrocarbons) and to help the cats be more efficient. It works upstream open loop cold engine, downstream closed loop hot engine.

I don't think it will shorten the life of cats to remove the system, they just won't be quite as efficient. When I worked for a Porsche/Audi dealer they sent us to training, and I have forgotten just about all the emissions stuff they taught us

It does clean up the engine bay deleted, but if it's not broken I would leave it on a daily driver. GM has always had one of the uglier systems.

wes1972

Got the same code on my car. Bought a code reader and resset it if it bothers me to much. Light has been on for about 2 years now. I pull the codes just to make sure nothing else is wrong bout every 6 months.

55smiles66

I'm also new here I have 01 mc SS with smog pump light on and at times it will flash I disconected the fuse but it shows 2 same code but one has a imblem idk what it is

dabest09

iTrader: (1)

My light has been on for over a month now with this code. What's the easiest way to fix it? I don't want to delete the air system just yet, I'll do that when I get headers.