P2444
Secondary Air Injection System Pump Stuck On (Bank 1)
- Severity
- Medium
- Driving
- Drivable — book it in
The secondary air injection pump on bank 1 is stuck on - running when it should have stopped. These pumps are designed to run for about a minute at a time, and running continuously overheats them and wears them out quickly. It also keeps pushing air into the exhaust, which makes the oxygen sensors read lean and causes the module to add fuel it does not need.
Possible causes
- CommonPump relay contacts welded closed
- CommonWiring shorted to voltage on the pump control circuit
- CommonCorroded relay socket
- PossibleControl module commanding the pump continuously because of another fault
- RareFailed control module driver
What you might notice
- Loud buzzing or whirring from the engine bay that does not stop
- Noise continuing after the engine is switched off, in some cases
- Battery draining
- Worse fuel economy
- Check engine light on
What to check, in order
- Remove the pump relay to stop the pump while you diagnose. Leaving it running risks destroying a pump that may currently be perfectly good.
- Swap the relay with an identical one and see whether the fault follows it. Welded contacts are the most common cause.
- Check whether the control circuit is being held high electrically.
- Inspect the relay socket for corrosion and heat damage.
- Check the fuel trims - continuous air into the exhaust makes the module add fuel, and that is where the extra consumption comes from.
Read this code from your own car
Plug an ELM327 adapter into the OBD-II port under the dashboard. Pin16 reads every stored, pending and permanent code, explains each one like this page does — offline, with no account — and shows what the car recorded when the fault was set.
Where this code sits
P00xxP01xxP02xxP03xxP04xxP05xxP06xxP07xxP08xxP09xxP0AxxP0BxxP0CxxP0DxxP0ExxP0FxxP10xxP11xxP12xxP13xxP14xxP15xxP16xxP17xxP18xxP19xxP1AxxP1BxxP1CxxP1DxxP1ExxP1FxxP20xxP21xxP22xxP23xxP24xxP25xxP26xxP27xxP28xxP29xxP2AxxP2BxxP2CxxP2DxxP2ExxP2FxxP30xxP31xxP32xxP33xxP34xxP35xxP36xxP37xxP38xxP39xxP3AxxP3BxxP3CxxP3DxxP3ExxP3Fxx