Land Rover Repair: 2003 Land Rover Discovery Secondary Air Pump & Valve, land rover discovery, 2003 land rover discovery

Question
Hello John,
First off want to thank you for your time.  A few months back I had my check engine light come on with the P1417 code in my 2003 Land Rover Discovery.  I took it into my mechanic and he stated that it was a secondary air system malfunction.  Basically stating that the secondary air pump that helps pump air into the motor is starting to fail.  He said it wasn't vital to fix it right away, but that I could chance damaging my catalytic converter.  Today my fiance' was driving the vehicle and the check engine light started flashing for about a minute in span two different times.  She pulled off both times and turned the car off.  After working she drove it 50 miles with out it reoccurring.  I am guessing that its possible the catalytic converter is starting to get damaged causing the check engine light to flash so I am ordering the Secondary Air pump as we speak and this is where my question comes into place.  I also visited my local Land Rover dealership and they stated that I would need to replace both of the valve assembly's located by the vacuum pump.  The problem with them is they are known to tell people things need to be replaced when they don't necessarily need to be.  They stated there are two of them and I wanted to see if you think that is necessary to replace those??  From reading your post's it looks like with a flashing check engine light indicates that I might be having some misfiring issues.  I inspected the vehicle and its not misfiring at all.  In fact it is running really well.  I know its hard to pin point exactly what it is with out seeing it, but I think the secondary air pump is probably the issue.  If it's not that, what could it be??  Also do I need to stop driving this vehicle until it is repaired.  She drives about 100 miles a day and I don't want to damage the vehicle by driving it.  Let me know what you think.  I truly appreciate your time and what you do for the Land Rover Community!  Thanks again!  Chase  

Answer
First of all, the secondary air system WILL NOT cause a flashing check engine light.  About the only cause of that is ignition misfire.  I would urge you to read the codes and that's probably what you will find.  Could be plugs, wires, coils, or something else.  It is not the secondary air pump though.

As to the secondary air . . . there is a test routine in the T4 test system the dealers and we use.  That would allow us to tell which of the valves and pump were actually bad.  In the absence of a test the thing to do is to change the pump and both valves and make sure the hoses are air tight.   However you feel about the dealer that particular advice was sound.

So I encourage you to fix the secondary air but the flashing light is a more serious problem and you should surely tend to that too.  Get the codes read . . .


Good luck,

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