I have been struggling to get my car to pass Texas inspection due to the check engine light. Let me start from the beginning and see if you can help.

I bought the car a little over a year ago with about 110K miles on it and it now has 155k. A few days after I bought the car from a shady used car lot, the check engine light came on so they probably had disconnected the battery so it wasn't on when I bought it. The sunroof leaks because it is stuck just slightly open but that should not be affecting anything now as I have caulked it shut with clear marine caulk.

I will try to keep this short by doing a list instead of paragraphs, ask for more details if you need them:

Engine Cooling Fan motor went bad and I drove it some with it over heating before knowing that is what went bad. Has been replaced.

Burns oil, about a quart every month or so. An oil change mechanic said it is not leaking just burning oil but it does look like a leak around the engine valve gasket.

Car revved up high when I put it in park from when I bought it to a few days ago (see below for fix). I would never let it rev for long, once I put it in park I would shut it off immediately.

I can remove the key anytime, even when the car is running. It doesn't bother me as I can leave the car running and run in side while locking the doors.

Car had a long list of codes but a vacuum line was disconnected so when I reconnected it and cleared the codes I had just the p0410. Hear is what I have done:

Cleaned Throttle Body, IAC, and Throttle Position Sensor. This fixed the high idle in park but did not clear the code.

Cleaned all the lines of the secondary air system (the metal pipe to the exhaust manifold was loaded with carbon and so was the exhaust manifold). I do not know where the air goes when it goes from the pipe to the manifold but I tried to clean the manifold as much as possible and sprayed carbon cleaner in it.

I watched Richpin's video and completed everything to the last part but I do not want to take the exhaust manifold off to clean it if I don't have to so I am asking for your help. According to his video, the p0410 code is the O2 sensor or I have to take the exhaust manifold off and clean it.

So I did what anyone would do to try and solve this inexpensively. I put a used 02 sensor in to see if that was the problem. I don't know if the O2 sensor was good, I just didn't want to buy a new one if mine wasn't bad. Since I did that, I now have the p0410 code and p0301 (misfire first cylinder).

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am about to take this car back to Florida where they don't have state inspections and sell it but I don't want to because it has been a good car. The car runs perfectly fine except for the codes so I have no idea what the problems are. I still get 30+ mpg on the highway and 20+ in the city.

 

The P0410 code is the secondary air injection. The first step is to verify that the electric motor is working. It could have a blown fuse or bad relay or the motor itself could be bad. The motor only runs for a few minutes when the engine is cold so they usually last the life of the car.

The tubes between the reed valve and the manifold can get clogged up, so can the reed valve itself. It is easy to take apart and clean so I would suggest that you do this. The hardest part to clean is the molded tube in the exhaust manifold. Remove the stainless steel line, and squirt some PB Blaster or SeaFoam into the tube and let it sit overnight. If you have some kerosene, you can use that instead. Then use the little extension tube with a can of spray carburetor cleaner and spray out this passageway until you get no sprayback. If you get sprayback, the passageway is still blocked.

In the worse case, you could use a small gage steel wire and probe down into the passageway to try to mechanically unblock it. Keep going at it with the overnight soaks and carb spray until it is clear.

Check for a bad intake manifold gasket around the #1 cylinder. It is a weakness with this engine. It will cause a high idle and a misfire on the #1 cylinder. With the engine running, spray some carburetor cleaner or seafoam or wd40, or just about anything around the gasket of the #1 port. If the idle is affected at all, good or bad, that means the gasket is leaking. Replace with a felpro gasket, do not use another factory gasket.

 

Thanks for the info. I will try the PB Blaster and see if I can get the passage way unblocked. I don't want to remove the exhaust manifold if at all possible. I have until Feb 6th to get this to pass inspection or I might be using the kerosene and a match LOL

I have tested every other part of the secondary air system and know that the pump is working.

Just so I know, from the stainless steel line into the exhaust manifold, where does this "molded tube" go? Left? Right? Down? Just trying to figure which what I need to make sure gets cleaned out or maybe it goes all directions.

BTW, I posted in this part of forum because I just read S-Series and didn't realize there was a separate forum for the coupes.

 

The tube molded into the manifold goes to the warm up cat (pre cat as it is sometimes called) When the engine is cold, the computer runs the engine a little rich in order to keep it alive, but that leaves little oxygen for the cat to do its job. Thats what the secondary air injector is for, to provide air to the warm up cat. The warm up cat is that canister that is attached to the outlet of the manifold. You can see where the tube is going on the outside of the manifold, most of it anyway. The tube is clear if there is no spray back when you use the little red tube attached to the nozzle of your can of spray carburetor cleaner (aka Gumout) and stick it down into the tube in the manifold.