# Error Codes P1296 and P0492



## titanium73 (Mar 16, 2008)

A week ago I drove back to OSU from Portland and as I was beginning my trip I noticed an the check engine light on. Since the car was running fine I continued my drive. A day or two later I went to autozone and the guy there told me I had a "code p1296 cooling system malfunction." The day after that I went to Jack Scofield VW in Corvallis and they replaced a coolant temperature sensor and also cleaned the fuel injection system since I had a misfiring problem that morning and there seemed to be extraordinary carbon buildup. 
The next day I was driving along when the car suddenly lost power. Pushing the gas did nothing. The car ran very choppy and the ECS light was on, but I managed to get it into a parking lot. Long story short: I paid eighty dollars







to get my car towed to the dealership. They said nothing they did had caused it so they would not reimburse me for the tow. It was something about the electronic monitoring of the butterfly valve in the throttle body.
Today I was driving and the check engine light came on again. So I stop by autozone again and the car throws code p0492. They had no idea what the number meant. All I can find is "secondary Air Injection System (Bank 2)." What is wrong? Can I fix it? Can I hold the dealership liable for the ECS light coming on the day after they serviced my car?


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## titanium73 (Mar 16, 2008)

Anyone?


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## VR6_GTI (May 10, 2006)

*Re: (titanium73)*

its your secondary air injection system. it pumps air into the exhaust stream for emissions. check to make sure there are no air leaks and its sealed up good, check the relay, and the solenoid valve. i would also take a look at your MAF and clean it for the rough run issue. you would be surprised at how many cars you fix by just cleaning the MAF with electrical contact cleaner. i would also clean and readapt the throttlebody. check those then get back to me.


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## spitpilot (Feb 14, 2000)

*Re: (VR6_GTI)*

Have you replaced all the little vaccum hoses that snake all over this engine? These devils (little hoses with fabric woven sheath) fool ya..look OK from the outside, but the rubber under the fabric hardens and cracks from engine heat (most are on top of engine where it gets good 'n hot)...one or more of these hoses crap out and it could explain both the misfires...from vaccum leak causing lean mixture..and the secondary air injection trouble code. The secondary air injection system self diagnoses..and if it detect low/no flow you'll get a code...the flow is controlled by the 'Kombi valves" located behind each cylinder head and the Kombi valves work with...ta dah..drumroll here...vaccum from the little vaccum lines! VW has seen this problem B4 'cause they've got a kit to rebuild the Kombi valve vaccum system on the V6! It has the hard lines that run across the engine and some beefed up rubber elbow connectors to plug into the Kombi valves..I got mine at 1st VW parts...you can buy the little vaccum line at the dealer by the meter..takes two meters to replace all the lines! Bet that might just fix your issues!


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## titanium73 (Mar 16, 2008)

The dealer cleaned and readapted the throttle body, but wouldn't pay for the tow. I just drove back from Oregon State University and bought a service manual and six feet of vacuum hose. I'm going to try replacing the vacuum hose and get the guys at autozone to reset the code and see if it happens again. Thanks for the tips.


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## spitpilot (Feb 14, 2000)

*Re: (titanium73)*

Just make sure you replace those little hoses one at a time! They really get like a bag of snakes up there where the vac relay board is on top of the motor..BTW the vac control valve for the secondary inj control is up there...trace the lines back to if from the Kombi valves..disconnect the line to the valves..then when you start engine (cold start only) jump out and feel for vaccum by puttin your finger over the outlet of the control valve...you don't feel vaccum...valve isn't opening ...quick shut engine off B4 it gets warm..then connect a voltmeter to the connector pug that goes into the valve....restart engine..if it reads 12V and you got no vaccum..valve has failed.


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## titanium73 (Mar 16, 2008)

Here's the skinny on what I believe the problem was, although I have not yet reset the ECM to see if the light comes back. It appears that on one of what I believe to be the solenoids a cap was missing on the one unused port. I used a screw and some vacuum tubing to make a new cap. I started the car and plugged the hole during the cold start and the engine immediately responded so i am confident that was the problem. I hate jack scofield VW of Corvallis, OR because they do sloppy, shoddy work and cause another problem for every one they fix.


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