Secondary Air Injection Valve Replacement write up. Check Engine Light with P2441 code

2008 Tundra 5.7 Limited CrewMax 158,121 miles. Purchased by me in 2017.

I believe all of this information is applicable to the 2.5 gen Tundras as well.

So I bought a base model 2012 hatchback Subaru Impreza to help offset some of these crazy gas prices. My goal is to drive the Tundra a few times a month for fun or when I need to pull the boat or whatever. I miss driving her, but the savings on gas are paying for the car. It's basically a free car. Anyway, I hate letting vehicles sit because I know it always seems to cause issues.

Well, I got into the Tundra to move it the other day and the Check Engine light was on. First time in 5 years I've seen any light other than tire pressure monitoring and maintenance. I ran the OBD2 scanner and the got the dreaded, but all too common, P2441 code (Secondary Air Injection System switching valve stuck closed bank 1).


I knew what this was right away because my buddy had the same code and had to replace his valves in his '07 a couple years ago. The funny thing is, mine drove just fine with the code. My buddies' was in "limp" mode, wouldn't go over 35 mph.

So I got online and bought the Secondary Air Injection Check Valve from Amazon for $199. The brand and model was the Dorman 911-643



I watched a few videos on the process. It's relatively straight forward. The Air Intake Valve sits on the back/top part of the engine, underneath and behind the Air Intake Manifold. The whole removal process took about 50 minutes. The installation process took about 90 minutes. It's really not too bad. The issue is, it can be very difficult to get to and remove the 2 bolts on the left and right side bottom of the valve body, holding it in place. You can see two of the bolt holes in the photo above on the far left side underneath the main body. There's one big hole for the air to flow through and two smaller holes where the bolts go.

So you have two options. You can either suck it up and attempt to remove the entire assembly, body and valves. Or, you can just remove the two valves on top which are the cause of the issue and held on by four T25 torx bolts per valve. The body is simply a cast piece that lets air flow through. I'm not saying the quicker, easier fix is the "best" option, but it is the one I chose.

One more note: while you have all of this stuff off, it might be a good time to change out your spark plugs if you haven't done them in a while. They are much easier to access when the intake manifold is off.

The job starts with the removal of the air intake manifold.



There are 8 bolts (4 on each side) and 2 nuts (one on each front side) that hold the manifold onto the engine. I believe the bolts and nuts are 12 mm if I remember right. There are also a lot of other bolts, hoses, clamps, clips, electric connectors, etc. to take off in order to remove the manifold. My suggestion is to take a bunch of pictures from multiple angles during each step before and during the process so you can refer to them when you re-assemble. One of the hardest parts of this process is removing two clips attached to the back of the manifold that hold a large wiring harness in place. They are circled in the next picture.



Each clip has a small tab behind and on the bottom. I was able to simply reach back there with my hand, find the tab with my finger, push the tab down, and pull straight back toward the firewall. Each of them came off pretty quickly. I've seen some guys have some major issues with these in some youtube videos. They really aren't that complicated. There is actually a similar clip on the top/left/rear of the intake manifold that you can use for practice. It has to come off as well. Once you get good at removing that clip, you should be just fine removing the two in the rear. Here is a picture of that clip. The small arrow points to the tab that needs to be lifted away from the clip. This clip is rotated around so you can see the tab. When it is installed, the clip is rotated back and the tab is on the backside/bottom.



Some guys don't remove the Throttle Body from the intake manifold. I chose to remove it so I could clean it up a bit. I used carb cleaner to remove all of the black residue. The throttle body is attached to the front where the large air box hose comes into the manifold. Here it is:



And here is the manifold (without the throttle body) removed from the engine:



And here is a picture of the engine with the manifold removed:



As you can see, there are 4 holes on each side where air is drawn in. On the right side, you'll see one of the manifold gaskets was stuck to the engine. The first thing I did was remove the gasket, gently clean up the area around all 8 holes, then cover the holes with rags so I didn't drop anything into the holes. That could be catastrophic. As well, I bought new gaskets on Amazon. Here is the name and part number for the gaskets: Fel-Pro MS 97044 Intake Manifold Gasket Set. The set was $15.

After covering the air intake holes, the next step is to identify and remove the secondary air intake valves. You can now see them sitting in the back/middle by the firewall. Here they are:



There are 4 torx bolts (T25) holding each valve to the valve body. I removed them with an extension and a ratchet. Be careful when removing the bolts. Do your best not to drop them down behind the engine; could be hard to find them. I reused the old bolts because the new ones were a tad longer than the old ones. I didn't want to chance the bolts bottoming out before they were tight. There's also an electric connector on each valve that needs removed as well as the two air hoses going into the front of each. Here are some pics of the old valves after I removed them. The one valve had visible moisture inside of it when I took it apart; probably what caused it to corrode and fail in the first place. I'm not sure how or why the moisture was in there. I placed the old parts on the new valve body so you could see how they went together.





Here is what the new valves look like once they're installed:



The next step is just to put the intake manifold back on and re-assemble everything. Don't forget to put your new gaskets on the manifold before you install it. I'm not guaranteeing that this way is better than replacing the whole part. Mine may fail 3 months from now, who knows. But, for a part that's only $199 and only takes 50 minutes to get to, I'll take my chances. If I can get 100,000 miles out of it, I'll be happy. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Great write up, good work.

Any idea how much the Toyota part is? Are they even available?

 

There is a genuine Toyota part on Toyota's website. It is $610. The part number is #2570138064. It looks like you may be able to get it on Ebay for $260 if you trust Ebay.

My opinion is, the Toyota part was not good in the first place. They've been known to go bad relatively early. So, I'm gonna try the cheaper part and see how many miles it gets. Some people are haters. I've had some decent luck with cheap parts over the years. Not perfect, but decent. We'll see.

And just FYI, this Dorman part does come complete with the body and both valves just like the Toyota part. I just disassembled the new part.

Hope that helps. I'll update if I have issues.

 

If or when this Dorman part ever goes bad and the OEM is still under $300, I'll just replace it with the OEM part. It's a pretty easy job. Saves me a ton of money to do the work myself as well. Good luck. I hope your part lasts too.

 

@Landodnal Incredible write up and great documentation! It is unfortunate the Secondary Air Injection System is failure prone and a prevalent issue on Tundras. I hope you were able to get life our of the Dorman Aftermarket Part but in our experience sometimes they can cause more issues then resolve. We have even seen owners go through 2 -3 set of Factory/OEM parts. I commend you for getting under the intake and making the repair. If you ever run into the issue again recommend you taking a look at the Bypass. Below I have included link to a few recent threads on the SAIS.

What Does the Secondary Air Injection System Do?
https://www.tundras.com/threads/what-does-the-secondary-air-injection-system-do.113683/

What Do My Secondary Air Injection Error Codes Mean?
https://www.tundras.com/threads/what-do-my-secondary-air-injection-error-codes-mean.113686/

How to Fix Secondary Air Injection System?
https://www.tundras.com/threads/how-do-you-fix-the-secondary-air-injection-system.113688/

 

Hi Landodnal. I had the P2441 code show up yesterday on my '08 5.7L with only 197,000 KMs :-( Thinking of replacing my check valve with the Dorman you used. Have you had any issues with yours since you installed it last year?
BTW, great write-up. Easy to follow breakdown of the steps involved in this repair.

 

@Pete75 We speak with 20 - 30 a day dealing with the failure prone SAIS. If you do not elect to Bypass we strongly recommend you using factory components. Dorman parts are cheaper for a reason and there is a very good chance components fail months down the road. We have seen owner go through 2 - 3 sets of Factory/OEM components. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to DM us.

 

I have a 2007 4.7L Tundra the SAIS failed at 147k miles I had the dealership replace them since they were still under warranty the 2nd set failed at 250k miles this time I went with the Hewitt 2nd gen bypass kit the block off plates was the hardest part

so far no issues

 

@Orions Dad Thanks for sharing your experience. It is hard to believe even if you get the OEM/Factory repair there is a very good chance the SAIS will fail again. I am happy to hear Toyota cover it the first time under warranty and glad you for Hewitt Tech the second time! If there is anything else we can assist with in the future please do not hesitate to contact us.

 

The crazy part is not every dealership will do the work the first dealership I went to refused to do the warranty work even though I had a print out of the service bulletin not only did the 2nd dealership do the warranty work they found recalls on 2 other issues

 

Potentially a dumb question... can anyone verify that the valve pictured above and used on the 5.7L works for the 4.6L? I do not have mine accessible at the moment, but it looks like it should work except for uncertainty about whether the electrical hook up location may be different and, therefore, a problem. Anybody? TIA.

 

I think I remember seeing someone who had a 4.6L instead of both valves being a double underneath the intake manifold it’s similiar to my 4.7L where there is a single valve on each valve cover. I am guessing it would be a different part

 

@Orions Dad Yes the location of the Air Switching Valves do differ among the different engine sizes