1.4 HDi P1490 Secondary Air relief solenoid circuit malfunction

[Thefox]

The last days while starting the engine i get the error Engine fault. The orange warning light stays on.
Is there a problem with the dpf or catalytic convertor. The garage replaced the battery, fuel injection valve, reset the errorcodes.
Problem still remains. Now they will replace the whole exhaust system for 2000euro. Any suggestions?
Vin VF7SC8HR4BW635597

[Arfur Dent]

Hi Thefox,

My advice would be to find out what the error code is. There will be a 'P' code stored, and the one they erased would help.

The engine check light is only there to tell you P codes have been stored and to have them read asap .

Only with the error codes is it even possible to guess at what is wrong and then to do do some tests to work out what to change.


If you want to read the 'P' codes from the car that have caused the 'check engine light' to come on, use this OBD2 reader.

[Thefox]

The last days while starting the engine i get the error Engine fault. The orange warning light stays on.
Is there a problem with the dpf or catalytic convertor. The garage replaced the battery, fuel injection valve, reset the errorcodes.
Problem still remains. Now they will replace the whole exhaust system for 2000euro. Any suggestions?
Vin VF7SC8HR4BW635597

While driving, I get a warning light, SERVICE, and on the display, Risks of clogging:
I took a diagbox faultreading and found several occuranes of fault P1490 Secondary Air relief solenoid circuit malfunction.
Don´t know what or where this means. Air Relief? Secondary?
Advice pls
Thks

[Arfur Dent]

Hello.

The best way to deal with error codes is to read them.

Then write them down or better still screen shot the codes and their description

Then try to clear them all.

Some are temporary, some permanent, some old, some new, some single and some reoccurring. Not all may clear, but go through the process anyway.

Then run the engine again to generate fresh codes. You may find the code only appears after a run at high rpm or heavy loading or some other situation.

Then read the codes again to get only the latest, most fresh codes that are relevant to now and the ongoing problems.

[Arfur Dent]

P1490 sounds like a DPF fault.

What type of driving does the car usually do?

I will look up your VIN for some information about its engine when I can get access to the machine. This will help identify the Valve location.

But you may find a forced DFP regeneration useful this DPF regen in the fuel tank to get the DPF clear to avoid it blocking while the fault is being investigated and hopefully repaired.

[Arfur Dent]

The secondary air relief pump system has a pump, a valve and a solenoid to control that valve.

You probably have a non-functioning solenoid, but you may also have trouble with the valve that the solenoid controls.


There are diagnostic checks in Diagbox to operate the solenoid, then you can listen for the sound. If you can't hear it operate under testing then you can assume its faulty or the supply to it is defective.
You can also look in Diagbox/Lexia for the secondary air pump test, you can run the test listen for the pump running. Lexia will explain how to run the tests and what to expect from them.

The solenoids do fail, so changing it may be the easiest option.

[C3CAR]

Lighting of the engine diagnostics warning light with displaying of the message "risk of clogging of the PEF" on the multifunction display - if fault code P1490 is present

There is a Citroen technical service bulletin for this, it is a know fault and there may be a modification for this.