DIY: SAP delete

[vlkvlk]

Background
If your Secondary Air Pump went bad or valve is stuck closed you can code it out and leave it in place. But, if one of the Secondary Air Control Valves is stuck open, it causes exhaust leak:



It's debatable how bad is this leak, but in any case introducing exhaust gases into intake seems to be suboptimal, so it's time for SAP delete.

Level
Expert.
Each step is not hard, but number of things you'll have to disconnect and reconnect is huge. It's easy to damage engine wiring harness ($900), or some tubing.

Tools Required

• Bunch of tools to remove plenum, etc.
• 10mm short socket, 10mm long socket, 1/4 fine tooth compact ratchet, 10mm ratcheting wrench, something long. Sockets and ratchet from Costco's DeWalt set work well (this set is the best deal ever, btw, although set got a bit smaller over the years):
  
• Groove Joint Pliers (likely)
  
• Endoscope
  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0819Q2YLK

Preliminary Steps
Use this DIY as a guide: https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=735033

• Remove air box (no need to open it up, can be removed as a unit)
• Remove plenum
• Remove cooling liquid expansion tanks bolts, remove both side engine plastic covers.
• Remove plastic cowl covering fuse box and brake fluid reservoir
• Remove both aluminum stiffness beams connecting top of the strut brackets to mid bracket (13mm)

Pump Removal

• Remove four 10mm nuts holding top engine wiring harness
• Remove three 10mm nuts holding pump to the bracket
• Remove two torx screws holding top half of the bracket
• Disconnect pump air hoses and wiggle pump out
• Disconnect pump electrical connector

Engine Wiring Harness Removal
Engine Wiring Harness needs to be taken out of the way:

• Disconnect fuel injectors, coils, all sensors
• Unsecrew grounding nuts/bolts (two on each side of the engine)
• Run all the cables out
• Lift harness, disconnect bottom connectors
• Open fuse box: slide white latches to open position, pull black latches up, remove lid
• Remove nut and detach ground connector just outside the box
• Slide rubber harness grommets up from their slots
• Bend entire harness and all wiring to the side

Valve Hose Removal
Hose was stuck after all these years, so I had some trouble unplugging it. Wiggling it for awhile, I was able to remove it using groove joint pliers to depress latch and piece of rope around tube bend to pull it up. Latch needs to be depressed on the both sides where the plastic ring has some notches just so - pressing it too strong grabs the valve, too light doesn't unlock the latch.



Right valve with tubing attached:


Left valve with tubing attached:


Latch:


Removing right valve (bank 1)
With wiring out of the way, right valve is trivial to remove. You are not going to be able to see the nuts, so you have to find a nut with your hand, and then remove it using ratchet by feel. (lol)

• Use short 10mm socket to remove side bolt holding heat shield
• Remove top 10mm nut
• Use long 10mm socket to remove bottom nut
• Remove valve
• Remove gasket. Gaskets are really thin and seem to be glued in place. I cut my fingers while removing them (yes, both times)

Right valve removed with gasket still in place


Removing left valve (bank 2)
Now for the hard part. Left valve has some tubing right on top of it, heat shielding behind it, and steering column on the side.

• Lift DCT heat exchanger pump (not sure how it looks on manual) out of its slots, unclip hose clip on the rear of the engine, unlock side clip by pusing latches from the top with thin-nose pliers and screwdriver, slide clip out of its slot towards forward of the car (this is very strange clip), bend tubing and pump up out of the way around fuel line.
• Use ratcheting wrench to remove side heat shield bolt (socket is not going to fit because of the steering column
• With tubing loose and bent out the way, use short 10mm socket to remove top valve nut
• There is not way to see or reach bottom nut by hand, so you can't guide a socket to remove it by feel.
• Lift your car
• Use endoscope to locate bottom nut by running camera alongside header, secure camera once good view of bottom nut is achieved.
• Mount endoscope screen in the engine bay
• Lower the car (otherwise you are not going to reach the valve)
• Use long screwdriver or extension to bend heat shielding between valve and firewall toward firewall away from the valve (I used valve as leverage point)
• Guide long 10mm socket to the bottom valve nut using endoscope. Loosen the nut.
• Now the problem is that you can't effectively ratchet loose nut without holding the socket, which you can't reach here with your hand. Use long extension with some tape on it to press on the socket from the side so it's doesn't move when you ratchet the handle.
• Ratchet for 10 minutes
• Remove bottom nut
• Remove gasket

SAP Relay Removal
You don't want loose connector to be powered. Remove SAP relay. This is large orange relay in the fuse box.


Result
Notice that one valve is just rusted, another one has carbon in it. My guess carbonated valve was leaking. (Although I expected other side since bank 2 was misfiring )




Part 2: Fab and Install
I tried to ordered cover plates and intake plug, but one of the cover plates was out of stock. Probably they are not manufactured anymore, so I don't think it's possible to order them anymore.

Order parts

• New gaskets part number 11727838389 Order 3 in case one is damaged during install.
• 4 Nuts 07129904553 plus 2 just in case. Order extra since one is going to be dropped and lost for sure.
• (I reused heat shield bolts)
• Blue loctite, Permatex The Right Stuff Gasket Maker
• Small brass brushes, Dremel brass brushes
• Hose clamp

Cover plates fabbing
Kris cut and welded valves for me to manufacture cover plates (thanks!):

• Cut flanges from removed SAP valves.
• Weld them shut
• Sand bottom part

Cover plate install

• Gaskets are foil covered in some thermal compound.
• There is a need to remove old compound from the install site.
• I tired all possible chemicals known to man (brake clean, 99% alcohol, googone, etc) without success.
• At the end of the day I scrubbed it off using fingers, brass brushes, and Dremel brass brush on the flex extension. I used endscope for monitoring.
• Vacuum.
• Once site is clean, install gaskets and plates, use endoscope to see what are you doing.
• I used new nuts and blue loctite since I don't want to redo it ever. BTW, since it's only M6 it should be wrenched quite gently.
• Screw in heat shield bolts. I used sticky mounting putty to stick bolt into ratcheting wrench for the left side since it's hard to reach. I'm pretty sure I threaded this one anyway.

Now it's the time to put everything back together. (Few hours later...)

Dead plug
I originally fabbed it using milk jag plastic cap, but then I realized that however unlikely it can be heated too much and melt. So I re-made it using metal lid from a jam jar.

• Cut off end connector from airintake-to-SAP hose. Remove plastic tubing from flange.
• Procure jam jar lid and sand plastic off from inside surface.
• Cut jam jar lid to size with some tabs.
• Bend tabs and put bunch of gasket maker on it
• Install it on connector.
• Use hose clamp over tabs to secure cap to connector.
• Liberally apply gasket maker all over.
• Let it cure.
• Install on airintake tube.

I also had exhaust leak at header-to-midpipe connection. I suspect SAP and exhaust leaks were causing high-rev misfires that ruined few of my track days. I replaced gasket with genuine BMW (third-party leaked right after install), re-did smoke test and did a test drive. All good so far! Now I need to wait for the track day

[patroklai]

Impressive. Subbed.

[spammysammich]

Is it absolutely necessary to remove the gaskets? Won't you need gaskets for the block off plates?

[spammysammich]

I absolutely despise all SAP systems on any car. In states that have cold winters they're nothing but money printing devices for dealerships and service centers. Great write up. Perhaps follow it up with a video of those components burning in a dumpster fire?

[vlkvlk]

Originally Posted by spammysammich

Is it absolutely necessary to remove the gaskets? Won't you need gaskets for the block off plates?

It's rarely possible to reuse gaskets. Gaskets get crashed between parts when they are installed. Old crashed gaskets do not seal to the new parts. Anyway, new gaskets here are cheapest parts to replace, given how hard it is to access, it's better to install new gaskets for sure.

Originally Posted by spammysammich

I absolutely despise all SAP systems on any car. In states that have cold winters they're nothing but money printing devices for dealerships and service centers. Great write up. Perhaps follow it up with a video of those components burning in a dumpster fire?

SAP is for sure feel-good unnecessary system since it reduces emissions for very limited amount of time. Before latest fiasko, stealership tried to fix broken SAP for six weeks total, ffks! It was under warranty money-wise, but time loss was real.

[spammysammich]

Originally Posted by vlkvlk

It's rarely possible to reuse gaskets. Gaskets get crashed between parts when they are installed. Old crashed gaskets do not seal to the new parts. Anyway, new gaskets here are cheapest parts to replace, given how hard it is to access, it's better to install new gaskets for sure.



SAP is for sure feel-good unnecessary system since it reduces emissions for very limited amount of time. Before latest fiasko, stealership tried to fix broken SAP for six weeks total, ffks! It was under warranty money-wise, but time loss was real.

Thank goodness we're in a non-emissions testing state. I ripped the SAP out of my STI and had my tuner code out the CEL for it.

[spammysammich]

Oh, thanks for the link for the endoscope. I've been wanting to pick one up for work.

[vlkvlk]

To everyone subbed: I added part 2: Fabbing and installing cover plates!

[C-los]

For Anyone's Future reference,
I apologize for semi thread jacking, great DYI. I just so happen to source the part numbers for this exact modification. You may have to source some or all through ebay (international seller), Turner and others can get these parts, though currently, some show on back order.

Figure i'd attach it here, since it's a great DYI, and easier for future members to find.


BMW R19 Plug (for intake, equivalent to BMW Motorsports Plug)
P/N 11-61-8-298-015

BMW Secondary Air Cylinder Head Plug (includes bolt mount for heat shield)
P/N 11-72-8-297-998 (1-4)
P/N 11-72-8-297-999 (5-8)

Gasket(s) for block off plates (Qty of 2)
11-72-7-838-389


Optional:
BMW E36 Block off plate, thinner, waaaay easier to get a hold of but, doesn't have the bolt hole to mount nearby heatshield.
P/N 11-12-1-438-086

[vlkvlk]

Originally Posted by C-los

For Anyone's Future reference,
I apologize for semi thread jacking, great DYI. I just so happen to source the part numbers for this exact modification. You may have to source some or all through ebay (international seller), Turner and others can get these parts, though currently, some show on back order.

Figure i'd attach it here, since it's a great DYI, and easier for future members to find.


BMW R19 Plug (for intake, equivalent to BMW Motorsports Plug)
P/N 11-61-8-298-015

BMW Secondary Air Cylinder Head Plug (includes mount for heat shield)
P/N 11-72-8-297-998 (1-4)
P/N 11-72-8-297-999 (5-8)

Originally Posted by C-los

For Anyone's Future reference,
I apologize for semi thread jacking, great DYI.

No need to apologize, it's very relevant to the thread!
To add details: I had these exact parts on order with ECS Tuning, but had to cancel and go fab route since it was in backorder status with no projected date. I think it's not really possible to get backing plates at least anymore.

I do recommend getting dead plug for airintake - I'm not entirely happy about my DIY plug. This part seems to be easy, but once I started fabbing it I realized there are some limitations: it seats right on top of the engine, so I decided not to use epoxy and plastic to avoid risking it melting. This left me with metal and gasket maker. Should work for now. I ordered proper dead plug internationally, let's see if it will come.

[C-los]

Turner has one of the plates in stock. as do a couple of other people.
I'm currently waiting on the other side still to show. we'll see how it goes

[vlkvlk]

Originally Posted by C-los

Turner has one of the plates in stock. as do a couple of other people.
I'm currently waiting on the other side still to show. we'll see how it goes

Turner and ECS are affiliated, so they show same stock information. It was same situation with my order - one available, one backordered. My guess that single provider in US somewhere has single last plate in stock, get it while you can! 😂

[C-los]

Yea I have the E36 block off plates already, maybe I'll add them to the parts list up there.. but I'm gonna try my hand at these since they have the bolt hole for the heat shield... So everything is mounted and no rattles.


**edit: added gaskets and E36 block off plates incase people want those for easier access instead

[Jerrycy]

Great DIY! I am having a lot of issues with the SAP lately and was thinking about the delete. I just have one question regards to the coding of the SAP.

I did try to remove SAP before but without SAP it is triggering SES light and set the readiness to fail(code: 27AF - secondary air pump). In my state which has emission testing, I can have one readiness fail but the SES light will prevent me from passing emission at all. Is there any way of coding out the secondary air pump through NCS expert so it will not trigger SES light? May I ask how you deal with the SES light?
Thanks.

[C-los]

I am unsure about NCS Expert, but I know you can use the MSS60 Binary Modification tool to do it.

Check out the DME Update thread:
https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1783897

It's a one time license fee to modify your factory program, but worth it if you don't already have an 'aftermarket tune'.

Now, here's the next bit, do you have cats still? if not, removing the SAP would then give you two readiness monitors failed, 1 for cats, 1 for sap.

[vlkvlk]

Originally Posted by Jerrycy

May I ask how you deal with the SES light?
Thanks.

First and foremost - do a smoke test, if valves are not leaking, it's way easier just to leave them in place. Edit: also it may turn out that header-to-midpipe gaskets are leaking.

My plan is to get a tune, which will code it out, but I haven't done it yet. I don't know if it will help with readiness monitor. In theory you can fake it with putting O2 sensor simulators and emulating MAF SAP sensor, but it's quite involved job.

The main problem with SAP is that valves go bad. They tried to fix my SAP two times on warranty, now it's obvious that they had to replace valves, ffks.

[patroklai]

Originally Posted by vlkvlk

First and foremost - do a smoke test, if valves are not leaking, it's way easier just to leave them in place. Edit: also it may turn out that header-to-midpipe gaskets are leaking.

My plan is to get a tune, which will code it out, but I haven't done it yet. I don't know if it will help with readiness monitor. In theory you can fake it with putting O2 sensor simulators and emulating MAF SAP sensor, but it's quite involved job.

The main problem with SAP is that valves go bad. They tried to fix my SAP two times on warranty, now it's obvious that they had to replace valves, ffks.

Yeap my valves are stuck shut. So the motor eventually blows. They are like $35 on ebay used tho. They will typically pop the fuse a few times first before they go, however.

[vlkvlk]

Originally Posted by patroklai

Yeap my valves are stuck shut. So the motor eventually blows. They are like $35 on ebay used tho. They will typically pop the fuse a few times first before they go, however.

You can pull the relay to save the pump.

I think used valves are useless - apart from being real hard to install, they will fail in no time.

[patroklai]

Originally Posted by vlkvlk

You can pull the relay to save the pump.

I think used valves are useless - apart from being real hard to install, they will fail in no time.

The motor** not the valves are $35 on ebay bro.

I pull the fuse, not the relay to save it. BTW, my SAP is tuned out but you'll have a very hard time finding anyone who will do it.

I found that I needed the hardware there in order for the monitor to set to "ready."

[Zero Signal]

Where are the actual sensors on the sap system?

[vlkvlk]

Originally Posted by Zero Signal

Where are the actual sensors on the sap system?

There is only one MAF(?) sensor on the plastic air intake tube right before the pump.

If precat/postcat O2 sensors do not produce correct readings after SAP is activated, ECU eventually will set error codes.

[Lienrocs]

OP, not trying to thread jack but everyone reading this seems to have a similar issue. I’ve been having misfires and burning through o2 sensors like crazy. I’ve replaced every component I can think of apart from the SAP valves. My car is tuned and the SAP is disabled but it’s still not running right. I didn’t want to replace the SAP valves with new ones and run into the same issue later on when they’re not necessary for my application. I have finalized designs for a GT4 block off replica. I was going to have a set CNC machined for myself but if there’s some interest I’d be more than happy to have a few extra sets made up. If anyone is interested shoot me a pm.