Typical DIY story,(for me)...

[Kazee]

So...the CEL comes on in my wifes 2002 Boxster, no problem I say, I'll just get my friends code reader and will get this fixed up in a jiffy. The reader comes up with code 0418, secondary air pump relay A, go through the Bentley manual and there it is, position 10 in the rear truck relay panel. I post a question on this forum re: what part # for this relay and in no time at all, Loren responds with 993.615.115.00. A quick call to my local dealer and the part is ordered. A week later drive into town, get the part and return home, remove the panel and hmmm...the relay is not the same, (more on this later). I assume that somehow Loren must have been mistaken, admonished myself for not checking the number by pulling the old one first and promptly ordered another relay, part# 996.615.102.00. Another week passes and my part arrives, drive into town, pick the new one up and the dealer very kindly accepts the other relay back, no problem, and I return home. Upon removing the relay panel,(again), I'm struck by the fact that there does not appear to be a relay in position 10...hmmm, well I didn't remove it so I can only surmise that there wasn't one there to start with, which might explain the CEL, (though the light didn't come on until about 9 months after we bought the car). I had assumed that the last relay on the panel was #10...oops. It would seem that the relay identified by Loren was indeed the correct one, (sorry for doubting), and thankfully the dealer still has it, so back to town next week, (should of just kept it for the $25 it cost). I have checked to see if positon 10 is actually wired, (it is), so all should be fine. Considering one of the first lessons in training, (Air Traffic Control), is to NEVER assume anything, I guess I must save all of it up for when I'm working on cars. Oh well, always an adventure.

Thanks for listening

[Loren]

So the relay was completely gone from your car?

Perhaps the previous owner did not like the vacuum cleaner sound at startup? ;)

[Kazee]

What still has me baffled is why the CEL took so long to come on...9 months

[Loren]

What still has me baffled is why the CEL took so long to come on...9 months

That air pump only run for a minute or two at startup (typically) - so I guess it didn't have enough "fault time" to move it from pending code to actual code.

[jmatta]

And to think all along, I thought these cars were persnickety and sensitive to everything. I had a CEL come on once when I changed to my sport exhaust; went off almost as quickly as I went on and no lasting code or after effect.