I drive a 2013 LT Equinox. The check engine light comes on when temperature outside is in the 30s. I would ignore this, but it is ruining my favorite feature of the car. Remote start. I took the car to a certified dealer, and they found a secondary air injection system error. The certified dealer replaced the manifold gasket, exhaust gasket, air pump gasket and air pump. The certified dealer kept asking if the car was purchased in California. I bought it certified preowned from the same certified dealer… In Ohio…. 2 weeks in the shop and 1300 dollars later, my check engine light is still on. What could this be?
You should return to the dealer and hold them responsible for the second diagnoses. They understand they are expected to perform a successful repair on the first visit.
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Look for a sticker listing emissions & tune-up information. Often located underside of the hood. Does that sticker contain the letters “CA” in bold? Or say “Meets California emissions standards”?
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You’d think the dealer would be able to diagnose this problem. If they replaced the AIR pump, you’d think it wasn’t running when it should. That is very easy to verify. What I don’t see in your list is the part I find that fails most often in these systems; the check valve. They tend to stick because exhaust blowback fouls the pintle movement. Usually, you will begin to hear the pump run more often and be louder as it tries to verify system operation. This happens most often during cold starts and when coasting. Sometimes, the head lights dim because the controller is commanding full power to the pump due to the check valve issue.
Anyway, this should not be rocket science. Any chance the diagnostic code is listed on your repair order?
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The air injection pump on a California PZEV is covered under warranty for 10 years/150,000 miles if the vehicle is registered in a PZEV state (not Ohio).
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Does OP’s label indicate this car is configured the same as if it were made for sale in Calif? Or does LDT/PZEV mean something else, e.g it couldn’t be sold new in Calif, but is allowed to be registered later in Calif as a used car?
Who cares about the pump warranty or not at this point. The replacement AIR pump didn’t resolve the problem. Perhaps there are multiple issues but unless they can show how the old pump was failed, I don’t believe either the mfrs warranty or customer should be liable for the cost of replacing it.
Shotgunning repairs at customer expense is not the way to resolve the issue…
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Good point. But if testing shows the air-pump is faulty, then replacing it is about the only thing that makes sense. If after replacement, the original problem remains, I wouldn’t be inclined to call that a “shotgunning” approach. There’s something else wrong, and the shop has to go back to square one and figure out what it is. I’ve been down that path as a diy’er doing car repairs several times, replace the part that tests bad, problem remains. Sometimes it is the replacement part is still bad. Others, something else remains faulty. Just have to keep working on it until problem is resolved.
The surprising part of this topic to me is that I didn’t realize air-pumps continue to be used in newer car designs.
I agree. However, we can only go by what has been posted. And the dealer replaced most of the components in the system including some I would think might be last on the list. We can’t tell the order of what was replaced when. But when so many parts have been replaced (at owner expense) and the problem not resolved…I have a prediction for you 
Not to mention, there is no mention of the most suspect (IMO) part in the system as I brought up in my earlier post. Without more info to go on, I’m sticking with my suspicions…
I think @TwinTurbo is correct. The air pump should NEVER be the first thing to replace because it is used so little and is so reliable.
First thing is to understand what triggers the code. It is not monitoring the operation of the air pump itself, it is looking at the exhaust flow to determine if the cat is working during low temp start up. The pump only runs for about 2 minutes after a cold start when the engine is running very rich. The extra air is needed for the warm-up cat to work. The code is set when the warm up cat does not appear to be cycling during the first two minutes.
All this means is that the extra air is not getting into the exhaust stream. There are two places that typically clog up, the first is the check valve if it only fails below freezing. Water from the exhaust is getting into it and freezing blocking its movement.
The second is the exhaust manifold itself where the air pipe from the check valves enters. Carbon will build up in the cast in tubing of the manifold and block air, regardless of temperature. This could still be the problem in this case as the air pump is only used in cold weather, but if the CEL comes on above freezing, then this would be my first suspect. It’s a simple fix, remove the steel tube(s) to the exhaust manifold(s) and blow out the hole. I use canned carb cleaner with the little red tube (wear total eye protection, i.e. goggles) and stick the tube as far down as it will go. Then spray, wait a bit, spray again and poke the obstruction with the tube.
If needed, poke on the obstruction with a stiff wire. Continue with the spraying and poking until you can spray with no blowback.