tomaszjc7

Yesterday I took my FD for a spin. Most of the time I was doing the speed limit but once in a while I slammed the gas pedal. I must have been riding for about an hour before I drove into a subdivision going about 20mph on 3rd gear when all of a sudden my car started squealing like crazy and the battery signal started to go off. I pulled into a driveway and stopped the car, and then smoke started to come up from under the engine! It wasn’t a lot of smoke thou just a little cloud. Anyway, I turned off the car quickly and popped the hood. I didn’t really know what the problem was but I figured the car overheated. So I check the oil, I just got a new engine and only have 500mi. on it, the oil was fine. I then checked the coolant and out came the dipstick with black burned debris all over it.

Wonderful, just what I need. I didn’t have any coolant on me so I poured in some water. I then started the engine again and this time the battery signal still was flashing, the idle was horrible, and sparks came from the pulley on the air pump. Now I figured the air pump was dead. Was the reason for my bad idle? Anyway, I got some kid to jump-start my car to put some juice into the battery. I started the car again, the idle was fine, so the air pump seemed to be running ok but the sparks still kept coming. The air pump pulley was hitting something causing friction and after a minute or so the damn thing got so hot it was glowing red!
Is the air pump the problem? What could it possible be hitting that’s making it glow red? Where can I get a new air pump? What was the smoke from? Can I drive the car with just disconnecting the air pump? If I do how long does it take for the cat to get clogged up?

I was considering getting a midpipe in about 2 months, could I take off the air pump then?

WHAT THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO!?

All your comments will be greatly appreciated…

ZoomZoom

iTrader: (2)

Well first of all UNPLUG the air pump. Its clutch driven so unplugging it will allow it to "freewheel". So if its seized you will know right away once you unplug it. Also the pump seizing draws hard on the serpentine belt and will make your battery light come on due to the alternator slowing down. DO not keep trying to start it!!! if it wont start dont make it worse trying to continue to crank it over. Find out the problem before you cause further damage. Take it (TOW IT) to a reputable rotary shop. If you find that the Air pump is the culprit unpugging it will be a (TEMP FIX) and you may need to raise the idle of the car at the same time due to the fact the Air pump gives secondary air injection at idle and low RPMs. Your plugs will foul but at least you can drive it till you get a new air pump or buy a used one from a Forum member who isnt using thiers anymore. I bought a used one for 80 bucks so figure on around that amount. A new one is not needed and will cost 400-600 bucks or more. If you have any questions PM me.

rx7speed811

if you need a new airpump, i have mine, which i took off at ~74000 miles, with a new belt (~1000 miles). it was working perfectly when i took it off, no sparks!
i just wanted to free up some room when i gutted the catalytic converter. $100 and its all yours. drop me an email and let me know.

rx7speed811@hotmail.com