My airpump is making wear noises and seems to shake like there is something rattling inside. How do I know when my airpump is not working properly? My exhaust smells the same.. just kinda rich, but it has always been rich.

 

If it's making high pitch screeching noises the bearings are going out? Did you play with any wires on it or around it before this happened? If it goes to worse, seizing the bearings will stop teh air pump pulley and put a lot of heat on your belt snapping it. If you are interested and do need another air pump, I have a perfectly good air pump for sale, 40 bucks shipped, no biggy.

 

If you can hear it over the car idiling it is probably gone. I just replaced mine and the new one makes no audible noise.

 

did you do anything to the car like changing belts etc. before it started making this noise? take off the UIM or acv?

 

I did take off the UIM... but haven't touched the belts. It is a kinda squeaking noise.

 

make sure the belts are not too tight. if they are ok check the airpump with a continuity tester at its connectors to make sure the clutch is working ok. are you sure the clutch is engaging and the middle part of the pump is spinning when the car is running? check the a/c fuse too to make sure it is not blown. a really rich smelling exhaust at idle means there's no air being pumped by it. you will fail smog and clog up your catalytic converter right now. also, check the silicone hose that connects the airpump to the hardlines leading to the UIM for a tear. that happened to me once. actually all these thing have happened to me!

last but not least if you did take of the acv, the little 1" round filter between the acv and LIM is easy to not install correctly and it will make all sort of weird noises that sound like they are coming from the air pump. that's everything i can think of. try a new airpump if all else fails.

 

Thanks for all the help.

 

What Goodman said. My first airpump would "chatter" as it turned on and off (at like 3200 rpm or something like that). Now I'm on my second one and it just started squealing. This time I think I'm going to f-it and just get a midpipe.