been searching and reading multiple posts on this subject,just ran a road trip,ran fairly hard(80-90mph) for half the trip,when i arrived in Savannah Ga.,there was a scraping noise heard at idle,thought the water pump impeller was starting to go,after the hose test,the noise seemed to be coming from the AIR pump,my car was cat deleted when i got it,the tubes going to where the cat was have been crimped,can i just do the belt reroute to bypass the air pump with no other changes,or should i try and get another pump?most of what i read says just reroute the belt and should have no problems??now Xmas eve,and the bearing in the pump has not seized but i believe it's close!!

 

My pump made the same noise and so did my buddies. It only made the noise after I removed all of the air tubes and unplugged it. I had to take it off and the sound went away. I did need to get a longer belt because you have to when you remove the pump. You can only take the belt off if you have a v belt system (pre87 I think?) If not you have to take if off. The pump sticks out to far to just re-route the belt. It is a bitch to take off but my sugesstion is to unbolt your AC compressor, set it to the side and take off the entire passenger side accessory bracket. Take them pump off after you have it off. You will save your knuckles and keep your swear words to a minimum.

 

I would just finish deleting the smog and the rest of the A.I.R stuff.


then just get another belt, that would be the easiest i think; thats what i did.

 

I pulled the pump apart and gutted it. I still run it, now it just acts like an idler pulley for my serpentine setup. It was fairly easy to do. Just unbolt the case halves and tear everything out of the drum in the center and reassemble it. It still makes a slight noise, but nothing I can hear from inside the car.