I have a '88 IROC w/ 350 TPI, see sig for more info. I have new smog pump on my car because my old one was squealing very loud. Bought a new one from AutoZone and had to give them my old one as a core. It says on the pump and in the paper work that it has a 500 mile break in period and might squeal some. No problem. Put it on and it idd make a very small almost rubbing sound coming from inside the pump, I can deal with that! Well after about a month it starts squealing just like the old one did and as everyday passed it got worst. I sprayed some WD-40 into it once and that shut it up for about 2 days. I can not describe the sound but it is *** awful. Take the sound of a water pump going out and multiply it by 3. Anyway, I am sick of it and it makes me car sound ghetto. Here's my idea

Get a used smog pump, take it apart, take out all the crap inside and retrofit it to where the pulley just spins on bearing. I need to leave my car looking stock for emissions purposes since Austin may go to emissions testing in the near future. Has anyone every attempted this? Does anyone know of any negative effects this might have?

 

Exhaust has the possibility of backfeeding. Happened to my horizon and was loud as hell. Had to make a plug to fix it.

 

"Backfeeding"? What exactly is that? I need to keep the system looking factory with all the air tubes but I want to render the pump it self non-operational. Where would I need to put plugs in?

 

On my horizon anyway the exhaust started to go up the air tube and out of the smog pump when I took off the belt. It melted a plastic pipe and was loud as hell. There is supposed to be a one way valve that doesn't allow the exhaust to do that, but for some reason it failed. If they don't look under the car, cut the pipes there and pinch/weld them closed and you'll be OK.

 

Which pipe is it? The one coming from the cat?

 

I took apart my smog pump a few weeks ago and wanted to report on my findings. I had to mudalate the ring that is pressed into the cylinder that spins and holds the "scrapers" inside. I got everything out and the only thing that is left is the cylinder that is made on the shaft that the pulley connects to. I had to take my dremel tool and shave off some aluminum on the back plate.
But guess what... the pump now squeels again but at a different pitch. I know it is the cylinder still scraping the back plate so I think I am going to chop off as much of it as I can. I will try to get some digital pics up about if people would like to know more about it. My car has not missed the smog pump being able to function and has not thrown any SES codes.

 

Why didn't you just take it back and get a new one.
They only use about 2/3 hp at best. They do not cause a loss
of performance as long as the bearing is good.

Now you have something that squells and you can't take it back.

Einstein