Car didn't wouldn't start for days after head gasket replacement. Took it to the dealership. The got it to start, wrong dizzy connector, and ran for 30 seconds before the belt started to smoke and strip because the smog pump seized.

My question, is how could the pump seize? Does this happen regularly? The car wasn't running for over 3 weeks.

And I installed headers and removed the A.I.R. black valves that screw up to the stock manifold AIR tubes. I removed them and just put rubber hoses over because they wouldn't screw onto the new headers. Looks stock so I was happy. However, would they do this? I don't see how.

 

Hot exhaust gasses entering the pump. The other possiblilty is a warped case from over tightening the bolts that hold it to the engine.

 

But what about those valve thingies?

 

See the post above yours,one of his examples of things going wrong was:
"Hot exhaust gasses entering the pump."
Those are check valves.

 

Yes, I read that. But do those little check valves stop hot exhaust gasses from entering the pump? Or do those have nothing to do with it seizing?

 

bigwhite: the air pump seizes all the time! it gets clogged with road dirt and stops! there is an internal filter that clogs-up very quickly. happened to me! just cut it out! engine runs fine without it and doen't affect emissions.....you even get a few HP freed up!!!!

 

I have a truck that had almost 200,000 miles on it and still had the originol smog pump. There is NO internal filter. The air is filtered by centrifical motion (the fins under the pulley). I would expect the HP difference to be under 1 RWHP. That being said the engine should run clean without it, but will fail a visual smog inspection.

 

I understand they go out for every reason including Seinfeld not airing in it's time slot. I get it.

What I don't get is what are those check valves for? W/o them in my AIR system what will happen?

 

The AIR system pushes air into the exhaust.

What happens if the exhaust pushes back? Where will it go?



Right.




They're CHECK VALVES. That means, they only allow flow in one direction; specifically, FROM the pump, and INTO the exhaust. They block flow FROM the exhaust INTO the pump.

So if they're not there, you'll have exhaust gas in your smog pump; which will make it seize, from all the soot and water and whatnot that is in exhaust.

In other words, you need them.

 

Thankyou. That's all I needed to know. I will be gutting it then. I still have the valves, but they don't fit on the headers. I will just have to gut the smog pump to pass the visual inspection.

 

The valves WILL go on the headers. There's only one size of them, so if the headers have fittings for them, they'll go on there.

Without them, you'll have exhaust gas - hot, smelly, etc. - coming up out of your headers, through those rubber pieces for a few minutes until they melt, and then down into your pump, through the pump, and out its inlets. It'll act like a whole other exhaust pipe under your hood. Then of course when the rubber hose melts or catches fire, you'll have a whole different set of problems to deal with.

I'd strongly recomend putting the valves on where they go. It's not a wise idea AT ALL to rig your car like you're talking about.