Awhile back when installing my Fmic i noticed a weird object on the drivers side of my car underneath the headlight.. i was not sure what it was. Now that i tore my car apart again to build the motor(and have the bumper off again) i look a better look at this, and it seems to be some sort of air pump because one end leads into the intake.

My question is, Is it necessary to keep this pump there? will taking it out hurt anything? what exactly does it do?



thanks for any help given, i couldnt find any info on this
Nick

 

It is part of the emissions system. Beyond that I can't tell you what it does. But not having one or haing one that does not work will get the car to throw a CEL.

 

i figured with the stock ecu you will throw a cel but with ems... dunno what the case would be. Just looking to find information on what exactly it does and if it will screw anythign up if removed.

 

If you have an EMS system, than you could remove it. It is doing nothing when you install EMS.

 

I was talking with an engineer at my job and he said he took the air pump out of his car to increase his HP...didnt really understand how it worked but it has to do with pumping air in so emissions is better. if you take that un wanted air out...you leave more room for gas. I was puzzeled and walked away, still dont grasp it but he swears it works

 

its only on at startup not sure how this would increase power being removed. Seems to me you could turn it into one of those cheapy electric super chargers and possibly make some power on your lawn mower haha

 

As everyone said, its an emissions related device. What it does is pumps extra air into the exhaust flow to warm the cat up quicker.

It won't increase HP if you remove it, maybe save what 5lbs or so at the expensive of getting a CEL that you cannot get around unless you have an AEM EMS.

 

And what kind of engineer is he? He's wrong.

Anyway, what it does is reduce startup emissions. At startup, the cat is cold and inefficient. Also, the engine is cold. So a large part of the hydrocarbon emissions from the entire drive cycle occur right at startup. The air pump puts extra oxygen into the cat at startup, to help it burn up those extra hydrocarbons.

It doesn't weigh much and it doesn't hurt power, so it's not really worth removing. And it will throw a CEL. However, if you have an aftermarket ECU I'm not even sure it will come on at all, in which case it would be useless weight on the car.

After 05 they used a different strategy for startup emissions, and the 06+ cars don't have the air pump.