starting noise

[Lead foot]

only lasts a few seconds, but mechanic says it's the air pump. what is that ? Got new belts so it's not that.
need some HELP ...

 

[Aceman]

There is an auxiliary air pump that injects air into the exhaust headers when you start the engine from cold which has the effect of lowering the emissions until the cat gets upto temperature. The problem is that the bearings in this pump which is located just to the left front of the engine can get very noisy as they get older which can be very distracting. If you pop the top off the pump you can drop some light machine oil into the top bearing but is only a temporary measure. Some people disconnect the electrical connector to the pump to disable it which doesn't do any real harm as the pump was fitted to get around the ever stricter emission laws in various countries.

Hope that helps.

 

[Lead foot]

Thank you for your wisdom and incite . Is there any way you can send me a link to what this part looks like because I am getting mixed information as to what and where the the air pump is located and what it looks like. I am afraid I have a money hungry mechanic who thinks he has an easy mark. I don't know BMW like GM because I retired from GM. Have loved BMW'S since the 50's. Now that I have one they (Germans ) have there own way of doing things.
Thanks for all your help and guidance .

 

[Aceman]

If you have a look at this picture of my previous 2.8 it is the round canister looking device in the bottom left of the picture.

 

[Lead foot]

Saw the picture on the left front. mine is on the passenger side firewall. Man that is a MONSTER bad looking car you have. one more question I have is how do those hoses come apart. I have not seen anything like those in the U.S. Looks like a squeeze and turn but what do I know. Thanks for all the Help. Thanks to you I had my suspicions confirmed. Let me know how to disconnect those hoses if you will.

 

[Aceman]

Tbh I haven't a clue about the hoses as I never had the need to remove them and I have a Z3M now but maybe someone else will know.

Curious to see how your engine bay looks though from what you say, could you post a pic up please.

 

[Brian4]

Here's a link about the air pump and how to take the hose off.

http://blog.bavauto.com/12072/bmw-secondary-air-system-fault-code-diagnosing-how-to-diy-obd-ii/

It's a good site with loads of other BMW maintenance info.

Just read it properly and looked at pictures and it shows jubillee clips on the hose but if yours are plastic squeeze the sides of the large plastic ring until two clips disengage from the pump itself and should pull off.

 

[Brian4]

The real oem site shows a two piece connector
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/diagrams/o/k/23.png

 

[Lead foot]

Thanks again for all your help.

 

[Lead foot]

There is an auxiliary air pump that injects air into the exhaust headers when you start the engine from cold which has the effect of lowering the emissions until the cat gets upto temperature. The problem is that the bearings in this pump which is located just to the left front of the engine can get very noisy as they get older which can be very distracting. If you pop the top off the pump you can drop some light machine oil into the top bearing but is only a temporary measure. Some people disconnect the electrical connector to the pump to disable it which doesn't do any real harm as the pump was fitted to get around the ever stricter emission laws in various countries.

Hope that helps.

I have looked and looked again. How do you pop the top off. How much comes off the top and how. I see two places it might separate . about half way down looks like pull out tabs and then at the top ( with the air horn ) looks like screwdriver slots. How far in left field am I ??

 

[Aceman]

As far as I can remember the very top sloping bit just pops off revealing the top bearing.