Secondary Air Pump

[Norretal]

I had a trawl through the forum to see if anyone had experienced the same problem I'd been having and found very little, so I thought I'd share my findings which may benefit someone else in future.

A while ago my car developed a "noise" which was more of a whine. As I'd previously driven it home when the power steering system blew a hose I assumed it was the pump on it's way out as it's fatal to run them dry. Recently the noise got a lot worse and became more distinctive and I pinpointed it to being during start-up and ceased once the revs died off.

Onto the forum I go, D3 tech dump (thanks, again, Del ) searching through the manuals and service information and discover the secondary air pump, whose failure suited the symptoms of what I was experiencing. Spoke to Prestige, bought a second hand one for £40, delivered next day (compliment in associated thread )

I had it fitted on Wednesday by my ever reliable mechanic, £30 charge, car now sounds like it should again. He confirmed the pump damage was internal, seemed like the pump vanes were damaged and it had become unbalanced, causing the noise. He also confirmed it looks like the same pump that's fitted to VW Polo 1.4 variants etc so it may be worth checking compatibility should anyone need one for an 8 and Prestige don't have one.

So, back on the road again, at least until the next mechanical episode...