Has anyone had any problems related to removing the air pump on a 96 F150 300 I6?

For those who have successfully removed the air pump what serpentine belt (part #) or (truck year config) did you use after removing the pump from the engine.

The pump on our truck is working ok but some of the other parts such as the one way valve and possibly the vaccum controller is malfunctioning. Besides it is in the way and just makes things much more difficult to work on and troubleshoot.

Any problems from the removal of the air pump such as higher exhaust temps or overheating cat. This would not seem to be a problem if all you are doing is not pumping additional air in to help burn unburnt fuel. Seems counterintuitive, lets just add more air to burn off the extra we are putting into the exhaust stream. Why not throw your money out the tail pipe because the engine is not as efficient. They are rock solid engines but they do not get the best fuel economy. You would think ford engineers would use a better approach to reduce emissions and provide better efficiency to an old design. To take an old design produced when gas was cheap and efficiency was not really an issue, would not seem all that difficult.

Thanks, any advice would be greatly appriciated.

 

I would say leave it in. It's not robbing any power and you won't see enough of an increase in gas mileage to notice. I don't know if it will cause any driveability problems, but I can almost guarantee your computer won't like it. You'll probably have to live with a check engine light at the least. If you do take it out you'll also need either a shorter belt or an idler pulley in its place.

 

If you pull it off you'll be asking for trouble,
The exhaust temps will change and the o2 sensor and the comp will make changes for this ....
your truck will never run right again.
If some related parts are not functioning properly you would be betrter off to replace the defective parts and get the system working properly again.....


ftwfred

 

If it doesn't inject air into the head behind the exhaust valves (look for the rail under the top of the intake manifold with a check valve and hose running to it toward the front of the engine) it won't be as big of a deal if you want to bypass it.

With no head air injection the air pump just injects air into the exhaust after the O2 sensor to help the catalytic converters do their job. I have no head air injection on mine and gutted the pump, cleaned it good, welded everything shut and filled it with light motor oil. I don't worry about the bearings crapping out on me now. I tried a belt that bypassed it but it was just a tiny bit long and squeaked. Some people say that this plugs the cats but I can't see it being a problem if the motor's running right and is tuned right. I have several other vehicles that don't pump air into the cats except when the motor's very cold and they've never had trouble with cats.

The motors that do have the air injection behind the exhaust valves can't do without the pump without the computer getting confused and making them run wrong.

 

Thank you for the prompt replies.

The computer issue is something I suspected as being a problem but I was not sure if the air was injected in Open Loop (before normal temp is reached) or closed loop (after normal temp is reached) mode.

Since my truck has the rail injection for the head it appears I maybe causing more problems than I solve in I disable the air pump system.

Oh well, have any of you been successful in finding the cause of the bucking between 40-50 mph? I have looked through the forum and the possiblities are endless. Some have added a restrictor plate to richen the mix, but why is the mix lean? I suspect a vaccum leak somewhere or maybe a weak spark?

Any help would be greatly appriciated....this is a very difficult problem to track down.

 

I just wanted to add to the privious post concerning the bucking between 40-50.

I have replaced the following:
1. Plugs
2. Cap/Rotor
3. Plug Wires
4. Fuel Filter
5. PCV
6. Used injector cleaner

Tomorrow I am going to do the base timing check.

Wondering about the following based on other posts:

1. Weak Coil
2. Fuel pressure regulator
3. Throttle body gasket

I appriciate any help you guys can provide.

 

I don't know if you ever fixed this but did you ever think about the EGR valve and sensor? This will cause problems like this...

 

Yes the EGR will cause bucking. And at speed is when the thing is opening and closing.