air pump repair

[tabahr]

My air pump has been blowing its fuse every day now so I figured I'd take it apart and see what makes it tick. It is very simple, actually. It consists of a plastic housing containing a motor and a solonoid. I noted during disassembly that the motor was kind of hard to turn. When I took the solenoid apart I noticed some of the windings in it had the insulation on them destroyed and were shorting on eachother. I removed 2 feet of bad winding from the solenoid and re-soldered the end. I also took the motor apart and cleaned it up, lubricating the front bearing and rear bushing with Duralube spray lubricant. Testing was easy. The 3wire connector is a (black)ground, (orange)motor+ and (red)solenoid+. I simply connected the ground to the bat- and put a test lead on the bat+. I then touched the test lead to the orange to test the motor and then the red to test the solenoid. Both worked well. Reinstallation was a snap, and after a drive to the mall with the wife and kids there was no SES light. IT WORKED! Now the question is, for how long? I've also noticed it is not nearly as loud as it used to be. I could hardly hear it running, I had to pop out the fuse to verify it was working. When I took the fuse out, I could tell it stopped. When I replaced the fuse it fired back up again, quietly.

Note.. This component was obviousely not designed to be serviced. Getting it apart without destroying it was tricky, but not toooo hard. The hardest part was removing the solenoid from the metal base plate. It is pressed in and required a little roto-tool action to get it free. I had to use a couple small screws to replace it properly after removing the bad part of its winding..

I also noticed the bearing was the same as the ones I had in my skateboard wheels as a kid. Even the same brand! LOL

I hope it continues to work!! How much is a new one of these anyway??

[Jeff_in_Atl]

I did the same thing with mine. The only problem I found was the front bearing had carbon dust from the brushes in it.