oneill_1

Hey all u w124-ers

i own a '93 300e and my car started to make a loud sound every time i start the car in the morning or when the engine is cold....when it warms up, the sound stops. the sound is like the sound of an air compressor (not mercedes kompressor) but a tad bit quieter. the car was given to me by my uncle/aunt and they remember their mechanic mentioning that it was the air/smog pump. i need second opinions. if anyone else has encoutered the same problem, let me no cuz the part is roughly about $350 and i dont want to replace a part that is good and expensive if i dont need to.

thanks a lot...

Nick_M_51988

the AIR pump only comes on when the engine is cold. it will shut off after a few minutes.

it sounds like thats the problem

Kestas

It's normal. Mine does that every morning. Like Nick said, it's for smog.

NorCal124

My friend had the same issue. What he would do is he would shut down the car and restart it. Usually that got rid of the noise. He eventually just replaced it for a used but newer compressor.

mhorn

If you can live with the sound, do nothing. The air pump has been known to sieze up and shred the belt, but I think your noise would get really loud before that happened. There was much discussion of removing the air pump completley with all kinds of belt length questions. If you are in Calif. I don't think you could pass a smog test without it. Like the guys said it just comes on at startup until the engine warms up. Just one of the things you have to appreciate from a +10 year old car.

oneill_1

thanks for all the input so far....unfortunately i do live in california, so i guess i need to replace the pump.