what's this?

At the risk of sounding stupid...what is this? A compressor? I didn't think this Jeep came w/ A/C.:?

 

Its an air pump for your smog system. It is suppose to blow air into the exhaust to aid in the burning of exhaust gas. Someone thought it was a good idea at the time. Larry

 

Cool thanks. It's comming out!

 

supercharger

 

It does what it's supposed to - reduces HC (hydrocarbon) emissions. They are a maintenance headache though - exhaust gas is corrosive, and typically all the pieces of the system corrode so badly that they are seldom working today. An air pump without a belt will freeze up after a while, due to internal rusting.

It's a pretty benign system when it's working properly - no performance penalty other than the small parasitic load of the pump. Technically, it's illegal to remove any emissions equipment under Federal law, but enforcement is up to the states. Make sure you can still register your Jeep if you remove it.

 

Yeah...like Tim said...it did what it was supposed to do at the time. The basic idea was that when you inject air into the exhaust (and later on into the catalytic converter) that it helps burn excess unburned fuel...They worked good when new and when maintained properly....But...if your car started running too rich...the heat created by burning the fuel in the exhaust would make your manifolds glow like they were in a forge..... and if the diverter valve went bad...the exhaust could literally blow into pieces no bigger than your hand when you let off the throttle fast. It was pretty much a band-aid for a fuel system that had not been perfected yet, but worked.