what does an AIR system do?

[BayouBlazer88]

I'm seriously considering pulling mine out after reading the latest posts on it but I'd like to know exactly what it does first. Is it strictly for emissions control and has nothing to do with engine performance? If I pull off the pump, I just need to buy a new belt right?

 

[TXsizeK5]

AIR stands for Air injection reaction
It bassically helps reduce carbon monoxide and stuff in exhuast by injecting air into exhuast ports... it uses an air pump to force the air into the exhuast which is controlled by the computer. The entire system consists of engine driven pump, air control, air siwtching and divert managin valves, flow and control hoses, check valves and of course the cat. If you took all that out i'm sure you could... but youd always have a check engine light... you might have to do some kind of relay thing to where it tells your comp that your AIR is intact and incheck... somone was telling me how to do that for an 02 sensor, all it does is kinda bypass the signal or something to tell the computer everything is good.
Hope this helps.

 

[BayouBlazer88]

yeah, I figured I'd have the check engine light on all the time if I did that. Does anyone have detailed instructions on how to bypass the AIR sensor so that the computer thinks it's still there? let me know

 

[HarryH3]

There is nearly always a small amount of unburned fuel in the exhaust stream due to an imperfect fuel mixture, incomplete combustion, etc. The AIR system injects fresh oxygen into the hot exhaust stream, which ignites the unburned fuel and greatly reduces emissions. There's a diverter valve that is supposed to shut off the air flow when you let off the throttle, to prevent the popping in the exhaust pipe. Ford had a better way to do this. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif They put the air passages in the head so that they didn't have those AIR pipes running all over the engine bay. The air just got injected at the exhaust port instead of at the exhaust manifold. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Save all your parts if you remove the AIR system. As states pass stricter emissions laws, you may have to reinstall it. When Colorado did this several years ago there were people spending many hundreds of dollars to reinstall the AIR system that they had tossed in the trash. New AIR pumps were selling for around $300 and you couldn't get a license plate without it. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif