so , love it, hate it, dont understand it, my car has SAI ( Secondary Air Injection ) to run for up to 90 seconds at cold start to enable the catalytic converters to heat up quicker to enable the car to reduce its emissions quicker ,

this is done by way of x2 air fan pumps mounted under the front bumper right hand side headlight right in front of the right front wheel, a bit tricky to access, but DIY do-abe

Mine , being new in 2007 and now over 100k miles have had countless starts and runs , and were noisy ( very noisy) and the ' big service ' actually describes replacing the filters on the intakes for these fans ,

lots and lots and lots of searching established i had the second generation of fans with the metal frames and rubber outer 'bladder' type, and not the full plastic body earlier versions ,

prices from B start at around £500 each,,,,,hmm , i know i can do it for less and keep the quality ? and being a VW /Audi parts there should be something out there, and taking a 'punt' was required.....

so , it turns out these SAI pumps are pretty generic, and i bought two for less than £80 UK total , just to see if it was viable, turns out i was right...

this is my old pump ( removed) next to the replacement ' cheaper ' unit .... make your own minds up ,






there seems to be a really minor difference in a small area of the plastic top cap , nothing that negates fitting correctly , and possible just a generational production difference, but for the price, i am not worried in the slightest , these were a direct swap for the existing units, the new ones do come with a studded rubber mount installation pack , the Bentley is mounted on full rubber mounts, nothing wrong with my mounts so i used the originals , just my choice

i also mentioned the filters for the SAI units ( one each ) needed 'replacing' nothing of the sort, they fully disassemble with an easy pop out action , and remembering the assembly sequence lay out all the parts, clean out the two different filter pads ( large and small filtration) , clean and reassemble, no need to buy replacements in my opinion

the new units are now whisper quiet befitting of a Bentley starting up in the carpark in public, lol

i must resist taking my cars apart...but i just cant help it, lol ( picture of another project involving the headlights....)



BB

oh , what pumps i hear some asking, well i bought two that were described as being for the VW Rabbit....or the VW Golf in Europe, several out there, if they look right, its probable they are right, happy hunting........

 

Nice!

C

 

Well done. Good bit of investigative home work. Well worth noting. I had sai air fans replaced a few years ago due to a flooded road.....well expensive. Next time its search for this post as a reminder 👍

 

the above mentioned filters actually have a ping-pong type ball that acts as a valve inside the filters stopping water from entering, maybe they only work for a short duration ?? but did seem to seal very well when i was refurbishing the filter/valve units

BB

 

When I say flooded it wasn't even badly flooded . It was a trip in the Scottish Highlands with extremely bad weather
I didn't actually go through a flood as such yet it ruined the blowers. Perhaps they were getting degraded over a long period. Bentley OPC said they were knackered. Next time if it happens I'm going to do as you have and refurb them.
🙂👍