While at the dyno this morning (more on those results in a
different thread), after the second pull the dyno operator mentioned a light ticking noise from the engine. It was pretty faint so I said "nah, that's ok" and we did a third pull. After this pull, the noise was much worse - still couldn't tell what it was, but the engine was running ok. Upon backing it out of the shop, the power assist for the brakes went dead, then when I parked it the engine wouldn't shut off. D'oh... obvious vac pump failure. So I towed it home, pushed it into the garage (with some help from some sympathetic neighbors), and tore things apart for a look-see. Check out the photos below. OUCH!
I thought I had replaced this vac pump sometime during my ownership of the car, but after reviewing my records, it appears I had not... because it was replaced by the previous owner 2 years before I bought the car. Actually, the pump was first replaced in 1993 @ 117kmi, and replaced again in 1995 at 152kmi (not sure why the second pump failed in such a short period of time). I purchased the car in 1997 with 187kmi on the clock and a 2-year old Pierburg pump. Well, a mere 141kmi later, the pump kerploded magnificently. I'll have to drain the oil pan and pull the side sump to (hopefully) fish out the rest of the debris... there's a big chunk o' pump missing, that is nowhere to be found right now.
Worse yet... I had recently replaced the timing device with a shiny new one from the dealer ($300 list price) when my timing cover failed 3 years ago. I don't think I'll be able to re-use it.
There goes another $250+ out the window. *sigh*
Anyway... has anyone seen a pump failure like this before? The bearing is fully intact, and the pump was not leaking one drop of oil externally. There was no signs of impending failure, just BOOM rattle rattle tinkle ping poof.
