This is for my '92 190E 2.6

I have noticed lately that the air pump is making a nasty noise and it's not the pulley, but sounds like it's from within the pump itself.

My question is in 2 parts.

One: what is this pump for? It's the only car I have owned that had an "air pump".

Two: Can I just removed it, and start using a smaller serpentine belt?

I had this pump replaced once before, in Feb 2009 at 139,110 miles. Now 3 plus years and some nearly 40K more miles, it's acting up again. I looked at the parts catalog and this is not a cheap part. It's something like $480!!!!

Any tips/advice would be greatly appreciated. My real concern as of now is that if the pump seizes up while running down the highway, the serpentine belt will shear off and then I am dead in the water.

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1999 MB SL500 (110,000 mi)
2004 Volvo V70 2.5T (220,000 mi)
2014 Tesla Model S 85 (136,000 mi)
MBCA member