Again, this may be a tired subject on here, but I'm having trouble diagnosing a problem with the rear air suspension on my car. When I bought it, I had no idea it had this suspension, so it didn't occur to me to check it out 6 years ago when I bought it. Before I convert it to regular struts, I thought I'd give it a chance to resurrect. As it is, the fuse was mega-blown. I replaced it, and now if I turn on the air compressor, I hear a click in a relay at the right rear of the trunk. I took up the carpet, and see the mechanism it'* connected to, but didin't spend any time on it. Needless to say, there was no sound of the compressor running, and I was too concerned with it to leave the fuse in to drive it. Everyone tells me it'* just burned up and to replace the pump. Is this probably true? If so, where is it? And the $$$ question, anyone know a cheaper way out than the dealer?

If anyone has converted to struts, I'd like to know their experiences.

If your comp. doesnt turn on.. maybe you should test your relay. The contacts went bad in my mothers car and I took the old relay and put in a new, now everything works. I suggest you check everything .. relay, pump, circut. Because having that type of suspension is very nice

The compressor is under the hood on the drivers side, near the PMV assembly. It has a cylinder on it.

great - thanks for the advice. Which relay controls the pump? Is it one behind the engine, or is there one in the trunk?

I want to say that it'* somewhere in or around the trunk, since I hear an audible click back there whenever I run the inflator using the on/off pushbuttons in the trunk (which uses the same pump, of course).

I assume that your tire inflator doesn't work either, right? That is, you just need to swap in a new pump?

Something you might want to look into, although I can't guarantee it'll work for you, is this: AC/Delco sells a standalone tire inflator pump with a cigarette-lighter plug in retail stores; I bought one at an Osco supermarket for $20.00. It _looks_ like the same 12V pump as in the car, just enclosed in a little plastic casing around it. The main thing, it'* an actual AC-Delco brand, and I know they also sell a line of cheesy Chinese hand tools and such, but this thing looks like the same part that'* under the hood of my Bonne.

Can't say for sure, but it seems possible that GM figured they could recoup the tooling on the air pump by selling a few bazillion more as standalone units through K mart or wherever. Might be worth checking on that.

Right - the inflator doesn't work either. With the fuse in, if I turn it on, I just hear a click behind the fenderwell on the right side of the trunk.

I may remove the pump and see if it works - if it doesn't, I'm all over your suggestion - I have no idea where I can find one down here, but I'll look.

I've never noticed the pump under the hood so I'm curious now to find it.

Ayup; sounds like your pump is toast.

Eh... should be easy enough to see if the wires to the pump have juice; you shouldn't have to disturb it. My guess is that it seized up from old age.

Um... driver'* side, on or near the inner wheel well. Looks like a little air pump.

Look around at gmpartsdirect for a good price on it and if its too pricey or not available I can get you a stock or better unit.

Ty