I disabled my A.I.R pump the other day- I was working on my car in the garage last night and started it up for about 1-2 minutes to make sure I had connected everything properly. Shut it off and kept working on the car- when I stood up about an hour later I felt like I was going to pass out. I had a splitting headache and my ears were ringing and I had to lay down. This kept up for about 5 hours until I went to the hospital and got oxygen treatment for CO poisoning.

Anyway I've started my car in the garage like that 100's of times before with no problems, but since my A.I.R system was disabled, nothing was converting the CO in my exhaust so I guess the levels in my garage shot up very quickly. Just a warning to those who have disabled A.I.R and might be as dumb as me.

I'm considering reconnecting it, not sure yet though- luckily I left the crosstube in there so I haven't destroyed anything.

 

hope youre OK now. This is a good reminder to never run a vehicle in a closed garage. At least crack the door a few inches to let some fresh air in.

 

Uhh...some people run a car in a closed garage to commit SUICIDE! I certainly wouldn't do it if I was looking to stay alive, AIR pump or not.

 

hehe yeah, like I said, I'm an idiot. But seriously, with the AIR pump working there is minimal risk. There are cases of guys who have sat in their garage with the engine running to try and commit suicide for over 36 hours and only had minor CO poisoning symptoms.

 

That's an interesting way to prove the effects of the AIR pump.

 

You're real lucky man. Glad to hear your not in worse shape.

 

Yeah man, It is always i good idea to atleast crack the garage door just a little.

 

gotta be careful...

 

You do have cats right?

 

Either way, I would not be running a car in a closed off garage.

Glad you're alright.

 

I think we should keep an eye on his posts for any long term effects.

Interesting, wouldn't try the 36 hours thing though

 

LMAO

 

Hehe thanks guys, yeah keep an eye out for long term effects because I hear that there is a delayed nervous system reaction- heh. Actually that's only for serious, my COhg was only at 15-20 when serious is considered 35+(thats when they put you in a hyperbaric(sp?) chamber...

Anyway I was being a dumbass because it was too cold outside, but I guess cold is better than dead! And yeah, a very interesting way to learn the effectiveness of the A.I.R system! I just realized that only last week, when I still had the AIR in, I ran the car for about 10 minutes in my closed garage trying to find where my miss was coming from and nothing happened. I do have cats BTW, but they don't do much while they are cold. Either way I'm never doing that again!

 

Hey dude glad your ok!! This is Brian we met at Maple Grove last year I had the polo green "95. Hope your brain isn't too fried........he,he

BTW about your sig, you found out what I did. LT's are worthless on an A4, 2.73 geared car. So either swap your shorties back in or do more mods!!! Uh I hope you didn't throw those emissions headers away bro. You need them now here!! lol

 

just curious, did you have the AIR tuned out in the pcm? when Im working on a car at work, and the AIR pump isnt working, it will run very rich at idle on a cold start. only when the air pump is commanded on by the PCM. the air pump is there to get the cat. conv. to heat up quickly when you first start your car. like blowing on a fire, the flames rise. or the coals get brighter. but, the stok tune also adds fuel to the mix. so the o2 readings w/the pump turned on and working correctly will be under 100. w/the pump commanded on but not working (same as if you deleted it w/o tuning it out) the readings are dead rich. over 950. if you start the same car w/o the pcm trying to turn on the AIR pump, the readings will stay around 500. so basically, thats why you have to have the pcm tune delete the AIR pump.

on another note, you stated that the car was misfiring. so basically there was a cylinder that was not firing. if the mis. was due to an ign problem, or an inj. that was too rich, guess what? same result of way too much raw fuel in the exh..

another side note, if you have no cat. conv., there is no need for the AIR pump cause there is no flame to make hotter to burn the extra fuel out of the exh..

make sense? hope your thread has helped some people not to make the same mistake you made though. if your in your garage running the eng., either have the door open a good amount, or make some exh. system tubes that will take the exh. fumes out of the gar. under the door.

chris