Auxillary Air Valve

[Argeo]

From an earlier post, I think my AAV may be bad. How difficult is it to take apart and will taking apart help anything. What tools do I need. Is it the type of thing that the valve could just be stuck shut with some goop and need cleaning or once they are shot, they're shot. I am just wondering if I should bother pulling apart or not.

Thanks and thanks to the guy that helped me earlier.

[alan911]

Took mine apart once. Had to drill out the rivets and replace them with nuts and bolts. A motha to get one of the mounting allen bolts out.

Nothing much inside it to fool with though. A heating element, and spring activated shutter.

You can test it, out of the car, by hooking it up to 12V and wait and see if the Shutter is working. A few mins. I think. Works very slowly. If not, it may be stuck and taking it apart may help. Can't hurt it. Once the heating element becomes non-fuctional, it's gone.

First, make sure you're getting 12V to the connector on a cold start with the engine running while it's in the car.

Car won't start or run very well with the air hoses disconnected.

[Argeo]

Thanks Alan. I do not have my wiring diagram handy. Does the wiring going to the cold start also go to the AAV? Do I actually have to start the car to get power going to the CSV and AAV or will the key in just the on position work?

Thanks again.

[echrisconnor]

Do you mean the Regulator or Valve? I repaired my AAR about a year ago. See the following post:



Dead Aux Air Regulator?

[Argeo]

Valve on side of motor above the right valve cover. It has one hose and is viewable without removing anything. Hey, I have a 77 3.0. Fun cars.

Thanks.

[alan911]

The Cold start valve only injects fuel on initial and usually "cold" start ups (engine started and running) Sort of makes sense.

The AAV only functions with the car actually running also. When you think about it, that's when the engine needs the addtional air. I think it's still getting voltage while driving and warmed up but the little shutter is supposedly closed at that point. I've never seen a "shut-off" relay or mechanism in the wiring diagram to cut off the voltage after warmed up, nor would you want it to.

When I first tested mine, got nothing with the key in the "on" mode which sort of makes sense also. No need for it to work. It seems that the "trigger for all the running components (a bunch of them) is air moving throttle plate, thus engine running.

With CIS, all the planets have to come into alignment i.e. all the components have to operate at the proper time for everything to work correctly. That means some of the stuff works with the key in the "on" postition and other stuff only fuctions when the engine is actually running.

[1980SC]

Here is what the insides of an AAR looks like.



You can bend the bi-metallic strip to change how much it opens.

Rob
1980SC

[Argeo]

Thanks everyone and a special thanks for the pictures. I am a visual guy.

[Argeo]

Hi everyone, I pulled the AAV off the car last night. It appears that when cold, the valve is only open about a 1/4 at the most. I used the freezer/oven trick to see what would happen. Hot - fully closed, cold 1/4 open. Appox. how open should that valve be? Oh, I am getting power there when the car is running.

This appears to be the problem. Let me know if this makes sense. Currently when I start the car, it takes about four tries. When it does eventually start. It backfires out of the pipe and doesn't run on all cylinders. Drive the car for 10 mins or so and all the cylinders start to work. So I am thinking, where the AAV is not open all the way, the engine is running way to rich. As a result, it takes several attempts to start which fouls some of the plugs, which causes the backfiring and the loss of cylinders. Car warms up, valve closes completely, heat burns off excess on fouled plugs, car runs great. Does this make sense?

Can I chisel those rivets off on the AAV? I figure I might as well try and fix since I'll need to buy a new one anyways.

Thanks.