The stock Charge Air Cooler (CAC) pump is cheaply made with plastic bearing races and plastic motor housing that flows about 200 GPH. With a replacement cost of over $300 a better alternative has been found using the Attwood A500 pump which gives around 500 GPH and all for a cost of about $30.
Some users have reported a less than ideal pump life. Also, some have reported that the pump caused an electrical whine in their stereo. These have been isolated incidents a the general view is that the pump is worth the upgrade.
Parts Required:
- Attwood Aerator 500 pump (fishing section of Walmart or Academy. Pump may need rethreading.
- 3 in. Foam pipe insulation ( 3/4 or 7/8 inch ID )
- 1 Brass pipe fitting, 3/4" MPT (Male Pipe Thread) to 3/4" hose barb
- 1 Brass 3/4" pipe coupling (female threads on both ends.)
- 1 Brass pipe fitting, 3/4" FPT (Female Pipe Thread) to 3/4" hose barb (Alternate: another male fitting and another coupler)
- 1 ft. of 5/8 inch hose (optional)
- 3 Hose clamps (Alternate: reuse the stock clamps)
- Teflon Tape
- Solder & Heat shrink tubing for the wires.
Procedure:
- At Ace Hardware or equivalent, hand turn the pump fittings, plastic, onto a 3/4" (National Fine, 14 threads per inch). When I was through (2-3 min), I was on my way. Worked perfectly. Now the fittings needed require a 3/4" female pipe thread to screw on the pump, and a 3/4" hose barb on the other end.
- Take your CAC radiator out, the pump will come out with it. It's kinda tough. When you get it out remove the screw that tightens down on the pump, Slide the pump out and cut the wires off long enough so that you can reuse them later. Cut a piece of pipe insulation about a 1/4 inch longer than the pump mounting bracket. Then slide it over the threaded part of the new aerator pump. Then screw on the plastic ring nut (supplied with the pump). After that go ahead and screw on your hose fittings with Teflon tape or pipe joint compound to seal it.
- The new pump fits right back in place, on a Typhoon, but on a Syclone some bending of the bracket may be required.
- After it is in place tighten down the bracket over the pipe insulation. Then tighten the ring nut down against the bracket and reinstall your hose. Reinstall the CAC radiator the same way you took it out.
Wiring:
Using your wiring harness off the old pump, connect the Aerator pumps Brown wire to the Syclone's Orange wire. Then just connect both black wires. (Connect them however you want but I soldered mine.) Plugs right back in to the factory harness.
Other Tips:
This is a great time to clean and paint the CAC radiator bracket, if necessary. Take it all apart and paint it with Black Hammerite paint (it's more of a charcoal color paint - not stock) or equivalent to protect against the future weather pounding.
Another worthwhile task is to spent about an hour carefully straightening out all the fins in the CAC radiator that had been bent by rocks and bionic bugs over the years.
Also, nd, if there mod to make at this time might be to wire in a manual switch for the pump.
Alternative pump suggestion by Steve Gavic:
The ATR pump is made by Sure-Flow which can be found at a farm supply store. The ATR pump flows 3 g.p.m. @60psi but others are available for 30 bucks which flow 1.8 g.p.m. @60psi.
Basically, any 12v pump with similar mounting to the stock one can be used. Just be sure to mount and wire it properly. These pumps are designed to flow in one direction and do not work well when asked to flow in reverse.