[tgobble]

My secondary air pump on my '98 New Beetle makes that horrible screeching sound. If I simply unplug the damn thing will it cause my car to fail Atlanta, GA's emission test? Its just embarassing on start-up! I also had been told that VW had acknowledged a problem with the design of these pumps which is causing the valves at the top of the hose to stick open. This supposedly allows condensation to drip down the tube filling the pump with moisture. This causes the motor inside the pump to corrode eventually causing the high pitched whine/screech. I was once told that VW had formally acknowledged the problem and were working on a solution. Any chance this might indicate an eventual recall if its true? I've been pretty lucky I guess. Mine has actually been a great little car. It's 14 yrs old and this is the first problem I've had. Of course now the driver's side window broke. It's stuck in the fully down position (I have to get that fixed) and now my A/c just stopped! It was working fine with zero problems. I moved the car, turned the a/c off, and shut off the ignition. I changed my mind about where I wanted to park and started the car back up. I tried to turn the a/c back on and nothing. Absolutely nothing happens. Its actually no heat, no defrost, and no a/c. I thought it was just going to be a fuse but I have checked and tried changing all the obvious possibilities. Does anyone know if this might be a relay switch? Still even though this has all happened right here together I guess I shouldn't complain. The car still drives and rides great, it looks great, and being a five speed I've always thought it was pretty fun to drive. The only other work I've had to do to it were the couple of recalls that VW issued early on and then the brake light switch a few yrs ago. Always at VW's cost and always fixed right in one shot.