What is this motor on Buick Park Avenue?

[trapazoid]

There is a little motor (at least, it seems to be a motor) in the very front, driver's-side cornor on my '95 Buick Park Avenue. It runs alot. It can run a very long time, after its been driven a while then turned off. This makes me think its something to cool the engine. But it will turn on sometimes when it hasn't been run in hours. I woke up one night at 2:00 A.M. and found it setting in the driveway, with the little motor running. Can somebody explain what this thing is and what it does. Thanks.

 

[imidazol97]

There is a little motor (at least, it seems to be a motor) in the very front, driver's-side cornor on my '95 Buick Park Avenue. It runs alot. It can run a very long time, after its been driven a while then turned off. This makes me think its something to cool the engine. But it will turn on sometimes when it hasn't been run in hours. I woke up one night at 2:00 A.M. and found it setting in the driveway, with the little motor running. Can somebody explain what this thing is and what it does. Thanks.

That sounds like the air pump to pressurize the rear struts to keep the car level when load is added or removed. If it's running you may have a leak in the air bag portion of the struts or in the lines leading to them. That motor can run when the car is off and drain your battery on some models.

The check is to turn your key ON and wait about 30-50 seconds. That motor and pump should run for a few seconds as a part of starting up the car to adjust the rear height and pressurize the struts.