First off, the electric compressor, especially the one Terry is selling is
probably the way to go. Now that's out of the way. My doors worked almost
perfectly for 3 years with the vacuum pump. Then the pump started working
intermittently. I found a source for a replacement (electric was not in the
budget at the time) and installed it. When things didn't get a lot better, I
checked the vacuum, it was borderline. You need at least 18-19 in of vacuum
to run the pump. I either have a vacuum leak or more likely a sick engine.
(It is currently on the maintenance list to look into this further.)
Another thing about the vacuum pumps is that they can sometimes get stuck.
A light tap with a hammer will usually get them going again. My car has a
filler valve built into the air tank under the rear bumper just above the
(often hot--OUCH!) tail pipe on the passenger side. Check yours, because not
all the air tanks have them. Now, I am not Arnold but I still don't have any
problem lifting the doors without air, even without pulling the pin. The
portable battery powered compressors are nice if the car is parked as at a
meet or something and you don't want to run the engine to charge them up (you
would need a filler valve of course).
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