General Maintenance & Repairs - 2002 WS6 - Radiator Fan Noise, and Misc. other questions

I recently purchased a 2002 WS6 with 29k miles. It is in excellent condition and doesn't appear to have been beat on, but there a few potential problems that I have questions about:

-When the radiator fan kicks on it is real loud. Is that normal for this car?

-The factory 12 disc CD changer won't read any CD's. Does anyone have any experience with these? I mean, are these known to be problematic? I would definitely use it if it worked and I want to know if it is worth it to have it fixed.

-I notice that it pulls to the left (toward oncoming traffic) and the outside corner of the driver's side tire is burnt off. They are the factory Eagle F1 tires. Do you think a good alignment and some new tires should set me straight? Any parts I should have them check while they are under there?

Welcome to the board. My high speed fans are pretty loud compared to low speed, I have a switch so I can turn them on with the car off - air noise only though. Make sure the CDs are loaded correctly in the changer - label side down.

Welcome to the board. My high speed fans are pretty loud compared to low speed, I have a switch so I can turn them on with the car off - air noise only though. Make sure the CDs are loaded correctly in the changer - label side down.

Thanks for the welcoming. This seems like a great forum.

You were dead-on the CD changer, I was loading them label side up...duh. Thanks!

As for the noise, I'm not so sure it is the cooling fan. When I cold start the car there is a sound like a Shop Vac for a couple minutes. I can't pinpoint the component that is making the noise, but it is some where between the radiator and the front of the engine block. There is a vibration that goes along with the noise...you can feel it if you put your hand on the ram air filter cover. It's just strange that it only does it from a cold start and goes away once it is warm.

The noise you hear is the air pump and is normal until the car warms up and then it turns off. The air pump is for emissions. As for the pull and tire wear you need to get a alignment and 2 new tires for the front.

Yeah, that's the air pump - at night you'll see your lights flicker when it cycles.

ditto on the air pump

ditto on the air pump
This is the first car I've had with an air pump such as this. Does anyone know what it technically does? I mean, how what does it do to help with pollution? Why is the pump so loud in these cars?

it provides fresh, filtered air to the cats to help them catalyze hydrocarbons while they are waming up(they are not as efficient when you first cut the car on and they are cold). the owners manual will be your best friend when it comes to the cd changer, and barring any suspension damage(which i doubt at that mileage unless its been wrecked), new tires and an alignment should set you straight(no pun intended).

As a follow up to my original post...

-Had new tires installed today and an alignment. She drives straight as an arrow now. The toe was out of specs on both front wheels, especially the driver's side.

-CD Changer works great with the discs label side down

-Thanks for the info about the air pump, nice to know exactly what it's there for.

are you sure it was toe? and not camber? most times, toe is measured wheel to wheel. not wheel to the vehicle's centerline or thrust line. as long as it doesnt pull and the steering wheel is straight up and down, the tech did a good job. i just want to make sure he didn't feed you any bullshit.

The pull is completely gone and the steering wheel is straight. I have the computer alignment print off here, the camber and caster numbers before and after were dead nuts in spec. Here is the Toe info:

Front Left:
Toe Specs = -.10 to .10 deg
Toe After = .01 deg
Toe Before = .19 deg

Front Right
Toe Specs = -.10 to .10 deg
Toe After = .01 deg
Toe Before = .19 deg

Total Toe
Toe Specs = -.20 to 20 deg
Toe After = .02 deg
Toe Before = .38 deg

I would say that if the Toe doesn't affect pull, then one of the old tires may have been bad and been a radial puller...but since the outside edge of the driver's front was burnt off I would like to think that the alignment fixed everything.