Vacuum Pump Testing 2.5L

[murdoc_47]

While troubleshooting some other items on the 2.5L in my 2014 CX 5, I happened to brush against the vacuum pump and noticed it is REALLY hot to the touch when the engine is up to temperature. I know that it is fed oil from the cylinder head, so I suppose it will be about the same temp as the engine oil. But that, in addition to a sort of odd feeling brake, (no resistance half the way down, and then kind of hard on the engagement of the pads) has me thinking that the vacuum pump might be going out. So I have two questions:
1. Is it normal for the vacuum pump to be very hot?

2. Anyone know of a good low-buck scan tool that will display the vacuum pressure? I've been using the bluetooth OBD2 dongle and an iPhone app to show a lot of the live data, but it doesn't have this metric. I tried a few others but they didn't have it either. Ideally I'd like to find a phone app. Or a reasonably priced stand alone tablet type unit.
Thanks

 

[Jmaz]

While troubleshooting some other items on the 2.5L in my 2014 CX 5, I happened to brush against the vacuum pump and noticed it is REALLY hot to the touch when the engine is up to temperature. I know that it is fed oil from the cylinder head, so I suppose it will be about the same temp as the engine oil. But that, in addition to a sort of odd feeling brake, (no resistance half the way down, and then kind of hard on the engagement of the pads) has me thinking that the vacuum pump might be going out. So I have two questions:
1. Is it normal for the vacuum pump to be very hot?

2. Anyone know of a good low-buck scan tool that will display the vacuum pressure? I've been using the bluetooth OBD2 dongle and an iPhone app to show a lot of the live data, but it doesn't have this metric. I tried a few others but they didn't have it either. Ideally I'd like to find a phone app. Or a reasonably priced stand alone tablet type unit.
Thanks

Is there even a vacuum pressure sensor in the system to allow a remote reading. May have to plumb a vacuum gauge inline. It also wouldn't surprise me if the pump is hot to the touch since it's metal, attached to an engine that gets hot and would generate heat just from it's own operation since it's driven and performs mechanical work.

 

[cz5gt]

Yes, everything metal attached to or very close to the engine is hot.