Blow not suck you fool

Looks like I'm into my annual EAS aquarium pump excuse for a compressor rebuild... for two weeks its been slow to come up and yesterday threw a hard wobbler. Reset it with the laptop and its blowing air out of the inlet, not sucking. Took the blue pipe off, it sucking in the inlet but I can stop it with my finger at the outlet. Fooked. Been fine for a year since the last rebuild...

Hello, it that Island 4x4? Me again...

Inlet valve is not sealing then.

wammers said:

Inlet valve is not sealing then.

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Thanks wammers, I just fitted the emergency valves to keep me mobile over the weekend while I sort it.

This is interesting. To me anyway...

About 18 months ago, ah rebuilt the compressor with the Dutch kit (seal/liner). 6 months later, like many on here, ah ditched the seal, as it did not work properly in cold weather. Ah kept the Dutch liner in the compressor (it was very slightly worn but not much), but fitted new seals from Island 4x4.

Until 2 weeks ago it was making good air, as reported above. Now it ain't. So ah stripped it down last night to discover that the Dutch liner was seriously worn and scored. Its lost at least 0,5mm of aluminium on diameter at one side. See the first pic. There are corresponding grooves in the Island 4x4 seal, but other than this the seal and piston is fully intact. Ah kept the original liner after ah took it out 18 months ago. At the time it was just the stock seal that had worn to the point of leaking, but the stock liner was not damaged. See second pic. The Dutch aluminuim liner had turned to powder where worn and the internal reed valves were completely clogged with grey gunk. No wonder it went downhill quick.

So ok, ah can recover this by refitting the original liner and getting new seal kit from Island. But what has gone on here with this liner? One possibility it that it's my fault - when ah rebuilt it the second time, ah did not fit the white wad of material in the inlet filter, just the grey course one, hoping that the compressor would breath better. And it seemed to, inflating the system in 4 mins from empty. But did this allow fine particles in to the pump and therefore knacker the liner? Probably.

Or... the Dutch liner is made of cream cheese (allegedly).

Looks like grit damage. The hard anodising is thous thick, once you get through that to the soft alloy that is what can happen. You could use your old cylinder, it looks fine from what i can see of it. But i would always fit a new cylinder with a new piston seal. I have had a Dutch cylinder that scratched up a little but nothing like that, maybe the anodising is not as hard as it should be. I have never seen a OEM cylinder with a scratch in it. They just tend to wear through the anodising at the top of the stroke. Good way to test is to put some Brasso in it and try to polish it. If it comes up shiny anywhere it is knackered. The finish should be dull matt alloy throughout.

wammers said:

Looks like grit damage. The hard anodising is thous thick, once you get through that to the soft alloy that is what can happen. You could use your old cylinder, it looks fine from what i can see of it. But i would always fit a new cylinder with a new piston seal. I have had a Dutch cylinder that scratched up a little but nothing like that, maybe the anodising is not as hard as it should be. I have never seen a OEM cylinder with a scratch in it. They just tend to wear through the anodising at the top of the stroke. Good way to test is to put some Brasso in it and try to polish it. If it comes up shiny anywhere it is knackered. The finish should be dull matt alloy throughout.

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Oh, flippin' 'eck.

Is it possible to download all Wammers posts and save them to disc. It would be a volume rather more comprehensive and usable than Rave.

G~

Its not just you. I had the same thing happen to me with a Dutch kit.

Thanks for the comments, think I'll re-fit the liner I took out for now, spent enough on the old girl this month. I'll check it again on it next annual cock-up.

Here's a mad idea... make a liner from S99 and hard chrome plate the sucker. Have got mates who could make one easy enough, but the chrome plate would be bloody expensive on a one off ah well

Stufer said:

Thanks for the comments, think I'll re-fit the liner I took out for now, spent enough on the old girl this month. I'll check it again on it next annual cock-up.

Here's a mad idea... make a liner from S99 and hard chrome plate the sucker. Have got mates who could make one easy enough, but the chrome plate would be bloody expensive on a one off ah well

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You could get stainless steel cylinders from Yankie land. Rover renovations i believe. About $38.00 last time i saw them i think. Just had a look and they have gone tits up so that's the end of that.

Battled through the man flu this morning and got the rebuilt compressor back in, all good, original piston liner is soo much quieter than that Dutch pile of crap I took out.