My pump started acting goofy as I was watching the gauge as I was filling my tank. The pressure was almost up to 300 bar when all of a sudden the pressure started rapidly falling in the opposite direction. My hour meter had 18.4 hours on it so I knew I was getting close to needing a high pressure side rebuild as my fill times had greatly increased. I tore the compressor apart and found that the brass high pressure piston was severely scratched on one side and the piston rings were hard and brittle. I've been down this road a few times before and had previously purchased 4 piston and gasket kits from Ali Express.
So I drained the crankcase, removed the cover, wiped the sediment out and replaced the piston. Upon reassembly I discovered that the crankcase cover gasket had shrank in overall size. It would no longer fit into the groove around the cover. I tried warming it up and stretching it but it wouldn't stay large enough to fit upon assembly. Therefore I removed the rubber gasket, cleaned both surfaces and applied no-name black RTV silicone sealant (purchased at Harbor Freight). I allowed it to cure for 48 hours, filled the crankcase with Campbell-Hausfield synthetic compressor oil and fired up the compressor. I had air, yay.
The new piston was not balanced as well as the previous one and I had twice the vibration and much louder noise level. After about 10 minutes of run time several oil leaks appeared around the crankcase gasket so I shut it down. Drained the oil and removed the cover to find that the RTV had several places where it was still gooey and not set up so that was the source of the leaks. The new oil was black and extremely contaminated. Cleaned everything and sealed the cover again with red Permatex RTV this time. I will allow it to cure for 3 days before I fire it up again.
So in the interim I am weighing my options. Do I want to keep going down this road and repairing a ticking time bomb or bite the bullket and upgrade to a more reliable and more expensive compressor. The Alkin would be the dream compressor but not really wanting to spend that much. The Coltri MCH6 and Omega Air Charger are both high on my consideration list but both are spendy as well. The rabbit hole keeps getting deeper ...
So I drained the crankcase, removed the cover, wiped the sediment out and replaced the piston. Upon reassembly I discovered that the crankcase cover gasket had shrank in overall size. It would no longer fit into the groove around the cover. I tried warming it up and stretching it but it wouldn't stay large enough to fit upon assembly. Therefore I removed the rubber gasket, cleaned both surfaces and applied no-name black RTV silicone sealant (purchased at Harbor Freight). I allowed it to cure for 48 hours, filled the crankcase with Campbell-Hausfield synthetic compressor oil and fired up the compressor. I had air, yay.
The new piston was not balanced as well as the previous one and I had twice the vibration and much louder noise level. After about 10 minutes of run time several oil leaks appeared around the crankcase gasket so I shut it down. Drained the oil and removed the cover to find that the RTV had several places where it was still gooey and not set up so that was the source of the leaks. The new oil was black and extremely contaminated. Cleaned everything and sealed the cover again with red Permatex RTV this time. I will allow it to cure for 3 days before I fire it up again.
So in the interim I am weighing my options. Do I want to keep going down this road and repairing a ticking time bomb or bite the bullket and upgrade to a more reliable and more expensive compressor. The Alkin would be the dream compressor but not really wanting to spend that much. The Coltri MCH6 and Omega Air Charger are both high on my consideration list but both are spendy as well. The rabbit hole keeps getting deeper ...
.
. A backup is always good to have. I have 4 of them, a cordless GXL3 compressor for the field, a jb air tank with free refills from jb, my double hand pump setup, a yong heng with 2 hrs on it and hopefully soon a second tank. You know you have to have some type of back up when you have a addiction!
