Help, York Discharging alot of Oil!

[moabers]

What needs to be done in order to stop my York from discharging so much oil? I have adjusted my oil level and have made some gains, I plugged the front port behind the front seal, but I am still getting alot of oil out the discharge port. At 2500 RPM, I will fill up my filter/liquid separator in about a minute.

TIA!

 

[moabers]

In a previous discussion, Morpheus said :
I've been messing with the York for the last couple of weeks. I too have a ton of oil coming out the discharge port. The position I wanted it mounted was on its side due to space limitaions (with the intake on top and discharge below). It pumped a whole lot of oil. So I temporarily mounted it straight up just to try it. It still pumped oil, but less. So I bought a coalecsing filter from Kilby. It trapped the oil, but it shortly seemed to overwhelm the filter and began to spew oil (within 3-4 min of constant running. I tried plugging the port in front of the bearing and it seemed to spew more oil. So I tried other Yorks (my 4th one now). They all acted the same. I tried calling Kilby for tech support, but they won't help unless you actually buy a compressor from them. So I took one apart to see what was wrong. It seems that the Yorks have a crankcase and a combustion chamber where the air is compressed. The only vent for the crankcase that I could see was the port in front of the main bearing (the one they tell you to plug-this port connects to the suction chamber). Two pistons with comression rings. No oil rings. So I thought I would try plugging the port in front of the bearing and venting the crankcase by removing one of the fill plugs just to see what would happen (York is still mounted upright). Still oil spewing but a lot less. All in all I don't know what the fix is. I gave up for now. Oh, and I did rotate the head without any ill effects. You'll just need a gasket kit because the old ones tore when I took it apart. What pisses me off, is that my old man built a homade garage compressor using a York 25 years ago and it still works without any oil discharge to this day. Go figure. If any one comes up with a fix, I'm interested. Still want to get this working.
Thx, and sorry so long.
Gary

 

[Rustytruck]

Are you using a dip stick to fill the crank case to avoid over filling? The exhaust port cannot be on the low side if you are laying the unit down on its side or you will blow alot of oil. If worse comes to worse vent the crank case so you dont pressure past the rings. also make sure you have free flow of air on the intake side any restriction could cause it to suck oil.

 

[BRONKEN]

Gary, I feel your frustration, I'm having the same problem. I DID buy my system from Kilby so they will have to answer my questions. My problem is that I work two jobs and do not have the time to play with the unit but I hope to do so within the next week. I will post if I have any new info.

 

[Morpheus]

Yes, keep us posted if you learn of a fix. It seems like it would work great without the oil. I got as far as plumbing the entire system with an onboard tank before I discovered all the oil. Those Yorks bring the system up to pressure in no time at all. Would be a handy tool out in the field.

Gary

 

[Morpheus]

Here's another thought. I was browsing through one of my older issues of 4 Wheel Drive and Sport Utility. There's an ad for the Oasis Off Road Mfg. Trailhead air compressor. It seems Kilby is also a dealer for this unit. The picture shows a closeup of the unit and it appears to be a York with an electic motor to run it. Says it's portable and can be mounted anywhere. What's interesting is that it appears to have some sort of vent or connection (it's a brass L shaped elbow with an odd looking extension sticking straight up about 1-2 inches) mounted to one of the oil fill plugs. If it's actually a vent, all they did was vent the crankcase. I don't know for sure, but that's what it looks like. When I removed one of the oil fill plugs on mine, the amount of oil discharged was reduced by about 90% and hardly any oil came out the fill hole. I could only detect a small amount of air being pushed out that hole. Just a thought. Don't know what you'd use for a vent though.

Gary

 

[cobranco]

Just a thought: I wonder if the rings are going bad. I can't imagine that a york pump used for A/C would work if the unit was dumping oil into the A/C system. I just got mine mounted and am working on the plumbing end of it. Luckily, it doesn't seem to be loosing any oil after testing. Mine's mounted on the passenger side with a serp. belt set-up. Do you guys usually run the RPM's up when using the pump?

 

[moabers]

RPM does seem to be a factor with it, at idle, not much oil at all, but when 1500-2500RPM, it fills up my liquid separator in no time. I am going to try venting the crankcase, and then rotating the head to put the discharge port higher.

Thanks!

 

[sicaz66]

i`ve had mine on for a few years.when i first did mine i emptied the compressor oil and filled it with 90wt at first i dumped a lot of oil.i thought it had a problem after a few uses it stopped i figured if it was a bad compressor it would seize after losing all it`s oil.2 years later and still pumps like a champ. and i`ve used it quite a bit. really cool when theres a line for air at the wheelin spots and i just pull out my air hose(works 10 times faster than a gas station pump )great way to get free beer ! ;D

 

[Morpheus]

I didn't think about heavier oil. I just put in what the A/C shop recommended, which was refrigerant oil. It's real thin. Maybe something heavier would help. Might have to try that.

 

[Rustytruck]

I use standard motor oil and mine is hooked around the alternator pully on a 2 grouve pully so its gear reduction is really low and when I use the compressor I rev the engine to about 1800 rpm.

 

[moabers]

As the level gets lower, it does decrease the amount of discharge, but it is still discharging some oil. Anyways, I rotated the head ( to put the discharge port higher ) , and for test purposes, I removed the crankcase fill plug to avoid any pressure, and it was still pushing oil.
Thanks for all your responses, I will put in some thick motor oil, 15W40 or 20W50, and reduce the level some more, and see how that works.
One more question, the actual filter in my filter/separator did get immersed in oil a couple times, what do I need to do to get that clean again? Will the oil in it disperse after I get my oiling problem fixed? Do I need to take it apart and clean it? If so, what should I clean it with?

Thanks guys!

 

[moabers]

Alright, no success was had, and here is all that I tried. I rotated the head to put the discharge port higher, I played extensively with the crankcase fill plug to see if venting would have any effect, I have plugged the port in behind the front seal, I changed out the mineral oil that I was running and put in 20W-50, with both oils, I have run both oils from 2-10oz of oil, and it still pumps out oil. I did make some gains, but it really seems that not much can be done. I will be putting in a Oil removal/coalescing filter with an oil return line to the crankcase, followed by an inline disposable paint gun filter.
All in all, I am into this project ~$200, and have another $70-100 to go. Oh well, the cool factor alone is well worth it.
Thanks for all your input guys, it's too bad we couldn't get this solved, but I don't think that it is solveable.

Dave C.

 

[cobranco]

I hope you get it solved someday.

I just got mine finished up yesterday. I haven't installed a tank yet because I'm just pumping the tires up after wheeling. I fabbed a serp. pulley from a Ford air pump onto the pump, so it runs almost the same rpm as the motor. It pumped one of my 38's from 4psi to 15psi ( my normal street pressure) in 65 seconds at idle. ;D

Anybody used pvc for an air tank?

 

[moabers]

Which reminds me of a question... how much oil will cause a problem in a tire? I am trying to eliminate all oil discharge, but with rubber's response to oils, can anyone give us an idea of how much is going to spell real problems?

TIA!
Dave C.

 

[Texas77]

[quote author=cobranco link=board=5;threadid=15901;start=0#msg121866 date=1049565505]
Anybody used pvc for an air tank?
[/quote]

I have seen PVC used with no problem as long as it does not get hot or have something rubbing on it. If you have a PVC tank or lines with above 85 PSI in it get a hole or weak spot it goes up like a bomb with shrapnel flying all over the place. I saw a 6” dia by 4’ long SHC80 PVC tank take out aluminum toolbox on a pickup. His jack slid under the toolbox and the rest was a mess. :-[There was a mess in the cab also.

I will get a metal tank when I get to that stage.