EAS fun and games!

[PeterH]

I was working in the city (Melbourne) yesterday, on the way in I had to lower the Rangie down to put a few things on the roof rack and noticed it was not coming back up when I tried to raise it back up. I waited as long as I could with a door open trying to fill the tank, while it did raise a little bit, it was still way under normal height.
I drove into the city with just enough pressure to keep the ride bearable, had to park under a building to unload, then my mate had to move the car to another car park with it almost on the bump stops, not fun!
At the end of the day he had to get the car again and it would have been rough as guts sitting pretty much on the bump stops, how embarrasing!
I drove it home very carefully, what a horrible ride, every bump felt like an earthquake.
Got home ok, first thing I did was spray every connection with soapy water but found no sign of any leaks.
Suspecting the compressor I undid the intake filter and found air pushing out of the intake...problem found! Something obviously wrong with the compressor, so this morning I took another car into see Dave at British Car Components in North Melb, got myself a compressor seal kit.
Pulled the compressor off and the piston seal and cylinder looked pretty good, last time I replaced it was about 2 years ago.
I replaced them anyway while I had it apart and continued replacing the other o rings.
Upon removing the reed valve in the compressor head, I found the culprit, the little o ring under there had failed.
Easy fix to replace it, put it all back together, started it up with a door open, the tank was full in 5 mins, very fast. Closed the door and up she came straight away, I was very happy to see that!
I have found the compressor will cut in and out a bit after an empty tank, but once taken for a short drive it sorts itself out and operating normally again after that.
Very happy, fixed in 24 hours, pretty good really, what a relief!
Hope this helps someone experiencing the same problem.

[davidsonsm]

Isn't that the oring that's supppsed to be "glued" in?

[PeterH]

I watched the RSW video on replacing the o rings and he specifically said do not glue or silicone that o ring in.
I trust him, he knows what he's doing with EAS!

[DieselLSE]

How strange! I haven't seen that before on Classics or P38s. I'm wondering if the O ring has perished due to heat as I can see no other reason for its demise? Unless it is an undersized replacement?
I agree that there is no need to coat the O rings with silicone or glue (although I do use a light coating of O ring grease on re-assembly), but I do make sure that the sealing tab sits squarely and flat over the exhaust outlet (the hole in the pic that the compressed air is forced through) to ensure that no air is drawn back into the chamber during the down (or intake) stroke (which was obviously happening to PeterH).

[PeterH]

DieselLSE, I had some valve block issues last year, I fixed that by rebuilding the valve block.
I also had some slow leaks in the air springs, so a new set of those went on as well, and all has been perfect since.
My theory is the compressor was working overtime to try and keep up before the repairs, which would have been running hot and may have caused that o ring to fail.
It was definitley the correct size, but possibly an inferior quality o ring.
I'm just glad that's all it was, this morning I have a happy Rangie sitting up at the correct height in my driveway :)

[rangerdanger]

Just had a similar experience, although in my case the grubscrew holding the compressor crank loosened off and the motor was turning but not the pump. That threw me, stripped the head and piston and everything was ok. Ended up running it with the end cover off to discover the fault. The grubscrew is nice and tight again, with a second grubscrew behind the first acting as a locknut.
These things are sent to test us!