air compressor- crank case cover is stuck

[mds33200]

Hi I have a 4 year old air compressor I originally got from harbor freight, and they no longer supply the gasket, but the original gasket failed.

I tried to make one about a half year ago with ultra black RTV silicone gasket maker and after a few months it leaked. I wanted to redo the seal to fix the leak and I can not get it removed. I used a rubber mallet and tapped on all the sides and put a thick screwdriver through the oil plug hole and tried to pry it that way, and it cracked a bit of the metal on the inside (see pic). I dont think it is important, I think its just to hold the plug in place, but can not be sure till I find out how to open it up.

Another option that came to mind is heat, but I dont want it to go up in flames because it is covered in oil due to the leak.

Any ideas?

in the photos below the first one shows the compressor and the gasket cover is marked in red slashes. The other picture shows the area that got cracked as I was trying to pry it off.

 

[crewchief]

Order some gasket paper and trace your cover to size, 1/32" should be fine once you get the cover off. I do this everyday. Rtv is a pita to remove.

 

[Burgerkong]

Use a bigger hammer. I had to really whack my pump block to get it loose from the crankcase.

 

[mds33200]

yeah I got the gasket paper already, will try a bigger hammer though.

 

[mds33200]

Well the bigger hammer did the trick, but a bit more damage occured then I expected. The first bit of damage was on the base of the oil stick holder. Not a big deal I dont think, see photo below.



But the other part that broke is the upper wall on the crank case. See photo below:





The oil fill line is shown below, (fill line is paintshoped in yellow)


Here is the original gasket, not sure why it was so membrany but the hole at the bottom is what allowed fluid exchange between the crank case and the crank case cover. The only reason I could imagine they had the membrane to seperate the halves is maybe it prevent oil from spraying into opticle monitor (the part to see the oil level). Works fine without it though.



So does anyone think that side wall be fixed? Since the upper area I am thinking (hoping) it will be an easy fix. And if it was fixable, any product anyone can sugest? Or just load it up with the black rtv silicone?

 

[mds33200]

I cleaned all the black rubber off the edges of the crank case / crank case cover and here is what it looks like with the cover installed. Should I just load that area with the gasket sealer? that stuff bonded pretty strong. Or would I be better off using another product for that area? Or better off just scraping it?




CREWCHIEF- actually the gasket paper that I have is 1/32 thick, so it appears that I have the right paper atleast. Should I attempt it using rtv silicone as well as the gasket paper all arround? Or is just the gasket paper alone good enough? I have heard of people using gasket paper and rtv sealer both together, do you think that would work best in my case? Or just gasket paper and maybe some rtv to seal the area I damaged?