Saylor Beall pl-705 oil turned white

[mustangtyson]

I have a Saylor Beall Pressure Lubricated 705 pump which i bought new about a year ago. Recently the oil turned a white glue color. I am guessing this has to do with the colder weather and possible moisture. I changed the oil but it is still fairly white colored. I'm thinking next i will try to flush it out by pouring oil in with the drain open to get it all out. Or blow some air through the pump to try to force it to drain the last bit before putting new oil in again. Has anyone had this happen before?

 

[TonyJ]

I have a 705 clone that done it. It’s mainly usually caused by not using the compressor allot to get it nice and warm to keep the moisture dried up. On the 705 I think it was easier to remove the side cover and have the drain plug removed and take brake cleaner and spray the inside out and let it flow out. Yes even then your still not going to get every bit of it out but it will keep you to maybe only doing a flush once instead of 5 times to get it all out. I took the side cover off of mine and used a heat gun to get the pump hot on the inside and the heat plus the fan from the gun made it all thin to where it ran out of the pump and or dried up then gave it a cleaning with brake cleaner. Shot some oil back on the rod bearings and done one flush after putting it back together. Been fine every since.

 

[Zmann]

on the up side it makes the oil level really easy to read in the sight glass lol

 

[The Tool Tyrant]

Curious...is that it's first oil change? If not, what oil are you using? On average, who many times does the pump cycle per day?

 

[mustangtyson]

Curious...is that it's first oil change? If not, what oil are you using? On average, who many times does the pump cycle per day?

This is my first oil change so it was whatever saylor beall used. They say to change it every 3 months and i went a year. Its in a home hobby garage. It runs about twice a day during the week and on the weekends i actually use it so it may cycle 10-20 times.

I changed the oil and put in Mobil 101016 Rarus 427. So 30 weight non detergent.

 

[TonyJ]

Curious...is that it's first oil change? If not, what oil are you using? On average, who many times does the pump cycle per day?

This is why on the other thread about adding a tank is why I added one. I have a SB 707 45cfm on a 80 gal tank and it only runs for 28secs to fill and shut off and my oil started to do this. Now that I’ve added another 80 gal tank I’m up to 59secs run time and just waiting to see if the oil problem returns

 

[metlmunchr]

I'd check with SB to see if they have, or recommend, a crankcase heater for your compressor.

Water in the oil is second only to outright dirt or metal grit in shortening bearing life. I've got a manual at my shop, published years ago by Gulf Oil, that's made up of pictures of bearings with known failure modes that was made for use in identifying early signs of bearing failure before getting to the point of damaging other components. The one thing that really stuck in my mind was that their research had shown around 90% of failures in rolling element bearings were due to water in the oil or grease.

 

[The Tool Tyrant]

I must concur with TonyJ and I'll explain why. I have a SB 703 in my tractor barn and only gets used occasionally. I have always used Rarus 427 in it (because I had a couple of gallons) and I always notice water in the oil when changed. On the other hand, our shop compressor (Quincy QR25-325) probably runs a total of 2 hours per day, I use Royal Purple Recip 100 Synthetic in it and have never seen any water in the oil.

 

[Steve_P]

That is really weird. I've had two compressors over 30 yrs for home use and never seen anything like that. My Quincy runs probably less than yours does and I've only changed the oil twice in 17 yrs. The oil looks like new thru the sight glass.