Sullair 185 Help Needed

[coalnation]

I was needing a compressor for my business and hadn't had much luck finding anything in my price range. I remembered seeing an old compressor on the side of the road close to my house so I figured I would go ask the people if they were interested in selling it. To my surprise they were, It had belonged to one of their dads and he had passed away a few years ago. They said they didn't know anything about it but that I was more than welcome to check it out. Obviously when I tried to start it nothing happened at all. I came back with a new battery and some diesel and surprisingly it fired right up. It has the John Deere 4039 engine it in with about 800 hours on the meter. I could tell a lot of the tubing and hoses were weak from sitting and after about a minute of letting it run the hoses started to go. This sent hydraulic fluid flying everywhere. I asked them how much they wanted and we had a deal. I put some air in the tires and took off with it minus $300. I'm in the process of trying to repair the compressor and I'm just kind of stuck. I'm having a hard time finding a manual for it and I'm not sure what to do next. I've got the canopy off to fix the rust and I want to fix the compressor end and do engine maintenance before I put the canopy back on.

Any insight on what I should do would be greatly appreciated. I took some pictures of the tubing that burst, however, I have no clue what parts I need to order to replace them. Also, what kind of maintenance should I do on the compressor end?

I took some pictures with the iPhone, however, I didn't realize how fat my fingers are so they are pretty crappy. I can always take better photos if needed.

 

[Rookie2]

good deal ! go on you tube. its a screw type compressor that runs in oil . the jd 4039 is worth $1500.00

 

[coalnation]

bump!

 

[steel 35]

Check your JD dealer they have been helpful and can get some of the filters, getting them through Sulair its slow and spendy, Donaldson is another option for others. The intervals were on the control lid as well and the OEM #s .
Fastenal may be able to help with the tubing and fittings they stock some on the shelf here.
keep digging and you can find some info online but it took me a long time years ago.

 

[coalnation]

Check your JD dealer they have been helpful and can get some of the filters, getting them through Sulair its slow and spendy, Donaldson is another option for others. The intervals were on the control lid as well and the OEM #s .
Fastenal may be able to help with the tubing and fittings they stock some on the shelf here.
keep digging and you can find some info online but it took me a long time years ago.

Will check into that. Thanks!

 

[Autorotica]

Coal,

I am in Pa but we have a really good Sullair dealer up here. If you run into that much struggle give me a shout and I will get you in touch with them. I am sure they can help you out with parts or manuals or hook you up with someone local...

Chris

 

[racer1]

You lucky son of a gun..
I have an IR compressor, for my sandblasting buss...what a awsome buy. I have that JD engine. Just normal maintainence. rebuilt water pump. thats it....12,000 hours on it!.Its a great engine..

 

[bsaint]

JD dealer won't help. Call your local Sullair rep. Ive been out of the business for 6 years but I recognize a lot of parts! Looks like that is part of the control air circuit. That tee isn't on the industrial ones, so it probably has to do with throttle control. Regardless your local Sullair distributor should give you the diagrams that you need for free as long as you order a couple parts from them (oil filter or whatever.)

The air end is off their 10 series which are bulletproof.

 

[coalnation]

Coal,

I am in Pa but we have a really good Sullair dealer up here. If you run into that much struggle give me a shout and I will get you in touch with them. I am sure they can help you out with parts or manuals or hook you up with someone local...

Chris

I might take you up on that!

 

[coalnation]

As of today this is where I am with the compressor. Obviously something isn't right. Shouldn't it cycle down after the initial start up? I took a video earlier.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/PftHr2cZF0k" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[coalnation]

bump

 

[930dreamer]

Looks like the brass pressure relief valve is opening or leaking.

 

[coalnation]

Looks like the brass pressure relief valve is opening or leaking.

Took it out and disassembled and cleaned it. Seems to be working correctly now, however, I still ordered a new one. At least I found the problem. Compressor seems to be running like a normal compressor. Unfortunately I found a pinhole size leak in one of my hydraulic hoses

 

[930dreamer]

Keep us posted on your progress.

 

[coalnation]

Well I'm stuck again. I thought I had everything functioning correctly but apparently I don't. All of my hoses/tubing has been repaired, all of my wiring is good, new fluids, and new filters. Here is the current problem. When I start the compressor I hold the "Override" and "Start" button simultaneously until the engine engages and I let go of the "Start" button. I continue to hold the "Override" button for 10-15 seconds. At this point the pressure gauge reads around 50. I was under the impression that I was then supposed to let the engine warm up and then press the "After Warm-Up Push To Run" button. When I push this button my Pressure Gauge shoots up to about 120, however, as soon as I release the button it drops back down. I almost feel as if I need some sort of throttle to control the PSI. Maybe I'm completely wrong, I don't know, I just need to figure it out. I attached an image of what my gauge/control panel looks like and what the compressor looks like on the truck. I still need to level out the compressor but at least it's up there!

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I've been stuck for about two days now.

 

[steel 35]

Have you put a load on it after it idles down? I think it should come on a maintain pressure if you open a valve!

 

[purplezr2]

It should have a governor based on air pressure. If you have the valve closed than it will only idle. Open the air valve and it should come to life and push some serious air. We used them to blow out golf course irrigation.

 

[coalnation]

I'll give it a go today and let yall know if it works as it should!

 

[coalnation]

Here is a video of what's going on.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/eEuEkOjNYRs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[kraneman]

It seems to be building the air pressure, however if you're not using air in sufficient quantity the modulation system will not allow air pressure to build, open the air outlet valve and see if the unit keeps up with the demand

 

[coalnation]

I replaced the idle warm up valve and everything was swell. However, I've run into another issue.

My hydraulic oil seems to be getting too hot. I know that it's supposed to get hot but it's getting so hot that it's melting my plastic air lines and causing hydraulic fluid to shoot out everywhere. I obviously turn it off as soon as this happens.

What could be causing this to happen?

 

[purplezr2]

Fluid level full? Does it have a filter or cooler?

 

[930dreamer]

Are all the fluid hoses made from hydraulic hose?

 

[add2255]

There is a filter element in the top of the compressor tank if it's clogged it will overheat the oil

 

[coalnation]

Fluid level full? Does it have a filter or cooler?

The air filters are new.

 

[coalnation]

The Air Filter Element in the tank was also replaced. Should I try high temp silicone hoses? The clear and black hoses should be fine though, I ordered them from SULLAIR.

 

[MacMcMacmac]

You should not be getting hot oil through plastic lines, except the scavenge line which may be plastic on this machine (not something I would recommend). It should be control air only in the plastic lines, at least on all the machines I have worked on anyway. You may need a new separator, or, if it was replaced, the scavenge line that ***** oil out of the bottom of the separator may be plugged, allowing oil carryover, or, the scavenge line may not be all the way to the bottom of the separator element. Too hot oil is caused by a plugged oil cooler, low oil level, a thermo-mixing valve that is not functioning, shot bearings in the air end, slack clearances in the air end, or operating at too high of a pressure, although from your videos, excess pressure does not seem to be an issue.

The thermal mixing valve will look something like this:

It will have a name like AMOT, or American Thermal Transfer Industries tagged to it. It is a simple wax thermostat which short circuits oil away from the cooler back to the screw when the oil is cold. Once up to temperature, it directs oil to the cooler. If the wax-stat is shot, you may have oil constantly going to the screw. You can buy new guts for it if it has failed. You will want to see about 160-185F oil temperatures, maybe 200F when working hard on a hot day.


Oil will also carryover if the minimum pressure valve is not functioning properly, allowing excessive airflow though the separator. I see a push-lock fitting on your scavenge line. I would replace that with a proper compression fitting and copper line. This line will be passing oil from the separator back to the oil system. From what I can see in your photos, this line should be the only one passing oil besides the main cloth covered hydraulic lines feeding the injection oil and oil to the cooler, but I would really have to be there to see the entire setup to say definitively. Every company has its own way of doing things.

If you did replace the separator, did you pull the staple out of the gasket that seals the separator tank lid? That staple is absolutely vital to provide an electrical ground for all of the static electricity that gets generated in the separator tank. If it gets left out, there may be a lot of sparking inside the tank which can result in a fire or explosion. This will, of course, ruin the separator immediately.

Every portable compressor I have seen has had a high-temp shutoff in the system somewhere. I find it strange that the oil could get hot enough to start melting plastic lines that apparently are OEM Sullair spec, without the machine shutting down long before such temperatures were reached. Perhaps someone has removed or bypassed this system at some point to just get it running to get a job done.

 

[930dreamer]

^^ This is a good read!

 

[turboterry]

Well I'm stuck again. I thought I had everything functioning correctly but apparently I don't. All of my hoses/tubing has been repaired, all of my wiring is good, new fluids, and new filters. Here is the current problem. When I start the compressor I hold the "Override" and "Start" button simultaneously until the engine engages and I let go of the "Start" button. I continue to hold the "Override" button for 10-15 seconds. At this point the pressure gauge reads around 50. I was under the impression that I was then supposed to let the engine warm up and then press the "After Warm-Up Push To Run" button. When I push this button my Pressure Gauge shoots up to about 120, however, as soon as I release the button it drops back down. I almost feel as if I need some sort of throttle to control the PSI. Maybe I'm completely wrong, I don't know, I just need to figure it out. I attached an image of what my gauge/control panel looks like and what the compressor looks like on the truck. I still need to level out the compressor but at least it's up there!

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I've been stuck for about two days now.

Coalnation....did you ever figure out the problem? Mine is doing the exact same thing.

 

[turboterry]

Coalnation....did you ever figure out the problem? Mine is doing the exact same thing.