Community Forums

GlennLever · 03-14-2018, 08:02 PM

My system is way different.

I have a "ping" tank right at the compressor and dryer. The air was then piped forward to the tanks under the front of the bus..

I have the dual compartment tank as described above for the dual brake system.

And I have one additional tank for "accessories" (according to the Gillig chassis manual).

Oh yes I have another tank that sits right beside the air hours, so I really have five tanks.

I no of no federal regulation that requires the tanks to be drained daily. For the company I worked for it was a requirement that the last thing you did before putting the truck to bed at night was to open the drain valves on the tanks.

Glenn Lever

cwk · 03-15-2018, 02:47 PM

Today I found the access to the air tanks at the front. Thanks, Chuck.

There are two tanks, one above the other. I could reach the petcock on the upper tank. It was near the rear of the tank, on the bottom of course. There is no lanyard.

A lot of water came out; not quite a quarter of a cup. But, I didn't think there should be that much.

I found the petcock on the second tank. But, could not get to it. Back to that in a moment.

Because of what you all mentioned here about one tank being two-in-one, I looked for a third petcock. Sure enough. It was on the front half of the top tank. After the first tank drained, I opened the second half. A little bit of water came out. More like sputtered a bit.

When that finished, I turned my attention to the bottom tank. But, to get to it I had to remove the generator battery.

I am guessing that normally someone might be able to get under the coach. However, the front wheels of the coach have sunken a bit in the sandy soil in the backyard. The rear 4 tires are on firmer ground, so hopefully I will be able to gently drive out when I have everything back together. (That will be probably be a few weeks.) And climbing under a coach then draining the air could lower the chassis right onto someone. Not good. I will need to think about how to safely and easily drain the tanks in the future.

Anyway, after removing the genny battery, I opened the bottom tank. If any water did come out I did not see it. I am guessing that this might have been the only tank that was drained periodically.

After reading more about draining tanks, I learned that there is an order in which the tanks should be drained. This procedure will not only drain the tanks but also test the functionality of the check valves. I read that this is on some state test (for commercial truckers). It probably is a good idea for me to know it as well. One more thing to learn...

Given that each tank still had air pressure in them when I got to them, maybe I luckily happened upon the correct sequence?

Finally, with the air bled from the system, I was able to return to the dashboard work. I marked and disconnected the air lines to the air pressure gauge on the small instrument cluster that includes the inoperative hour meter. Probably took an hour or so just to disassemble the dash and remove enough other things to get that assembly out. I am glad I am not paying an hourly shop rate for this.

Now, it is time to send the two clusters off to ISSPro for rebuild/upgrade.

Thanks to everyone for their continued contributions. I have been reading the material posted and am learning a lot.

NHRA225 · 03-15-2018, 04:00 PM

I Stand corrected as Mine also has the dual tank in one- Hence the petcocks at each end of that tank.

senior moment.
Sounds like your on your way learning Your New Coach. By the way it Never Ends. Don't Ever hesitate to Ask- there's a wealth of knowledge on here.

twinboat · 03-15-2018, 05:00 PM

A quarter of a cup isn't the end of the world, if it hasn't been drained in years, but it may be time to service the air dryer, if you haven't in two or more years.

A leak in the first or wet tank, or the lines to the governor, will make the compressor cycle more often then it should. The wet tank had no gauge, so a leak is hard to detect.

That will cause the system to create more moisture the normal and some can get past the dryer.

If you hear your air dryer cycling while ideling in netural, there may be a leak. The system should purge once and not for quite a long time, if there is no leaks.

cwk · 03-15-2018, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twinboat

A quarter of a cup isn't the end of the world, if it hasn't been drained in years, but it may be time to service the air dryer, if you haven't in two or more years.

A leak in the first or wet tank, or the lines to the governor, will make the compressor cycle more often then it should. The wet tank had no gauge, so a leak is hard to detect.

That will cause the system to create more moisture the normal and some can get past the dryer.

If you hear your air dryer cycling while ideling in netural, there may be a leak. The system should purge once and not for quite a long time, if there is no leaks.

This coach is new-to-me. I have had it for less than a month. I have not looked to see if there are any service records regarding the air dryer. I will look.

I have no idea what the "air dryer cycling while idling in neutral" sounds like. Is that the loud rush of air when the air pressure reaches its high pressure level? Sort of sounds like a shot or quick blast of air?

Also, I have the air gauges out for service so I will not be able to test anything probably for a few weeks.

There is a leak somewhere in the system. The coach loses most of its air pressure in a matter of hours (less than a day) after I shut it down. Again, I need to wait until the coach is back in service before I can look for leaks.

twinboat · 03-15-2018, 05:30 PM

Yes , the blast of air is the air dryer purging.

The air dryer is supposed to collect the moisture developed, while compressing air.

Once the tanks reach the set pressure, the compressor stops pumping and any moisture collected in the air dryer blows out the purge port.

NHRA225 · 03-15-2018, 06:34 PM

With my tanks empty it usually takes a few minutes to build pressure then it Purges- When I Air Up it purges again and Holds pressure from there. Riding down the Highway it maintains around 100 PSI- of course I can't hear it purge while driving but my Governor kicks in @ 90 psi if I use the Brakes a lot .

GlennLever · 03-16-2018, 09:43 PM

I had a slow leak and hunted it for a long time. Finally found it, the air was leaking through the low air pressure sensor un the dash. I ended up replacing all three and the two brake light sensors.

Glenn Lever

Harley1994 · 03-17-2018, 08:19 AM

I find air leaks with alot smoke machine, it is a snap on unit that we used to diagnose evap systems, but we've used it to find all sorts of leaks, it puts a low pressure in a d blows a smoke that you can see and also has a dye the shows with a black light

Sandfarmer · 03-17-2018, 09:15 AM

Just went through your thread top to bottom, looks like you have the same dash panel as my 95' has and mine has the same issues. Hopefully I can contact your guy and get mine serviced as well, I was figuring that was going to be a tough problem to get solved. My odometer does work and shows mileage so I can keep that number. (Missouri doesn't not care over 100k miles anyway, they just put "mileage exempt" on the titles, but needs to show something for inspections even if it doesn't count miles) My speedometer functions...sort of, sitting still it shows 50mph and buries itself past 120mph over about 35mph. Tach doesn't work and my generator gauges don't work or show hours just like yours, my generator fan isn't kicking on so the generator runs hot after a few minutes, I was thinking those 2 issues may be tied together so be sure to check your fan before you walk away with your generator running!

Looks like we are going through a lot of the same issues with new Coaches at the same time, should be fun!

cwk · 03-17-2018, 06:03 PM

It might sound like I am jumping around to different parts of the coach. Well, I am! A number of the projects mentioned so far are not complete. Parts are on order. So, rather than working in a complete linear fashion, we are doing a bit of multi-tasking.

When the main engine is back in service, I am considering fluid analyses of the appropriate units. My thinking is that they will establish a base line as well as alert me to any potential issues. I have read about them. I have watched some youtube videos about how to take some of the samples. I have heard of a couple of different companies that offer the service.

I am looking for recommendations of:

What fluids to test?

How often they should be tested?

Which company to use?

Also, can any of these be tested by me? I believe test kits for the coolant fluid has already been mentioned. I did some searching for them and found one big issue: test strips that were out of date. Is there a reliable source for these? Amazon and ebay seem to be hit-and-miss on expiration dates.

The testing companies all seem to have special containers that they ship to you for the fluids. To keep progress moving on the entire project, I would like to order them soon and have them on hand when the main engine is running again.

Thanks!

NHRA225 · 03-17-2018, 06:45 PM

What fluids to test?Engine-Tranny

How often they should be tested?Every 50 K miles is Fine

Which company to use?BlackStone For Me !

Coolant ? Change it -- I like Final Charge 50/50 mix Long Mile Intervals.

mackwrench · 03-17-2018, 06:46 PM

.....yep, what he said

Sandfarmer · 03-17-2018, 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cwk

It might sound like I am jumping around to different parts of the coach. Well, I am! A number of the projects mentioned so far are not complete. Parts are on order. So, rather than working in a complete linear fashion, we are doing a bit of multi-tasking.

I know exactly what you mean, multiple projects going and boxes showing up everyday with goodies. Got my side marker lights all fixed today and put water in for the first time, everything seemed good with the pump and all, water heater wouldn't try to light on gas... I've got my driver window apart and will have to order a new regulator first thing monday morning assuming the contact info in Glenn's thread is still good about where to get the part (In the 30-35 page area of his thread.)