Leaving out of Lake Powell this morning, we heard a poof of air that sounded like it came from around the driver area. We immediately lost air pressure. So we reduced our speed, found a safe place to pull over and chocked the wheels.
The parking break knob pushed out, as expected.
While we were doing a walk around to listen for hissing - a tour bus driver pulled over, who happens to be a former 4106 owner (are bus nuts everywhere???).
While discussing the problem with him, and the engine still running - the pressure built back up.
There are no hissing sounds anywhere.
Any thought? Advice? Are we safe to move on into town to find a truck shop - or should be call for a tow?
Please call 408-667-9022 if you have any wisdom to share
Thank you!!!
Cherie
Your pressure got to high and it popped a relieve valve on a tank they are set at around 150 lbs some are lower,or it could have been your tank drain valve that popped they go bad after time and will release on their own
good luck
Does there govenor need adjusted on there compressor then meanings its not shutting off when its suppost to? Or do I not know as much as I think I do lol?
Eric
Considering we just changed the air filter for the air compressor (which was majorly icky), this would make sense that there is more pressure than our systems have been used too.
Gauge was reading just slightly over 120 (just slightly more than usual) when it went.
The tour bus operator recommends heading into Page, and getting new safety valves and pressure relief valves put on.
Just over 120 is not really bad, but as Clifford says they do go bad with age and there's no telling how old yours are.
It's not bad advice the tour operator is giving you. (better safe than sorry)
Also if able to get to them they are simple to change yourself they just screw out and back in.
;D BK ;D
If you do them yourself make sure the pressure is released before removal. Air pressure can make a mess out of you!
Eric
Don't believe we are in a position to do it ourselves. We currently have no safe way to get under the bus (unless a nice curb/ditch,etc. presents itself. )
Y'all are awesome -- thanks so much for all the replies and calls!!!
Cherie
you need to get you some run up blocks and suspension block so you can do stuff like that in a pinch. never know when you might be on a desert highway 100 miles from the nearest town with no cell phone service and have an airline blow or something like that. it would be a shame to end up stranded somewhere over a minor issue you can take care of yourself.
We totally agree - thus why we posted a thread asking for advice on the best system for carrying with us. :). We totally need to bump that up on the list of priorities.
I think your best bet for holding the bus up is hydraulic feet. Also makes the bus more stable when parked after leveling up.
handy for changing tires also.
also does not take up needed bay space.
uncle ned
Quote from: uncle ned on September 29, 2011, 10:52:49 AM
I think your best bet for holding the bus up is hydraulic feet. Also makes the bus more stable when parked after leveling up.
handy for changing tires also.
also does not take up needed bay space.
uncle ned
Hydraulic jacks are a great idea, though kind of expen$ive. I have them on my present coach. I still would not get under the bus without additional blocking.
Eric - thanks for the recommendation on the governor. We are currently investigating which is easier to do - adjust the governor down a notch, or adjust the safety valve up (the spring is apparently adjustable). Would hate this to happen in a a spot where it is not so easy to find a safe place to pull over before the brake engages.
Thanks again all - we are seriously thankful for all of the support in replies and calls.
Alrighty.. so the governor on our air compressor does not match the one documented in our maintenance manual.
Anyone know anything about this one, and how to adjust it down a notch?
Another view..
Alrighty.. travelinman just confirmed it's a Bendix. Looking up the PDF manual now.
Looks like a D2 to me. http://www.amazon.com/Bendix-Reman-D2-Governor-275491RX/dp/B002HU0538 (http://www.amazon.com/Bendix-Reman-D2-Governor-275491RX/dp/B002HU0538)
This looks like the Bendix manual on it. http://www.amazon.com/Bendix-Reman-D2-Governor-275491RX/dp/B002HU0538 (http://www.amazon.com/Bendix-Reman-D2-Governor-275491RX/dp/B002HU0538) Problem is, my aircard is not pulling it up, so I do not know if that is correct or not.
FWIW
John
You might give clifford a call and make sure that adjusting the govenor is the best thing to do. I was making a educated guess/suggestion.
Good luck, Eric
First question should be what is the maximum air pressure that your system builds to. You said earlier that it was at 120 psi plus or minus when the pop/whoosh occurred. If 120 - 125 is the max, then that is on the barely high side of normal. The safety valve is supposed to be set at 150 psi - lots of headroom. I would only adjust the pressure if it is abnormally high. The reason is that the adjustment is a range of both high and low - cut-out pressure and cut-in pressure. If you were to crank your cut-out pressure down to 110 psi, then your cut in pressure would drop to 80 - 85 psi, which is too low to be either legal or safe.
If you do decide to adjust the governor pressure, you unscrew the cap on the end of the governor (usually black plastic cap), undo the jam nut and screw the screw in clockwise to lower, out counterclockwise to raise pressure. The generally recommended settings are 95 psi cut in and 120 psi cut out.
Brian
It seems it is currently set to cut off at 120ish. Previously, we had not seen it go above around 115. So we were thinking, if we can't find the valve here in Page, that we'd adjust the governor down to 118-ish to reduce to the chances of it cutting out again until we can find the valve.
We just pulled into Paga to a Napa, and are about to see if they have what we need.
Cherie
Or, get the existing valve re-adjusted to trigger more around it's intended 150psi. Suspect that from age , the spring hasn't held it's tension. And/or it was gunked up, thus why it didn't re-engage immeditely.
I'm not sure, but it looks a bit like the one we had on our last bus. It was pretty uncommon and they charged a premium ( around $100.) for the replacement. A more common one could probably be substituted with a bit of work, but I just replace that one and cleaned it up as a spare.
That looks like a D2A governor the best I can see cost around 50 bucks rebuilt, fwiw they have different models of the D2
good luck
R U Yerning yet? Hope you are safe. M&C ;D
Quote from: thomasinnv on September 29, 2011, 10:41:48 AM
you need to get you some run up blocks and suspension block so you can do stuff like that in a pinch. never know when you might be on a desert highway 100 miles from the nearest town with no cell phone service and have an airline blow or something like that. it would be a shame to end up stranded somewhere over a minor issue you can take care of yourself.
OMG!! I had this EXACT same thing happen to me after owning my bus for just a few months! Long story here, but I ended up sleeping in the desert in the heat of summer and walking a couple miles in the HOT. It ended up that it was an air line the PO had tapped into in the engine compartment. He had a hose clamp on it and the clamp had worked lose just as I was cresting a 10 mile long steep twisty grade!!! Brakes were GONE, everything GONE in an instant! The mobile mechanic used a hearing scope thing to find the leak
You might (after all settles down and you have solved your trouble), consider putting a remote hosing system and centralized point to relocate all of your tank(s) safety relief valves and air tank drains,this way you would have visuals and not have to worry about getting under your coach for these frequently needed inspections.
Just a thought,safetyfirst.
That sounds like a great idea, eagle! We're looking forward to getting to the BCM Rally and taking the PM course to learn all sorts of good stuff, and up our confidence in handling as much of this stuff as possible.
We've now had the bus 3 months, and I can't believe how far we've come.. and how far we have left to go :)
And we could not have done it without all of you. Thank you again.
We stopped in Page, AZ and the NAPA Truck Parks place didn't have the safety valve in stock. We lubbed up the valve, as the maintenance manual said should be done frequently - and decided to move on. We're stopped in Monument Vally, UT for the evening (gorgeous!!) and had no problems on the way here. We will be calling the truck shops in Farmington, NM in the morning to see if any of them have the parts and can help us.
All our best,
- Cherie (and Chris)
Cherie & Chris,
When calling the shops in Farmington ask if they know Doyle Castle or simply ask them if the owner owns a bus.
As said before almost ANY truck shop can work on a bus. But many of them don't like to because almost nothing on them is easy to work on. So in that respect I like to find other busnuts for recommendations on who they have do their work in a certain area. That way your sure to get bus friendly mechanics.
Now farther more if your bus is doing OK since lubing the safety valve. You might just go ahead and forge on toward Chattanooga on yer way to the rally and use the hands on time of the maintenance class to replace them.
Lust a thought.
;D BK ;D
I second making up a set of run up ramps...
Rick
Unfortunately... we continue to have problems this morning, and are currently stuck in Monument Valley. Found a bus friendly shop in Durango to head towards, but at current time - we can not get the bus to reach pressure. Suspecting it's related to the valve on the governor. Just tried lubbed it up, and crossing our fingers that we can get on the road to Durango. Afraid we're just not feeling confident enough to make the traverse to Choo Choo without at least some basic maintenance first.
Check our new thread on that:
http://www.busconversions.com/bbs/index.php?topic=21735.0 (http://www.busconversions.com/bbs/index.php?topic=21735.0)