Driving next week without air line antifreeze or dryer heater

[Chopper Scott]

Congrats JC. Not to hijack but I have an alcohol injector unit (factory I think) on my MC 7 and it is plumbed into the compressor regulator. Unfortunately it doesn't work but I am sure it can be made to do so. If it's routed to the governor I would assume that it is basically first in line before any desiccant canister. Just curious and wanting to learn more....

[caz]

I think buswarrior is on to something because when my dryer blew up it spit a softball sized pile of muddy grease on the ground. Obviously not something that resulted from my one-time injection of Heet but apparently this was something going on with my bus's previous owner. I was having trouble getting "over the 90psi hump" on warm up all winter. Now that the dryer has been bypassed, and all that crud has been blown out, the air comes up much faster. I'll be installing a A-9 dryer in the rear comartment (where I can actually access the damn thing) this spring.

Caz

[buswarrior]

A bit of history... Bendix invented the air drier as we know it and made it available in 1970.

The transition was slow for many, as the "I didn't need one of those before, why do I need it now?" mentality was just as popular then as it is today towards new stuff.

Lots of post 1970 vehicles were not equipped with optional air driers.

Manufacturers didn't help, by leaving their alcohol evaporator systems in place, where the compressor inhales some alcohol vapours, and adding the air drier downstream.... the new fangled option then suffered unwitting self-inflicted failures.

I have seen late model trucks as recently as circa 2000 improperly plumbed from the manufacturer, putting alcohol ahead of the drier.

An alcohol injector may be installed downstream of an air drier in order to introduce alcohol into the system without contaminating the air drier desiccant.

Bendix now strongly discourages the use of alcohol, as many of the formulations rinse lubrication out of brake valves, and in some cases leaves residues behind which harm seals and seats.

Bendix appears to have removed all the old information on the evaporator and the injector from their website, making it more difficult to keep our heads fresh.

happy coaching!
buswarrior