Whoa Boy, Air Box Drains

[luvrbus]

It is always cheaper to exchange.I got into that deal on a 740 Williams wanted 4500.00 for a exchanged 740 I said no rebuild mine since I know what I have  ended up costing me $8100.00 time is money at a shop 

[daddysgirl]

It is always cheaper to exchange.I got into that deal on a 740 Williams wanted 4500.00 for a exchanged 740 I said no rebuild mine since I know what I have  ended up costing me $8100.00 time is money at a shop 

I've been following this for educational purposes, but you nailed it. It's always cheaper to swap. But I suppose my lack of knowledge on 8V92T engines is the reason I do not, will not ever understand that price tag for those seals.
God forbid I ever have to even think of that...but my blower is very accessible and there is room. I did quotes for years. VERY rarely had a labor bill that was 1,000 more than the parts.
Anyhoo...I'm glad it's all straight.

[Oonrahnjay]

Update, ...  All in all, run like it always did. Good and with power. ... No leaks and no blow by (oil) on floor..

     Good news, glad it worked out OK for you.  Motor on ...    BH

[bigred]

Just what I needed!! One more freakin thing to worry about on my bus!!!! Do these things go bad often? How can you tell if you have a bad one ,and do all 8v92s have these???

[Geoff]

Just what I needed!! One more freakin thing to worry about on my bus!!!! Do these things go bad often? How can you tell if you have a bad one ,and do all 8v92s have these???

You had to ask, didn't you!  Okay, I wasn't there to see the blower and determine if it needed seals or not, the pictures only show a cleaned up blower.  The seals on a 92TA blower are actually closer to piston rings except they have a little top and bottom notch that join when squeezed together to form a complete ring to keep the oil from leaking out from the blower bearings.  NA engines use standard lip seals.  It is unheard of by me that these ring seals ever leak or break after installation.

What appears to have been the problem is the blower mounting gasket hardened, the hold down bolts were loose, so the oil feed holes between the block and the blower we're leaking oil into the airbox.  Now this happens all the time, unlike blower seals leaking.  You have to lose a blower bearing to have the kind of oil leak pouring out the air box drains like what was described.  A blower mounting gasket, yes.  Anyway, your blower itself can go through two in-frame overhauls before it needs seals and the governor rebuilt.  The blower quill shaft and drives are also prone to failure after awhile.

--Geoff

[bigred]

You had to ask, didn't you!  Okay, I wasn't there to see the blower and determine if it needed seals or not, the pictures only show a cleaned up blower.  The seals on a 92TA blower are actually closer to piston rings except they have a little top and bottom notch that join when squeezed together to form a complete ring to keep the oil from leaking out from the blower bearings.  NA engines use standard lip seals.  It is unheard of by me that these ring seals ever leak or break after installation.

What appears to have been the problem is the blower mounting gasket hardened, the hold down bolts were loose, so the oil feed holes between the block and the blower we're leaking oil into the airbox.  Now this happens all the time, unlike blower seals leaking.  You have to lose a blower bearing to have the kind of oil leak pouring out the air box drains like what was described.  A blower mounting gasket, yes.  Anyway, your blower itself can go through two in-frame overhauls before it needs seals and the governor rebuilt.  The blower quill shaft and drives are also prone to failure after awhile.

--Geoff     So can one/should one periodically tighten the hold down bolts? The reason I am asking ,I could no longer stand that dripping leaking smoking sob so I have busted the bank and am having a kit installed as we speak and I would sure hat to put out all this money just to be told"Sorry !! That didn't fix it !! looks like we need seals on the blower"

[muldoonman]

Just what I needed!! One more freakin thing to worry about on my bus!!!! Do these things go bad often? How can you tell if you have a bad one ,and do all 8v92s have these???

Yeah if you have a 8V92. My coach only had 86,000 when it started dropping oil out the air box tubes on 2 short trips after letting it set this winter. I Replaced check valves as that was the cheapest. Didn't help and took it down. Right back to where it was with  no oil leakie out the tubes, none.  They give you parts price but it's the labor that gets you. Like geoff said maybe you will never have a problem. They do take all air box covers and scope it out. Didn't say if they pulled the pan as Cliff said you can't see the oil rings just compression rings though openings after bumping engine. .

[Geoff]

The blower mounting gasket was leaking.  You will usually find oil leaking to the outside of the blower mounting when that happens.  Just look around the sides and the front and back of the blower.  It doesn't hurt to tighten the blower bolts as per the sequence in the manual.  I think Muldoonman had his engine dipped in expoxy paint since his blower gasket wasn't leaking to the outside.

--Geoff

Oh, the last post needs comment-- you can't just take off the air box covers and look, to check the oil rings you have to take the most convenient air box off (the center one is the biggest)  and run the engine and see if oil is pumping out the liner ports.  That is what I said earlier in this thread.  A Detroit will actually run with all the air box covers off.  I've seen it done at sea level.  Very noisy.  That's why I suggested one  air box at a time.

[muldoonman]

yep that's what they did run it with them off. My motor was painted from factory (silver) and wasn't leaking to outside front, back or sideways. Guess the gaskets held oil in. All I know is they put  blower seals in after tear down and installed and it stopped blowing out the airbox drains. It had used over a gallon going down 125 miles.