Airline oil bath............

[Chaz]

Sound interesting??

Well, it sux!!!!     lol
I was checking out how and where to plumb in my new 110volt compressor and I fired up the the sleeping giant.
  She came up to pressure and I turned the first air valve after the compressor to the open position to see what kind of air would come out................................ zip. A buddy of mine- a trucker - was here and he said stick a wire in it.
  I got a wire and a rag and proceeded to work at the s**t that was in there ( I could feel it). I held the rag over it for a couple times pulling out a little bit of the nasty stuff each time. It felt as tho it was going to take awhile and low and behold, the first time I stuck the wire in and not worrying about the rag being in a good position................. Pfffffuuuaaaaatt!!!          oil bath.    lololol 
That is some nasty, stinky stuff I gotta tell ya!  I still stink. But I got it open and cleaned out. I'd say the PO didn't blow his lines very much. That will change.
  My trucker buddy was rather amused also.    He was also tellin me that since I didn't have an air dryer on there of any kind, I should blow the valves (two by the mill, two in the fuel bay, and 1 under the driver) everytime I get fuel. Sounds reasonable. Definitely easy enough to do while fueling. He also said the service stations appreciate putting something down to catch that nasty stuff also. I can understand that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyway........ off to the shower!
   Stinkin up the place,
         Chaz

[Tenor]

On my old 4905, there was a petcock drain at the air tank above the battery bank.  It had a brass fitting and a rubber hose on it.  Every now and then, I'd put the hose in an old windshield washer jug and open it up.  Nice and clean.  I just kept the jug by the batteries.  Running good ol' isopropyl alcohol through the system will really help clean it out.

[tekebird]

no air dryer: draining should be daily

[zimtok]

With my 4104 the tank behind the drivers side rear wheel had never been drained by the P.O. (he didn't know it was there)

I found it by looking through the manual. I made the "special" tool to open it up and you would not believe the sludge that came out that first time. Every time I opened it after that more slim emerged until after about the 10th time. Now it is just a little slim with mostly water.

I didn't like crawling under the bus to drain the front center tank so I installed a 3/8" poly line from the tank drain to the compartment under the driver. I now drain it along with the slave tank in that compartment.

I drain mine once a week, or any warm day in the winter. (the poly line freezes on cold days)


.

[buswarrior]

And the sad part is that we unwittingly ask the same technician who doesn't drain the tanks properly during preventive maintenance, his advice on all manner of important topics, often involving the exposure of large $um$ of money.

Trust no one, maybe trust many ones.

Every reputable tradesperson knows they swim in infested waters, and should not be offended if you are politely skeptical of their advice and seek greater understanding of the problem at hand.

Beware of the ones who are....

It'$ your ca$h!

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[Chaz]

Thanx Zimtok.
Hmmmmm... now I'm wondering if I have other tanks. (4108) I may consult my manual unless someone could tell me off the top of their head.
   Chaz

[FloridaCliff]

Chaz,

I had that stuff hit my shoes on the first go round, still laughing about the surprise when that stuff broke loose. 

The tank thats hardest to get at is the one between the tires.

You can get to it through the access ports in the last bay or from underneath.

I am going to install a pull release and set it up to be activated from the side.

I just hate removing the old one as thats usually when the Gremlins attack and you know what happens.

It will either be a 10 minute job or days of trying to pull the tank, re-thread the port, remove the busted part with an easy out.

Do I sound a little negative?      Voice of experience, I guess......

Cliff