Catastrophic Gasket Failure... ISX Air Compressor

[Waterloo]

What a trip... Heading back from Claycomo MO, Ford MoCo with a load of empty HM paint thinner vats... Cruising along 36 out of Cameron MO, heading towards Hannibal MO, final destination, Detroit MI...

Cruising along, 60 mph, and the warning buzzer goes off, WTF! I look down at the gauges and the oil pressure is heading towards 20psi... I immediately hit the 4-ways, get off the road into a business which was RIGHT THERE! Thank God! Whipped into the parking lot and still had oil pressure, 10psi, and shut her down. I did not even set the brakes, I coasted to a stop.

Oil everywhere, what the HELL just happened? Truck did not overheat, everything was fine in that regard, nothing damaged. Again, Thank GOD.

Get under the hood, first thing I am thinking is the oil pan gasket, as I just had that worked on this winter at a local shop... All of the oil loss was on the driver side... I cannot for the life of me figure this one out...

Well, the business I am at wants me gone, so call a wrecker, apparently I'm not the first one to pull into their yard, AG outfit. They do not work on trucks, and were not interested in helping a guy out.

Long story short, the air compressor bolts, the three that hold them to the backside of the front structure, worked their way out. The bolts in the brace were missing too... WTF?

Hey, I'm pretty good with my motor, but I do not run around with a wrench or socket and put it to every bolt head on the motor. And I had no reason to believe there were issues with the air compressor, or the gasket.

Trucking outfit that towed me took me to their shop, got me right in, tightened things up, installed two new bolts and sold me a few cases of oil, the gasket was shot, as it was still leaking. I delivered my load, used two gallons on the 600 mile trip back. I'm home.

Now, WHY DID this HAPPEN? I figured it out, and yes I used Loc-Tite on the bolts when I installed that air compressor, what three years ago, maybe four?

I needed a new gasket, called Cummins, none available, called a bunch of other shops, found one at a local Peterbilt dealer... $38. That was the issue, the gasket I installed with the new air compressor. It was a paper gasket, and for the life of me, the one I took off was the same, or I would have not used that paper one that came with the compressor.

The new gasket I just picked up is metal and rubber. The metal sandwiches the rubber gasket material, and that explains why my paper gasket failed, and allowed the bolts to loosen. I knew there is oil sloshing around in the front structure, but I did not realize it was as much as it appears to be.

My thought, the paper gasket, over time, sucked up the oil and failed. When it failed, the air compressor worked its way loose. The torque specs are 33 ft lb, in that soft aluminum, that is not much, especially for an air compressor that is in continual operation. I hate that aluminum front structure for this very reason. It is soft, and the holes are easily stripped out, it should be steel in my book, weight or no weight.

When you replace your air compressor, do not use that paper of felt gasket that comes with it, go to Cummins and get the proper gasket. It is part number 4965690 Here it is... https://www.agkits.com/cummins-accessory...GSs-C1h2_8

Oh, check your bolts. Don't be that guy. ;-)

[Nilao]

That's sucks loo....I reused my old metal gasket when I replaced my compressor. You'd think as much as we pay for a reman they'd come with a quality gasket.

[Waterloo]

(03-31-2021 )Nilao Wrote:  That's sucks loo....I reused my old metal gasket when I replaced my compressor. You'd think as much as we pay for a reman they'd come with a quality gasket.

For the life of me, I do not remember a metal gasket in there, or I would have reused it... Or bought a new one.

[dhirocz]

I just resealed mine and it is metal. 33ft lbs doesn't seem like much. Makes me want to put some loctite on mine now. I'm wrapping up my inframe tomorrow.

Glad you got it shut down before you ran it dry. I always keep a couple gallons under the bunk for things like that.

[Yauchout]

I lost that front structure gasket on my fuel pump on my 2350 and was also surprised how much oil could come out of their was about 1 gallon every 1500 miles and it was that metal on rubber style gasket. long story short so much oil everywhere i couldn't tell if it was the fuel pump or the compressor gasket so I bought both and both are a metal gasket with rubber pulled the fuel pump first and when I removed the gasket it was obvious that was the one that failed the rubber was separated from the metal

[Waterloo]

(04-01-2021 )Yauchout Wrote:  I lost that front structure gasket on my fuel pump on my 2350 and was also surprised how much oil could come out of their...

Blew me away, the side of the trailer is covered in oil, it is everywhere... I have the truck over at its parking spot, need to prep my driveway for when I bring it home, big tarp needed to catch the oil still dripping off of the undercarriage.

[Mr Hagg]

Waterloo you got to remember that air compressor is force feed oil like the main bearings so if you have 40 psi oil pressure you got about the same feeding the air compressor. Theres a small hole comeing from front cover to a small hole in compressor. thus being the reason is puke so much oil

[SquareOne]

Maaaannnnn, Loo.....I read Rawze's book - when are we getting yours lol. " Big Rig Daily w/Waterloo featuring Murphy's Law." I'm ready for it!

Seriously though, appreciate the information. I have a notebook in my Maintenance file where I jot down odds and ends when I come across things like this. Kinda like a 'Cliff's Notes' version of this site.

[Waterloo]

Truck is fixed, lower portion of the compressor gasket failed, new gasket installed...Or I should say, the CORRECT gasket is installed.

Had to chase some holes to get the old loc-tite out, about it on the PIA scale, other than removing the damn compressor. She is back together, compressor timing was set and no leaks. Runs smooth.