On October 10, 1998 a custom made, oil separator kit consisting of one main and two supplemental filter units was installed on bus number 528. Below you will find maintenance descriptions of air system related problems covering the period from 01/01/98 through 03/31/00. Again, only those items related to air system components are listed.
DATE:
PROBLEM:
ACTION TAKEN:
01/15/98 Wiper Motor
Defective
Replaced
03/27/98 Wiper Motor Air
Leak
Replaced
04/02/98 Sluggish Kneeling
System
Tested & Passed
04/06/98 Petcock Valve
Leaking
Replaced
04/06/98 Suspension System
Contaminated Cleaned
04/17/98 Rear Door
Interlock
Replaced
04/20/98 Kneeling System;
Contaminated Cleaned
05/12/98 Rear Door
Failure
Replaced Valve Assembly
08/26/98 Air Tank Valve
Contaminated
Cleaned
09/28/98 Rear Door
Failure
Tested & Passed
10/04/98 Wheelchair Not
Working
Rewired
10/06/98 Wheelchair Not
Deploying
Tested & Passed
10/07/98 Front Door
Failure
Replaced Valve Assembly
10/10/98 Oil Separator Kit
Installed
02/08/99 Air Starter Relay Air
Leak
Replaced
03/29/99 Front Door Slow
Open
Adjusted & Aligned
05/13/99 Air Starter Assembly Seized
Replaced
10/15/99 Rear Door
Failure
Adjusted & Aligned
11/30/99 No additional problems were reported as of this date.
12/31/99 No additional problems were reported as of this date.
01/31/00 No additional problems were reported as of this date.
02/29/00 No additional problems were reported as of this date.
03/31/00 No additional problems were reported as of this date.
Maintenance record will be updated as the information becomes available.
Bus
#528 has a compressor that is leaking oil. While that is not as bad as it
seems, it is not
a good thing. In fairness, all compressors bypass small
amounts of oil. However as
compressors age, this amount tends to
increase due to wear. Here's the big problem: Compressor lubricants
contain detergents. These detergents clean the inside of the
compressor. However, when (the now) detergent enriched oil bypasses the
compressor, it
mixes with the compressed air and travels throughout the air system
of the bus.
Thus, the lubricant gets into all of the air operated devices on the bus. Most of these devices contain buna-n seals. The detergent breaks down the seals, destroying the device. That is what happened in many of the above cases. In addition, the oil may also clog the orifices of the pneumatic devices (such as the door valves), and even leak out of the valve exhaust ports!
As you can see, when the filters started removing the oil from the system, things got much better. So the main idea here: Remove the oil, decrease the number of break-downs. The benefit: Save time, money and improve public relations.
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