Sudden air-dryer o-ring failure?

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jimbob

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I would be grateful if someone could tell me what went wrong here...

I serviced the air-dryer as per the various tech articles available, reinstalled it and all was fine (except for an intermittent slow leak on the drivers front bag, which i have had a while) Then i went away for a few days, came back and the drivers front was right down, so i pumped it up with the onboard compressor and a tire compressor plugged into the schrader valve to help it along a bit. I drove 10 miles home and the 'check suspension' light came on. I drove the car later, and again 'check suspension' light came on, but this time the front of the car started to sink...i checked the car when i got home, and 3 of the 4 o-rings on the suspension dryer (which i had recently serviced) are now leaking air like they're not there!! what would cause them to suddenly fail like this???

I have on order a new compressor (old ones weak), and two front airbags, but i dont want to install them and run into this problem again.
 
If you heated the entire dryer to "service" it then you probably melted them. Otherwise it was probably just your handling of a 15-20 year old rubber product that got it. $2 and a trip to the hardware store for a pack of #6 o-rings will remedy the situation, though. You should consider doubling up o-rings, as this practically eliminated any leakage.
 
leak

jimbob said:
I would be grateful if someone could tell me what went wrong here...

I serviced the air-dryer as per the various tech articles available, reinstalled it and all was fine (except for an intermittent slow leak on the drivers front bag, which i have had a while) Then i went away for a few days, came back and the drivers front was right down, so i pumped it up with the onboard compressor and a tire compressor plugged into the schrader valve to help it along a bit. I drove 10 miles home and the 'check suspension' light came on. I drove the car later, and again 'check suspension' light came on, but this time the front of the car started to sink...i checked the car when i got home, and 3 of the 4 o-rings on the suspension dryer (which i had recently serviced) are now leaking air like they're not there!! what would cause them to suddenly fail like this???

I have on order a new compressor (old ones weak), and two front airbags, but i dont want to install them and run into this problem again.
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my lite comes on when the compressor get hot and shuts down to working to hard due to leaks, i also had trouble getting the o-ring under the dryer to seal also, those lines can be a pain also, might try pulling up and down on them to seal them off better, i had to replace the dryer once to get the lines to quite leaking on mine.................... oh what fun they can be
 
bobbyward said:
my lite comes on when the compressor get hot and shuts down to working to hard due to leaks, i also had trouble getting the o-ring under the dryer to seal also, those lines can be a pain also, might try pulling up and down on them to seal them off better, i had to replace the dryer once to get the lines to quite leaking on mine.................... oh what fun they can be
Click to expand...

It's a pretty easy system to work on. You can't complain about it being difficult while in the same breath admitting that your system is not up to snuff. Leaks are pretty easy to track down and fix; and then you don't have to worry about burning out the compressor.
 
There are 18 o-rings in our suspension system.

Anytime that your remove a component, replace the o-rings that you disturbed.

They're probably 14 or more years old.

Cutting corners will piss you off.

Getting pissed off will make you a ~former~ Mark VII owner.

The ONLY o-ring that I was able to get away with reusing was the huge one inside of the dryer of my 1989.

If you saved the plastic washer in the top of your dryer AND recut the ends of your airlines AND cleaned everything up nicely, then you can get away with installing just one o-ring.

 
Thanks guys, im may try an o ring swap out, till my new compressor and dryer arrive. Just thought it odd, that it was fine for days after i did the service, then the sudden failure!!
 
There are proceedures to follow that basically come with experience.

Before removing any air lines, mark thier depth at or below the plactic collar. This way, you'll know how far they need to be reinserted.

Clean everything; a clean air spring system is a happy air spring system.

o-rings like to be lubricated with mild liquid soap.

Oil eats rubber.

When in doubt, change it out :)
 
I did a quick o ring swap out, and it now works fine again. My new bags have arrived too, but i ordered some silicone grease to use as a lube before i installed them. I did wonder if you could use a soap solution, but wasnt sure if it would screw up something else in the system.
 
JoshMcMadMac said:
Dielectric grease is best for o-rings...and can be purchased in a convenient spray can.
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I agree with the dx grease.

I try NOT to recommend it though because it's expensive as sin.

Cool thing is that one tube/tub will last you a lifetime of o-rings and seals and of course, electrical connections of dissimilar metals :)


PrmtxDielectricGreaseZ90874.jpg
64754.jpg
 
Is silicone grease not essentially the same thing?? i got a tube of silicone and it says its for the exact same applications, lubing rubber, o-rings, electrical connections, resistis high-temp, water etc.

I also did an search to find where i could get some locally, and the results i got were for dielectric silicone grease?
 
JoshMcMadMac said:
Now that you mention it, I think that they typically call it silicone spray. That's the ticket.
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I don't know about you Josh but I've got cabin fever.

I'm DYING to hear how these owners made out with their winter projects and repairs!
 
OldSchool1 said:
I don't know about you Josh but I've got cabin fever.

I'm DYING to hear how these owners made out with their winter projects and repairs!
Click to expand...

I'm doing okay with it...that's why I'm not under my car on the frozen concrete of the carport wrestling with a 5-speed conversion. Yet.
 
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