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No air pressure :(


trimster

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On my Int. 4800 dt466, I don't have air pressure.

The truck has been setting for 2 weeks, block heater plugged in, but it's been cold here in Utah. Teens most nights, 32 during the day.

Fired it up and let it idle for 20+ min. Air pressure gauge says '0'.

Where do I start looking, tinkering, to get this fixed? I can't drive it because the frame drops onto the top of the rear tires with no system pressure. I could jack it up and put blocks back there to keep the frame a few inches off the tires if needs be, for an emergency run to a shop.

 

Where is the air compressor located on this engine?

 

Thanks

 

Bob

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The air compressor should be on the driver's side bottom, front of the engine. You may well have ice in your air lines or tank which is an easy fix, having the compressor die is a lot less likely. If you didn't have antifreeze in the coolant it could have cracked though, it doesn't see a lot of heat from the block heater.

 

You can crack the fitting at the pump to air line connection and check to see if you are getting air out, if you are it is likely ice. Melting it out if it is in a line is easy with a hair dryer, just toast any low spots and see if you make air. If it is in the tank it takes a bit more time and heat, a 1500 watt heater under the tank and maybe a bit of wind-break should do the trick in a couple hours.

 

Worst case grab the AC air compressor and use it to run your tank up to 120 PSI and that should be good to drive several miles as long as you have hydraulic brakes.

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Thanks and happy new year. It's a toasty 3 degrees here in Utah.

I have one of those 50,000 btu blaster heaters I use to heat the garage. I'll put that under the truck aimed to the back and let it blast away for a while.

Got to love the cold weather...NOT.

 

Bob

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Success! Put the big blaster under the front aimed back for 30 min. Fired the truck up and captain, we have pressure. Pulled the tank drain valve a bunch of time to blow out water from there and the lines leading to it. Pushed the bag dump for the rear to clean that out a bit.

So it's a toasty 17 degrees and life is good.

 

Thanks all

 

Bob

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I don't know about the older and smaller trucks, but both Volvos have had 12 v heaters on the "purge" valve of the air dryer.

 

Many people like to run the truck for a bit every week. Many while idling. Without a run and some load on it, most diesels will not generate enough heat in the cold weather to "blow" heat back at other parts. Trans gets heated by the antifreeze "cooler/heat exchanger" but not enough to heat the air flow under the truck. That, and if you have the condensate drain heater, and perhaps the fuse blew at some point or it never got reconnected (yes, they forgot to plug mine back in) you could pass water into the system.

 

Just a follow up - glad you got it working on the cheap, now to find the cause, other than cold weather.

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