Air Compressor Spewing Oil

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soparklion11

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I started an air compressor and it started shooting oil onto my ceiling. I found that the oil fill plug had popped off and was lying beside the unit. I'm not sure if the oil came out of the filter, the fill plug or both...

Can anyone tell me what the hell happened? It ran for all of 3 minutes before all of that happened.
 
I only had that happen once. mine was a kind of spike on the bottom of the main bearing shell. And that little spike thing had broke off.
My guess was that it was there to splash the oil up the cylinder, I ran it like that but it seized I guess from lack of oil on the cylinder. But it was the same cap off and oil all over the place.
 
Sounds like your piston ring failed. High pressure bypassed the piston ring and entered the crank case. That would definitely blast oil out of the full hole and pop the plug out like you found happened to you.

Of course, this is just speculation based off the info you gave but seems like the most probable reason.
 
pjones said:
Sounds like your piston ring failed. High pressure bypassed the piston ring and entered the crank case. That would definitely blast oil out of the full hole and pop the plug out like you found happened to you.

Of course, this is just speculation based off the info you gave but seems like the most probable reason.
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Thank you... that was what I had concluded. I don't think that I can replace the piston ring.
 
There's no make model, year or even a picture so hard to say how hard it would be or weather it would be worth the time and money to repair.
If you can buy the new rings it's a simple repair and far cheaper than a new compressor, even if you had to also buy a cylinder hone to clean it up if it's scored.
 
pjones said:
You could probably just pull the head off and look for the damage. Might save you the mess again.
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I didn't find any noticeable damage - does that mean that the O-rings are probably okay? I was going to replace the O-rings since I have it apart, but I can't find a kit for 48mm O-rings for an air compressor.
 
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