How to Fix Your 12v Air Compressor

Intro: How to Fix Your 12v Air Compressor

Lightning knocked out my computer so I will try this again. 

I found a broken Campbell-Hausfield 12V air compressor while riding a motorcycle in the desert. I am financially impaired so when I find something, I take it home and try to fix it. I have been using this compressor for years, now. (About 7) and have used it for everything from patching and filling tubes to seating beads on my motorcycle. 

It is getting a little worn out, requiring a shot of oil to get up to 40 PSI. God provides-I just received a broken "Maxx Power" air compressor!

I will show you the basic steps needed to get one going again. 

P.S. the main image is what the Campbell-Hausfield compressor looks like today, after 7 years of often hard use. If I had the ability to buy a (Good) new one I would! But they can last. 

STEP 1: First Off, Take It Apart (Phillips Head Screwdriver)

In the second picture I say to oil the bearings-wait until you remove the motor. 

Inside is a very simple mechanical assembly. 

A motor turns a gear that is connected to a crankshaft.

The crankshaft is supported by two bushings, and has a shaft that is connected to the connecting rod.

The connecting rod is connected to the piston, which moves up and down in a polished metal cylinder.

While the piston is traveling down, a one-way reed valve allows air to be drawn in through a small hole on top of the cylinder head.

While the piston is traveling upwards, the pressure closes the one-way reed valve, and pressure builds up until it is pushed through the one-way valve that is connected to the gauge, and output barb, travelling to the chuck. 

9 times out of 10, with inexpensive 12V compressors, the entire assembly simply lifts out. 

STEP 2: Inspect, and Begin Taking It Apart!

All of the pictures I took were after I spent several minutes blowing out the caked-on dust inside and outside of the pump. There was so much dust it had clumped up into dust chunks the size of popcorn. It was filthy. I didn't even try to turn it on in that condition. It would have worn itself just by running for a few seconds. 

9 times out of 10, the reason why it no longer works is because of dust and debris between the brushes and the commutator of the motor. Sounds complicated and hard to fix, but it is as easy as taking it apart and turning the gears by hand while the unit is unplugged. 

The motor has enough torque to tear your finger open, so make sure it in unplugged. 

Then, plug it in and it will suddenly work. This is because you forced the commutator to grind the dust away from the brushes and created a new electrical connection. 

Anyway...

This particular pump has 3 cylinder head screws. Most inexpensive pumps only have 2, and some don't even have the cooling fins on the cylinder head. Right away I could tell this was a good pump. 

Unfortunately, this design would not allow me to simply pop the large driven gear off. I had to pull the crankshaft out, then slide the gear out. 

I accomplished this by putting 2 flathead screwdrivers under the large driven gear, while I pried on the crankshaft with another screwdriver, until the crankshaft popped out. 

As I nearly find with everything I take apart, an appalling lack of lubrication for the bushings for the crankshaft. The greasing of many of your tools will make them last nearly forever, especially right after you buy them. I grease all of my angle grinders when I buy them, and they last a long time. 

Once you get the crankshaft out, you are free to clean and lubricate the crankcase. If you do not have a flavor injector, you can use a Q-tip, but it will not do as good of a job. 

If you are like me and maintain your equipment, a sub $5 flavor injector from Wal-Mart packed with good quality synthetic grease (I use Mobile-1 general purpose full synthetic red grease, it has served me very well) will allow you to inject grease into areas where it would be impossible any other way. 

STEP 3: Piston and Cylinder Head

If your pump had its hose broken off, simply purchase some good automotive hose that can handle up to 100 PSI (Try fuel injection line). Or, cut the end of the hose flush, and simply use a small hose clamp to secure the hose to the barb.

To remove the factory hose, simply insert a small flathead screwdriver into the collar between the collar and the hose. Do this several places until the collar splits in half. Simply remove the collar and pull the broken hose off of the barb. This frees you to put the good hose back on.

On my CH compressor, the one-way reed valve broke off. I cut a similar sized and shaped one from a soda can (Super Chill Lemon Lime soda [Albertsons]). I drilled out the rivet holding the tab in, ran a tiny tap (A tap makes threads) down the hole, and screwed a small screw to hold the tab down. I had to machine the head of the screw flat so that the piston would not interfere with it. 

At this point, make sure everything is lubricated. The wrist pin, both ends of the connecting rod, the main bearings in the crankcase, the crankshaft, the lower end rod bearing, the cylinder, the piston and piston crown, the gears, and the bushings in the motor. To lubricated the bushings on the motor simply apply a lightweight oil (I used Break Free CLP) to each end of the motor. Make sure it goes under the gear and hits the shaft, where it will seep down and get inside the bushing. 

Replace the motor, if you have removed it. (Make sure you lubricated the bushings on the motor before replacing it!)

Re insert the crankshaft into the crankcase, and press it back into the driven gear. Be sure the driven gear is facing the right way so that the wear pattern of the teeth isn't altered.

A word to the wise: Don't bother putting the piston and connecting rod assembly back onto the crankshaft until you have inserted the piston into the cylinder first. The rubber crown on the piston will only allow it to go in one way! 

Grease up the cylinder, and the crown of the piston. The piston goes up and down very quickly and a lot of heat is generated. A good amount of grease here will increase the pressure output, the life of the piston, and inflate tires much quicker. 

Look at the wear pattern in the cylinder. If you can see an area that isn't worn, that area goes toward the crankcase. The piston travels all the way to the top of the cylinder.

Slip the connecting rod through the top of the cylinder, and push the piston in. Keep the piston inside the cylinder, and then angle the connecting rod slightly to get it into the crankcase and onto the lower end rod bearing sticking out of the crankshaft. It's easier than it sounds. 

Replace the cylinder head screws (The long ones). 

There will probably be rubber vibration isolating pieces that go around the mechanical assembly, they only go in one way. Make sure they are the right way. 

Everything will go together in less than a few minutes. It is a very simple assembly. 

Comments

[wmson4some]

Just fixed (for now anyway) a 220 psi 12V (no name - made in Taiwan) Air Compressor that worked well for many years, but encountered recent problem with the motor running but not delivering compressed air. I had been inflating the pickup tires, and then it made some bad sounds and the air stopped even though its motor was running. After reading this Instructable, I looked inside the housing and could feel air only coming out the holes on the top of the compression cylinder. Opened the air compression cylinder, and the one-way air valve at the top of the cylinder had gone to pieces and have no idea what it looked like. The valve sat in a ~3/8" diameter round seat with a stem in the middle and four air holes around it, so I cut a coin from a 1.5 mm thick silicone sheet, punched a hole in the middle, stuck in on the stem and down into the seat, and then mushroomed the end of the stem to hold it in there... so that it would work like a Reed Valve, which I learned about here / from tundrawolf's Instructable. Thank you, TW!

[rocwhite]

Great instructable! With its help, 9 years later, I was almost.. able to fix a good quality air compressor. Its problem is the driven gear slipping on the crankshaft. I attempted the fix by lightly sanding and roughening up the shaft, and gluing it to the gear with Gorilla epoxy. This is what most people in the model train / RC car / etc. community are recommending as well, except that they were likely dealing with quite a bit lower speed and torque. The fix lasted a single tire and the hard epoxy broke off on second tire.

Any tips on fixing the gear and shaft connection? Is the gear replaceable?

[Jbui59]

This is the driver gear that turns the pump of the PXS3 12v Tire Inflator unit (COSTCO). It is worn and I have no idea where to buy it for replacement. Any idea how I can buy it is greatly appreciated. Thank you
Joe

[DonHG]

I was able to fix the reed valve o ring being to big due to wear by taking the o-ring out and using a shrink wrap heat gun on low to shrink the o-ring such that it would fit correctly and lubed with lith grease. Lith grease for the piston. Now cranks out air. Dry rotted yellow air line I used a $4 yellow plastic line from harbor freight and adapted the chuck for a standard air chuck with a locking lever. This is the $35 Harbor freight general 4 screw metal pump. All of these yellow plastic lines on these machines dry rot to pieces.

[subligar]

Thanks for this, my compressor has a reed valve inlet on the piston which had broken off, I was able to quickly cut a new one from a pop can and get the compressor working again.

With the gunk out of the cylinder it worked much faster than I was used to also.

[laburtons]

I needed to replace the plastic piston ring and came across this website. My requirements were for a 0.750" OD, 0.500" ID, 0.031" thick "piston ring". However, I was not content to use a teflon faucet washer that would require trimming. I did a bunch of online digging and came across this website:

www.superiorwasher.com

and found this product (T24-750031N-Pkg) which was EXACTLY what I needed.... up and running flawlessly.

[laburtons]

I found a website that sells Teflon Washer and they were the perfect fit for me. 0.750" OD, 0.500" ID, 0.031" thick. Installed and running perfectly.

www.superiorwasher.com

T24-750031N-Pkg

[JeffreyE1]

I wounder if Liquid Steel will work on the plastic gear

[Northrrn_Joe]

I have a similar pump, just different plastic housing. it runs fine but very slow at pumping tires, even bicycles..

after taking mine apart, I see there is a plastic ring at the top of the tiny piston. mine looks like it squished or melted a little.
should I just clean it up with a rag, grease everything up and reassemble it?

I wonder if these plastic rings can be replaced?

[tundrawolf]

I am afraid to tell you that these rings are not commonly available.

The plastic you speak of is the sealing, or "Compression" ring.

What you can do is shape the ring with a razor blade to become symmetrical, and trim it so that it is square.

Outside of that, the only other option you have is to find a piece of Teflon able to be shaped or buy a new inflator.

How does the bore look? Is it scratched? Only a small brake hone can hone it out and make it sealable again, but only if the rings will seal. Unfortunately in this world of buy it and toss it, your more economical option is to buy a new inflator.

But if you are like me and you hate throwing stuff away, you will find a way.

Here's a hint. Hone the cyinder out with sandpaper and use a Teflon faucet washer (Make sure it is teflon. It will feel slippery)

to rebuild your piston.

In the event you are unable to rebuild it adequately, grease will help seal the ring and make it give you good pressure until it is scrubbed away.

[yaly]

I happen to have a broken connecting rod, i need to remove the wrist pin on the piston side, any suggestion on how to do that and how to fix the rod ? I had a thought of using metal epoxy.

[bernardo761.]

i know this might be old but I bought that's same compressor at second hand. it wouldn't trow any air so I opened it and saw that the main gear the big one was broken. some of the notches were broken is there anyhow I can buy another one? do you know where? and is there anyway I can get it from another apliance?

[Jatin Goel]

i searched a lot to buy this air compressor but i cant find.a new one of this model so if u got .please please send me link to buy this

[kurshiukas]

Good instructable! gives me an Idea of getting few of these (4 or 6) cylindres being run on same shaft connected to better engine (drill maybe?). This should provided enough flow to fill up 5 liter tank.

[Phil B]

Thank you for your Instructable. I use these compressors to air up bicycle tires on bikes I leave in other cities. I power the compressors from a rental car. One compressor is rather cheap and the motor just does not have what is needed to power the compressor. I am thinking of removing the motor and fitting it to an electric drill.

[tundrawolf]

Thank you for your kind words. I understand your problem with the pump not working up to par. However, if you take the assembly apart you will see that the motor is spinning the driven gear faster than a drill motor. The DC motors they use are high RPM high torque and are usually of fairly high quality.

I can say with certainty that if you follow my instructable and grease your pump entirely, and especially grease the piston and cylinder, your pump will work better than it ever did, even when new.

Even adding a drop or two of oil in the intake (On top of the cylinder head, you will see a hole) will dramatically increase compression and performance.