The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Compressor oil leak???

My Kobalt brand compressor is about 3 years old. A few months ago it began leaking oil (mineral) from the pump base and drain plug & valve. These were wiped clean, retightened and oil added to specs. given in the owners manual. It took about 7 ounces to fill. Since then this process has been repeated. It seems odd that oil would get down into the tank. Bad seal(?) Any ideas???

Also why is mineral oil specified instead of light weight motor or synthetic oil?

Mine did the same thing from the drain plug. It dribbled all over the place and I thought it must be coming from all over. Nope, just the drain plug. Just add a little teflon tape or gasket sealant to the threads and you should be okay.

Mine specified a synthetic only. Not sure why mineral oil?

Jeff

....and mine has a sight glass and leaked there...it looked like it was leaking everywhere. I ended up making my own small gasket and tightened it up good..but careful not to break the glass. And as mentioned, a little Teflon will help with drain plug. These compressors run a lot and with even the slightest vibration will eventually need "tightening up" of stuff.

Compressors vibrate. Aluminum block ones more so than the old heavy cast iron ones. The old ones began to leak after many years. The new ones leak a lot quicker.

Thanks, guys.

This one has a sight glass too, which was loose, as was the bottom plug. I added Teflon tape tightened all fittings, added oil and the leaking stopped for about 2 days. I think I'll try gasket sealer, when I get a chance.

Ha-- the leaky Stovebolt must have infected the "kobalt".

The gasket sealer worked!!! Teflon tape appeared to have disintegrated.

I decided to use synthetic oil instead of the mineral oil referenced in the OM. As I understand it they are similar. After a week of use, so far so good.