yong heng blew up.

Hello all,

I was filling my tank last night and got a ton of blow-by out of the breather and pressure stopped building at around 4K. The compressor is about a year old and has been working great.The only change I made was to switch from stinky aw46 from Pep Boys to royal purple synthetic compressor oil ISO 100. Rod and crank journal are in great shape along with the first stage cylinder, there are no signs of wear. Compressor temp was between 40c and 50c and unit was running for about 30 minutes when I noticed the blow-by. Can anybody tell me what the heck happened, I have been very diligent with performing oil changes and any other thing that it needed. I ordered another unit but I need to know what I should do as far as rebuilding this unit, should I just replace the piston or piston and rod and cylinder etc...? Do you think I should go back to AW46 or is the royal purple ok?

Thank you,

Jim

1556560058_1066078265cc738ba80b6a3.30764529_IMG_20190429_131935.jpg
1556560059_17019197595cc738bb1cdb25.93479072_IMG_20190429_131916.jpg

 
Well for a start the top of your first stage piston head is clearly cracked. Hard to say what else is wrong from the pictures alone, but that could be it. 



My personal experience with the YH compressors is that they're essentially disposable. Like anything vastly less expensive than competing products, they have their advocates and that is fair, but how many times are you willing to have the thing fail, tear it down, source parts, and rebuild it? Only you can answer that question, but that really should determine whether you buy a whole new one, repair it, or source a better compressor. *shrug* The royal purple full synthetic compressor oil is most certainly not the cause of your problem though and should be fine. 
 
That’s about the time frame I got out of my YH. Ordered a piston group about six months ago just waiting for this same issue, and it happened about a year to the day. Install the new piston assembly and we are back in business. Ordered another piston group for the next time. $25 or so for a piston group and about 30 minutes to repair. Pretty cheap repair. Waiting for the parts to float across the pond is the worst part.
 
I took the liberty to send your picture of cracked piston to the Yong Heng factory in China. You are not the first one to experience the problem. They told me that they are aware of the issue and all compressors coming out from the factory now have got pistons with thicker wall. Make sure that you get the new piston for replacement. My Yong Heng was bought one year ago and they told me that it probably has got the old version piston with thinner wall. I have just ordered a new-version one, costs 4 bucks shipped
 
I took the liberty to send your picture of cracked piston to the Yong Heng factory in China. You are not the first one to experience the problem. They told me that they are aware of the issue and all compressors coming out from the factory now have got pistons with thicker wall. Make sure that you get the new piston for replacement. My Yong Heng was bought one year ago and they told me that it probably has got the old version piston with thinner wall. I have just ordered a new-version one, costs 4 bucks shipped


That's interesting. I wonder when the production cut-over to the new piston was since my unit was purchased this past January. Did you get your new piston direct from the factory? 
 
I took the liberty to send your picture of cracked piston to the Yong Heng factory in China. You are not the first one to experience the problem. They told me that they are aware of the issue and all compressors coming out from the factory now have got pistons with thicker wall. Make sure that you get the new piston for replacement. My Yong Heng was bought one year ago and they told me that it probably has got the old version piston with thinner wall. I have just ordered a new-version one, costs 4 bucks shipped


Could you give us a link or more info so we can follow the same path.
 
There is no link selling the new piston. I am located in Hong Kong and I contact the Yong Heng factory directly to buy the piston. I am sure sellers on Aliexpress or alike can get it for you guys in US .


I don't like the dirty and dishonest business practices on Aliexpress. They charge (steal) sale tax when they are not suppose to and advertise paypal payment and then won't take paypal.

They also rob you on government subsidized shipping.
 
I have bought over Aliexpress (not much) for several years, never had a problem. Never been charge for SalesTax and at least IME have not see paypal there.

In order to charge state sales tax they must have a licensed retail location in my state and they don't. The amount is also random and does not equal the sales tax in my state. Paypal is advertised on the item you want but they don't accept paypal and there is no option to use it. I wouldn't trust anyone in mainland China with my credit card.

1556627726_7307568265cc8410e3706e4.97892615_ali crook 2 - (2).jpg
1556627725_11932541275cc8410de142a1.08671797_ali crook 2 - (1).jpg

 
I have bought over Aliexpress (not much) for several years, never had a problem. Never been charge for SalesTax and at least IME have not see paypal there.

In order to charge state sales tax they must have a licensed retail location in my state and they don't. The amount is also random and does not equal the sales tax in my state. Paypal is advertised on the item you want but they don't accept paypal and there is no option to use it. I wouldn't trust anyone in mainland China with my credit card.

1556627726_7307568265cc8410e3706e4.97892615_ali crook 2 - (2).jpg
1556627725_11932541275cc8410de142a1.08671797_ali crook 2 - (1).jpg

I see! ... My bank has a feature called virtual card, specially made for online shopping. Basically you create a new card number, for an specific amount and it can be only be used once in the next 48 hours of been made. After that, it get expired. That way no one can steal the number later. I use that for aliexpress buys.

For sure they can not tax your sales with your state tax.


 
I have bought over Aliexpress (not much) for several years, never had a problem. Never been charge for SalesTax and at least IME have not see paypal there. I 100% prefer ebay, but sometimes you find there things that you would not find on ebay. Anyway, just got this today...finally:

1556624271_20206436235cc8338fabf2f5.77158797_6f94117f-a047-4f5b-9dd0-659104bedfda.jpg


1556624271_10382083275cc8338fd61ba5.72091543_06641eb4-2186-4a3e-9619-eb2c06e64f5f.jpg

I just pulled the pin on the same item and gaskets. It's nice to have a spare for insurance. I agree with you and would rather use eBay and PayPal but I have bought a couple of dozen products from them in the past and never had a problem. Their payment system appears to be very secure and for the first few months, I had a lot of trouble paying for my orders because something was flagging me as an imposter. It caused a lot of frustration on my part to sort it out. I only persisted because I couldn't get the items I wanted anywhere else. As for sales tax, my country, Australia, expanded their GST. goods and services tax, last year to include online purchases for all items instead of only items over AU$1000. Now both eBay and PayPal and Aliexpress ad that at the checkout.
 
I've made at least 20 purchases on Aliexpress from several vendors with no problems. I don't know why they're adding sales tax for your state as I've never had that happen. I use a credit card and have never had any issues with it being misused in any way. On a couple of occasions I've gotten a defective part or in one instance received one piece instead of the three I paid for. In both cases the vendors were very responsive and replaced the products without complaint. It can take 2-3 weeks to receive an order, but I find Aliexpress easy to use and in most cases the same items on Ebay cost at least 10% or more. I'm in North Carolina.
 
In order to charge state sales tax they must have a licensed retail location in my state and they don't. The amount is also random and does not equal the sales tax in my state. Paypal is advertised on the item you want but they don't accept paypal and there is no option to use it. I wouldn't trust anyone in mainland China with my credit card.

1556627726_7307568265cc8410e3706e4.97892615_ali crook 2 - (2).jpg
1556627725_11932541275cc8410de142a1.08671797_ali crook 2 - (1).jpg

You may want to take another look at the laws. While most vendors still list on the invoice "sales" tax they are actually collecting a "use" tax. (I see your invoice just indicates "Tax"). They are then to send this $$ to the state. PAir has been collecting this for at least the past year for my state.

https://www.salestaxinstitute.com/sales_tax_faqs/what_states_impose_sales_use_tax
 

You may want to take another look at the laws. While most vendors still list on the invoice "sales" tax they are actually collecting a "use" tax. (I see your invoice just indicates "Tax"). They are then to send this $$ to the state. PAir has been collecting this for at least the past year for my state.

https://www.salestaxinstitute.com/sales_tax_faqs/what_states_impose_sales_use_tax

No, it's not that. When you hover over the tax question mart it says...

1556637133_6801186935cc865cd32c542.85132605_ali crook 3 -.jpg


This amount does not match my states sales tax and no one else adds this.