Technical Exploding Engine Hoist

Has anyone ever had the hydraulic ram on an engine hoist blow out the fill plug and spray oil all over the place in freezing temperatures?

I have a detached 1 1/2 car garage (unheated). A couple weeks ago I filled a bled my hoist. I used it yesterday and everything was fine. I went out there tonight and noticed oil was sprayed all over my car. Then I noticed a huge puddle of oil under the hoist. Does hydraulic fluid freeze and expand? It got down to about -8 degrees with a wind chill of about -20 this morning.

 

SOUNDS like there was moisture present.
Water is the only liquid i know of that expands when frozen.

 

X2

 

X3, water. As a side note wind chill does not affect mechanical things. Wind chill only affects living animals.

 

-8 F is plenty cold for me.

 

Is it possible the hydraulic fluid was water based? Hydraulics used around heat, such as in foundries and steel making use water based fluid because it doesn't burn like oil does, if a hose bursts.

 

Thanks for the help guys. It is a brand new HF hoist, that was just about a quart low. I got just grabbed a quart of hydraulic fluid at Menards and filled it up. I guess there may have been some some water it there. I guess it's time to drain it out and start over.

 

Hydraulic fluid doesn't freeze until something like -70F so *IF* freezing fluid is the issue it does seem to indicate water contamination.

There are a few other substances which expand when solid versus liquid but none are likely to be present in your fluid.

Maybe frozen seals?

 

Harbor Freight....that is one problem. I bought one of those crappy folding engine hoists a few years back. Used it once that year. Used it again twice the next year, I am talking about maybe going up and down twice or three times each use. This last summer would be just the forth time I have used it and it would not raise an empty engine block. I think the cheapass seals leak in it. I tried to drain and refill it but it won't pump. I don't know what caused yours to blow out but I bet a better hydraulic ram would not have done that.
I have an old American made engine hoist that is at least 30 years old and it still works perfectly.

 

Mine lasted a couple years before it quit. Tried to reseal the ram but couldn't find the right orings. Ended up buying a new ram from Harbor Freight and has work a couple more years and seems to be better than the original.

 

Damn garage gnomes

 

This has always made me wonder why radiator fans work then.

 

Harbor Freight is not high on the quality scale. HRP

 

I've had my HF cherry picker for 20 years or so and have lifted dozens of engines with it and have never had a problem - never even had to add oil. I've even used it to lift the cab off my '46 Chevy 1/2T and my '36 Ford...............

 

56Don, you may be onto something there. I bought this hoist about two years ago. I didn’t need it at the time, but HF had the 2 ton lift for like $150 with their coupon and I knew I was going to need one. I finally needed it this last fall when I bought a motor for my car, so I put it together and it worked fine taking out of the truck and putting it on a stand. It then sat in a corner until a few weeks ago when I needed to take the 216 out of my car. It lifted fine, but wouldn’t stay up. I went to top it off with fluid and bleed it, and found it was exactly a quart low. After that it worked fine. I sold the 216 on Sunday, and it worked like a champ. It had no problem lifting the motor into the bed of a big 4X4 truck. Then Monday night I found oil all over the place and the fill plug on the other side of the garage. I didn’t think water would’ve been mixed with the oil because it was new, but I guess moisture could’ve gotten in there. I’m just going to empty it out, refill it and see how it works.

Tagman, I'm digging on how you lifted those bodies with it. I never thought that.

 

My American made lift is more than 40 years old and it has been used and abused by me and several of my friends over the years,never a problem but like everything it might not work tomorrow. HRP

 

Check the plug and orifice threads carefully. This may have had nothing to do with the cold temps.Because something happens at the same time doesn't guarantee it is related. There is a word that describes that, but I can't recall it at the moment. And no, it's not the word "coincidence", though that might apply here. It is a term to describe the tendency of people to assign 'cause and effect' to simultaneous events without evidence to support that conclusion. A common tendency of human nature.

In any case, I would use that lift with CAUTION until you have established reliability of the ram.

Ray

 

I checked into getting new and better seals for my ram and the hydraulic shop here told me that it would be cheaper to buy a new ram than rebuild the Chinese one. I think he told me the seals were unique, but my memory fades in cold weather..
I would never get under one of these off shore things now that I see how unreliable they are.

 

HRP, I know HF isn't known for selling high end tools, but the price was right and they have a lot of good reviews so I took a chance and went with it.

Hnstray, it just has a rubber plug so there are no threads involved. I'm sure anything could have caused it, or a combination of a hundred things I'm not even aware of. After I refill it, I'm going to go easy and test it a bit before working with anything big.

 

But it will only fail when you have something 'big' on it. Murphy's Law..."Anything that can go wrong WILL go wrong.... and at the worst possible time"

Ray

 

Forced convection 'removes' 5-10x the heat, over Free convection

You bring to mind, causation, and correlation. Is there a lawyer on this bus?

 

Harbor Freight thats your problem LOL
We go through 2 HF grinders every 2 months or so. We've had at least 3 HF car jacks go out, 4 paint guns that have screwed up while spraying a car, several miscellaneous air tools, and no telling how many shop lights. But heck, there so cheap we just buy more to replace them.

 

I went to use a HF type 4 ton body ram, and it leaked like it had no seals. It had never been used. Went to my friendly machine shop/hydraulic shop and we installed a much better seal than the one that was broken up inside it. The shop probably won't find the same seal, but a better one.

 

Everything freezes, not all things expand. depends on its chemical makeup and at what temperature that it happens, Steel for instance is a frozen liquid only it freezes at a much higher temperature then water for example.

I have seen hydraulic cylinders blow the drain plug out before, it usually has to do with a combination of things, like the threads being really worn or not cut right in the first place, or the plug not being threaded in properly. Sometimes it is that and a combination of being left under load and bitter cold or intense heat. Without proper testing there is really no way to say what happened to your ram.

 

If there is just an unthreaded rubber plug used to cover the fluid fill hole then there shouldn't be any pressure there at any time unless a seal is bad. I don't think refilling it and attempting to use it again will be successful.

 

That's crazy I had the same temps by me and mines out in the barn and it's fine. It is old and made in the USA.

 

my guess would be the salt water in it froze did ya have any type of load on it?

 

If HB is cheaper, on tools, grinders, and other stuff, has anyone added their time up to replace a HB tool. The job you are working on don't get done, you have time to the store and back, gas, add another hour in for starting back where you left off. Sometimes it aint so cheap.

 

Be sure the ram is totally down when you refill. If it is up at all the fluid will go above the fill / vent hole and pressurize and blow the plug out when the ram lowers all the way.

 

If it just has a rubber plug and you just added a quart of fluid, I'm willing to bet you over filled it and when the ram was retracted, the extra fluid had nowhere to go besides out!