Hello everyone! Can anyone help me with Breather Caps? The breather caps that we install on our machines often come up leaking and/or seeping oil. The service personnel tell me that seeping is normal; leaking isn't, and in those cases they change the Breathers. I have been trying to solve the issue on my own and have done some study on the equipment. What I found was a spring loaded plastic/rubber valve fitted inside a filter and the entire assembly installed inside a metallic cup. The cap is mounted on the Hydraulic Tank and there is a rubber-kind-of gasket that is fitted on the Breather that sits on the tank neck top land. The leakage patterns we have observed give no clear idea as to where the breather may be leaking from; the neck of the tank or the outlet air vents provided on the circumference of the breather. Does anybody have any idea as to what may be causing the breather cap to leak? Has anybody got any experience of the issue? If so what worked for them? What is the entire literature of this problem, if anybody can tell I will be very grateful. Thanks all for your time.
Oil should not be present at the breather cap, only air, thus the name breather cap. If they are leaking oil, you either have too high an oil level in the tank, too small a tank for the variations in oil level due to cylinder extension and retraction, or you are operating the machine at excessive angles allowing the oil to overload the breather.