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Sullivan Palatek portable diesel compressor | Air Compressor Guide
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Sullivan Palatek portable diesel compressor

  • Question Title: Sullivan Palatek portable diesel compressor
  • Asked by: Guest
  • Asked On:
  • Answers: 1

I have a Sullivan Palatek Diesel 185 Compressor, it will not start.


When I turn the switch to start and hit the button to start it all you here is a "click", I have checked all the connections and they seem to be tight and good.


The compressor is new, only 2 months old, and we just started having this problem, we have around 1300 hours on it and now it is just sitting because we can't get it to run.


What is wrong with it?


Answers & Replies

avatar

Hi,

Thank you for your question. I don't have much experience with Sullivan Palatek compressor, but I did some searching on Google for you.

Do you have a John Deere engine or a Caterpillar engine in it? The Caterpillar engine would be yellow painted.

I found the electrical diagram of the 185 compressor. I hope it is readable, the website automatically shrinks it unfortunately... if you can not read it, let me know and I will email it to you.

This is for the Caterpillar engine, but it will probably be 99% the same for the John Deere engine. Please see the picture above.

It is a little hard to read at first, because it is a wiring diagram (it shows how the wires actually run), not an actual circuit diagram (where components are placed logically from left to right).

As far as I can tell, the following normally happens, when turning the ignition switch clockwise:

  1. Switch at 1 o'clock position in diagram: light will go on, and glow-plugs will turn on (through wire 17, 'solenoid' and wire 4 and 3.

2)Switch at 5 o'clock position: power is supplied through wire 12 to the motor starter solenoid ("sol" for short in the diagram). The wire 12 continues to the "automatic shut down controller" but I don't know what it exactly does.

But, you said you can hear a "click". Where does it come from? Does it come from near the motor starter? In that case, you hear the motor starter solenoid.

The solenoid is just like an electrical switch. When power is applied to the control lines (wire 12), it will connect the motor starter to the battery (a big wire, since it draws a lot of current, wire 15 in the diagram that runs between the motor starter and the battery).

Since you can hear the click, the ignition switch and solenoid are OK. Since there is no circuit breaker or fuse between the motor starter and the battery, that should be OK too...

Leaves us with.. the motor starter itself. Sometimes they just don't work. Since it is a new machine, it must be still under warranty. Give a call to Sullivan-Palatek and they will probably send a mechanic.

Let me know how it works out and good luck!

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