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Pressure washing forklift trucks

Number of messages: 11

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duodeluxe
New Hampshire, United States

Does anybody know the secret to keeping moisture out of a distributor cap while pressure washing a truck. It always seems to be an issue. If there is no way to keep the moisture out then what's the best and quickest way to dry it out after?

And what about pressure washing electric trucks. When we do it, no matter how careful we are, moisture gets into the electrical components and causes a "PMT" situation and/or the dust in the motors turns to mud when mixed with the water.

I've heard about the "dry ice" cleaning machines that work unbelievably well but I think that they are extremely expensive.
Any thoughts or cures on either issue would be appreciated.

-------------------------
gitrucks@adelphia.net

Posted 7 May 2008 10:11 PM

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ajdxb
United Arab Emirates, United Arab Emirates

Spray wurth contact spray inside and outside of the Distributor cap and forget about the problem

Posted 8 May 2008 06:48 PM

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ajdxb
United Arab Emirates, United Arab Emirates

Never pressure wash Electric trucks, remove battery and wash separately and let it fully dry before fitting it back and for the rest of the truck use Compressed air to blow out the dust with a suitable mask to protect against the dust

Posted 8 May 2008 06:51 PM

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Dragonstaff
South Australia, Australia

I agree that you should never pressure wash electric trucks. The only possible exception to this is carefully washing the mast.
As for the water in the distributor problem, just take the cap off and blow it dry with compressed air. Works every time.

Posted 8 May 2008 09:08 PM

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JonG
United States

I learned from an older tech when i started. Gas trucks are a given that you will have to spray out the distributor cap with contact cleaner. Ensure that you don't directly spray the dash area (ECM's etc are normally mounted there). Blow dry well. The cleaner truck runs better and it's easier to find those little seeps and leaks that seem to exist on the older units as they age.
Electric trucks are different.
There are a couple of wasy I've seen. i prefer the 'safest'. Unplug battery and remove (to clean under). Wash the heck out of it (it'll get the mud out), blow down and then park for three days to drip dry before you even think of plugging in a card. I've seen of rebuild shop pull all cards before washing to ensure that there are no issues..

Posted 8 May 2008 09:09 PM

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proshadetree
Tennessee, United States

Shop vac works well on electric trucks to get the most off then blow with air.When we have to wash electric trucks we let them sit for a few days then blow them out before plugging them in.Dont like to wash them at all if I can help it.WD 40 works well on dist caps

Posted 8 May 2008 09:11 PM

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Chinaman
Shanghai, China

Hi, I don't have the sollution for the battery problem, but for the contact set issue, you can use an Pertronix "Ignitor" elctronic ignition. This will greatly reduce the "wet problems" you will have. You can find the Pertronix dealers on their website [url/email removed]

Posted 8 May 2008 11:31 PM

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JDBurton
Virginia, United States

cover the cap with a ziplock bag and zip tie it. When done remove cap and dry out with air hose..usually works for us.

Posted 9 May 2008 04:41 AM

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edward_t
South Carolina, United States

and even (if you are me and) you do wash electric trucks, avoiding motors and chopper and contactor panels, NEVER do it in front of a customer, they will surely think they can do it too, and you will have to sell a bunch of parts then...

Modified 9 May 2008 07:29 AM
by poster.

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proshadetree
Tennessee, United States

Amen Ed

-------------------------
"Work leads to profit, mere talk leads to poverty"

Posted 9 May 2008 08:19 AM

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justinm
New York, United States

i wouldnt go pressure washing any modern forklifts
including IC trucks
ive had problems where the customer pressure washed the engine and moisture was blasted past the weather proof connections for the ECM and injectors and caused all kinds of problems

in fact i discourage washing anything with electrical in it (including old IC trucks) a lil moisture and corrosion can go a long way to cause big harness headaches

i had a customer who washed his linde e16-02 (324) and it came up with a code 42 which is a bad power unit or moisture in the drive motors

the customer thought i was nuts when i told him to let it sit for a week to dry completely (after testing the power unit and associated wiring and it all came back good)
10 days later it was up and running and went months b4 it had even a minor breakdown (he got really lucky in other words but then again that was a low pressure wash)

electrics out in the rain drives me nuts too
a good analogy to make is to tell the customer who insists on driving an indoor machine outdoors in bad weather "take your brand new flatscreen HDTV and watch it out in the rain, how long do you think itll last?" most get it after that

-------------------------
New York, New York its a heluva town ..you know that The Bronx is up ..and im Brooklyn down

Posted 24 May 2008 08:28 AM

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