Draining the water out of the air tanks

This will be screwed into the bottom of the air tanks...Pull the cable and the center pin moves off center and lets the air out...Or if the cables are gone,just push the pin by hand..You will have 2 or 3.....

 

This is a yes. I have same year, make and model. I have only 1 cable on passenger side going to that one tank. My other 3 tanks have the manual turn valves of which I can access 2 without going underneath the truck as they are on the passenger side behind cab inside the frame rail. The other tank is driver side, inside frame rail and beside fuel tank and I should switch that to the quick drain with cable.

 

Ok thanks for that..I didn't see any cables but I will check again tomorrow.

 

Air dryers are a lazy man's way of not bleeding the tanks daily. I bleed my "WET TANK"(has pullcord) on my driver's side at EVERY STOP(Habit) I make regardless. The other tanks I bleed/check few times a week, depends.
I have had moisture with very lil oil combined for 5 years and compressor still pumping. I've replaced 1 governer and clean it 1 time after that and replaced the 2 valve/o-ring on top of the compressor.

 

Also, when people are saying "drain the tank" it's not draining the air tank 100%. It's holding the valve open for a few seconds is all. You won't drop more then a few pounds (typically 5 - 20 pounds for me) so it's not like one has to even wait for the tanks to fill back up. Just drain when fueling and pre-trip and go.

--Steven

 

i have a 1999 freightliner century. I found three air tank valved that can be drained. Are there only three or am i missing others? Two valves on driver side go to same air tank, one bottom of the tank and one end of the tank. Underneath the truck I only see two air tanks. So my question is do i only need to drain at 3 locations? thx

 

I always pull every string that's available. Just to be safe

 

Open the ones on the bottom of the tanks.

 

i pulled the one on the bottom and no water came out just air. I pulled the string to the end of the tank and somehow it squeezed like half a gallon of water with traces of oil...

 

they said there is a bold broken off the air compressor, which is common on these old models. This is what contributed to the loose alternator belt