culligan iron cleer

I have a culligan iron cleer that's on the fritz. It started out with the compressor not shutting off. Not having the money for a service call I just unplugged the unit and put in bypass. Now I'm trying to get it going again and the compressor would not run at all. All I got was clicking noises from the relay. I pulled the relay and jumped the power and the compressor runs fine. Called culligan and they want $200 for a new relay. I guess I could choke that down if I knew the*rest*of the unit was in good shape. My main questions I guess is
1. There is a solenoid wired onto the relay also. What does this solenoid do and how do I check to see if its working properly?
2. Is the compressor suposed to pump air into the tank? Because it doesn't seem like it is. It seems like it just builds pressure inside the head. Is that what the solenoid is for?
I pulled the whole assembly out of the tank and can't feel any air coming out of the bottom of the unit with the pump running.
I'm sure I can get this thing running again if I understood how it was supposed to work a little better.

If you hard wire or jump the pump to run on its own and it is not pushing air then the pump will need a rebuild.. water is most likely the reason it is not working.
The relay is more of a timer in that it will run every x number of minutes or hours for a set time.

If I pull the air line off of where it conects to the top of the tank and run the pump there is air coming out of the line. I'm positive the compressor is fine. The air line connects to a fitting on top of the areator. On the other side of that is the solenoid. I'm just wondering if the solenoid is not working right and not letting the air get to where it needs to go. Hope I'm explaining this right. I'll try to take some pictures and add them if I can figure out how. Never done that on a forum before.

Then the solenoid is to open for the air to get into the tank.
Solenoid coll could be bad or the guts of the solenoid are bad.
Have you tested the solenoid to make sure that the coll is energizing?

No sir I have not. I need to find my meter. How would I jump power to it? I'm assuming its not 120v because the wiring is much smaller but don't know for sure.

Thought that the coil for the solenoid was 120 if the rest of the system is 120volt.
It has been many a year from my last dance with a culligan that had an air pump on it.
A few months ago I took in a culligan that had the air pump and the timer relay but not sure if the timer relay still works or not.

I guess it would have to be, nothing else in there to step the voltage down. Just the relay. I'll try jumping it when I get home. Is there anywhere to get parts other than the culligan dealer?

I am trying to remember if the solenoid is an off the shelf or it is a culligan only, think that it was for the most part off the shelf. But where to find one is going to be the trick.

I've found relays that I thought would work but I didn't take into account the solenoid. Whatever relay I get would have to power the solenoid too. It sounds like the relay powers the compressor and energizes the solenoid at the same time to get air into the tank. Then when power is removed solenoid closes to keep air in the tank? Is that how it is supposed to work?

Sounds about right as I have only danced with a few in this area.