BAD Leak after co2 got in Lv7 Valve

[Bagheera]

Well, the title says it. I nearly got the whole thing working well, then I got the mag at a bad angle while screwing in the tank, got liquid co2 in the valve, and bam, co2 venting everywhere, and after that, I have the following symptoms. FYI, I've rebuilt the whole gun a 2nd time with yet another brand new seal kit, all while following the Tom Kaye video on youtube (keep in mind, I'm no airsmith.)

Symptoms before liquid co2 fiasco;

Lawn sprinkler (fixed this)
Slower recharge rate than normal


Symptoms AFTER liquid co2 fiasco;
Very, very very slow recharge (takes 30 secs or more to recharge the valve)
Leak out of where the two main body parts meet (yes I have a new o-ring here as well.)


I'm at my wit's end. Before I put my gun in the closet 15 years ago, it worked like a dream, but now that I'm trying to rebuild it, I can't get it to work right.

By the way, I got this gun waaaaay before stars, so I don't know if I can even send it in to Automag or not without getting charged.

Thanks for any help on this!

[mostpeople]

if there are no stars, then I believe they said each no star valve had 1 star after a certain date regardless of how many times its been fixed. Therefore you should most likely have 1 more free rebuild on it - call them and run your valve serial # by them..

[questionful]

Did you grease the regulator piston? And make sure the spring pack isn't backwards. And make sure EVERY O-ring is well oiled.

[Bagheera]

Didn't grease it. What kind of grease should I use? What part is the spring pack?

What's the usual turnaround time on repairs? Sorry to sound like a newb, but as I've mentioned before, I'm no airsmith. Thanks.

[athomas]

Generally, CO2 only causes a hot shot or leaking out the front or back due to the orings freezing. After everything returns to normal, it should work ok. The only thing I can think of is that your CO2 is dirty, which would cause the orings not to seal. The mag is just a regulator with a spool valve on the front. They work as long as the orings are good.

Use light synthetic oil, not grease to lubricate your mag. The only place you use grease is on your regulator spring pack, and thats just to keep it from rusting.

Check that you didn't put something in backwards. Make sure your rail bushing is in place.

Use the diagrams listed in the tech section of Airgun.com

[questionful]

I grease my regulator piston. Centerflag says to grease their regulator pistons in their hyperflows with white lithium grease, and they're basically identical to mag regs, so I use white lithium grease on both my hyperflow and my mag's reg piston.

The springpack is the thing between the regulator piston and the velocity nut.

[athomas]

Well, grease holds dirt which causes problems with the regulator piston assemblies. Centerflag regulators are mounted on a high pressure system so they have to use grease rather than oil. You can't use oil there due to its flammability under pressure.

[Bagheera]

Is it possible I may have destroyed the regulator piston with a catastrophic liquid co2 influx?

[athomas]

No, I highly doubt you destroyed anything by overloading with CO2 liquid. The valves are designed to withstand 3000psi. CO2 becomes a gas at around 850psi in normal air temperature. The worst that could have happened is you would cause an oring to freeze. Even then, I highly doubt it would get hurt. Passing liquid could allow dirt to go where is normally wouldn't be, but that is all.

Something is out of place in the valve for your marker to be acting like it is.

[Coralis]

Symptoms AFTER liquid co2 fiasco; Very, very very slow recharge (takes 30 secs or more to recharge the valve) Leak out of where the two main body parts meet (yes I have a new o-ring here as well.)

The slow recharge rate sounds like bolt stick try taking the valve out the body and putting a couple of drops of oil down the power and move the bolt back a forth, to should move fairly freely if this ok try doing the same thing to the on/off pin. If that doesnt work check for something weird like a bent detent jamming your bolt or a rusty bolt spring binding up.

Leak where the main body parts meet ? do you mean where the valves screw together if so try oiling that oring if that doesnt help go back to old oring that didnt leak or try a wrap of teflon tape on the threads. I know this is driving you nuts but its most likely like Athomas said you got some rust or debris from the CO2 bottle that is causing your problems

If you can I would recommend switching to hpa you and your mag will be alot happier

[Bagheera]

Definitely a leak where the two halves meet. It was pretty obvious the other day when it was frosting right in between, then today after getting my tank refilled, I felt the air hissing right out of the seam. The valve wasn't charging at all, just a slow hiss, and the trigger wasn't fully set because there was no air to push the trigger back against my finger. I'll check out everything mentioned above as well, thanks for the input guys.

[paint magnet]

If it's been sitting for 15 years, you probably need to run a **** load of oil through it. I would put 10 drops of (paintball specific, like KC, Gold Cup, Autolube...) oil in the ASA and dry fire it 30 or 40 times with the barrel removed.

You can use just about any light grease on the reg piston...the AGD manual recommends axle grease. Silicone grease (available at SCUBA shops) and white lithium grease (available at automotive stores) will also work.

If you get liquid in the valve, hold the gun vertically and shoot it until it starts firing normally again. People say Mags won't work off CO2 but as long as you have some way of keeping liquid out of the valve you're fine. An in-line reg like a PPS Sideline stabilizer, a remote hose, an expansion chamber, or an anti-syphon tube will all work. Getting liquid in the valve doesn't kill the o-rings nearly as fast as you would think.

[Bagheera]

Bent Pin!

I'm going to order a new one and see if it does the trick. How fast does AGD ship?

I'm wondering if I need to get a new sear as well, just to be safe.

[athomas]

A bent pin would certainly cause problems. AGD ships fairly fast. If you want faster shipping, get in touch with Tunaman here on AO.

[paint magnet]

If you're ordering something from AGD, ask them to throw in the AutoMag video as well. It's the best tech video I've ever seen for any gun and is very thorough, if somewhat dull.

I think they used to give them out free and charge $5 for shipping. If you're already ordering something they should put it in the package for free though.