98c Air leaking from valve/power tube ?

[Avery]

I just got my 98c (first marker), and haven't put my upgrades on it yet, it's stock (I wanted to get used to it one bit at a time). I took it apart for the first time last night, and now it's leaking gas. I'm not an airsmith, but here's what I see going on...

First, it didn't leak.

Then a friend of mine shot compressed air through it last night before I took it apart (no paint, just shooting air). I'm not sure what the presure on the tank was, he's been playing a long time and I assumed he wouldn't break my marker. Anyways, it didn't leak then, nor did it when I put CO2 back on for a couple shots before taking it apart.

I took it apart, and I'm pretty sure I put it back together correctly (checked many times, all the parts are in, just like the manual and diagrams say). When I screwed on the CO2 tank I heard gas coming out the barrel area.

I stripped the marker, oiled the front and rear bolts, orings, put a new oring on the tank, tightened all the screws, cleaned everthing extra carefully. It still leaked.

I Stripped it again, took the Powertube/valve and tank adapter right off, it was the powertube/valve that was hissing. The most of the gas was coming out the fat end at the back where the hammer hits it, some was coming out the narrow tube at the front, and just a tiny bit was coming out the front "screw hole" that you bolt the valve to the receiver with (with the metal hole thingies, the two of them on the right side, you know... anyways, the front one was leaking just a bit).

I have no idea what is causing the valve assembly to leak. My CO2 tank may be low on pressure, could that cause it? Could the Valce seat, plunger, spring, plug, snap spring or orings be damaged? I haven't every taken the gas line off the valve, nor have I disassembled the valve or power tube (looks tricky).

Any ideas?

[chynzexguy]

there are two possibilities:
1.your cup seal in the power tube is dry,try oiling it
2.you have a messed up valve,send your gun to tippmann

[liquidsoul_sm]

You might actually have to much air in the valve. Try dry firing with air many times, just cycle the gun. Now oil the inside of the power tube. You might take out the power tube and check it real hard for a crack. If there is a crack send it in to tippmann like the other person said.

[NoNames]

Alright, Samething happened to my gun. I had to put some oil in the asa, air i up, shoot a few times. This was when the gun was stock. I talked to the airsmith, he said the alve might not seat propery. Then I had tippmann send me a new one, same thing happened. So, everytime I air up, I just listen to see if it leaks (it barely does now) and if it does,I just fire a few shots and it's all set.

[Avery]

Well, I called Tippmann and they are sending me a new valve. About 20 minutes later I stripped the gown down again, pushed out the valve (may have lost the lock coil, or whatever it is called, I see it on the diagram overtop of the brass valve cap, but I couldn't find one). Anyways, I oiled it all up, oiled the ASA, oiled the power tube, oiled the inside of the valve without opening it up, put it all back together and it still hissed like a snake. I fired 3 shots to get the oil through the valve, and the leak stopped.

Hallelujah! 20 minutes later I put the tank back on to shoot my new toy a couple of times, and it hissed again. I shot it once, leak stopped. Seems I am in the exact same position as the guy above. What could cause this?

PS: Tippmann customer service is amazing!

[NoNames]

I talked to the airsmith, he said the valve might not seat properly. I guess this means there is just enough space between the valve and the powertube, I think. I'm guessing, and taking a big guess on this on this, tha when you put oil/shoot it, it either forms or makes a seal between the missing space. Hope tha helped.

[CountyPaintball]

I don't know if you tried this, but put a few drops of oil in the hole in your ASA. Then, attach your tank and fire about 5 or 6 times. This will blow oil into your valve to help prevent it from getting stuck in the open position.
This should also be done fairly often. I recommend doing it before each day of play. Of course, remove your barrel before doing it so you don't shoot oil into your barrel which will throw off your accuracy.

If that doesn't do the trick, you may want to consider a Black Magic seal for your valve. They seal up better than the stock ones.

Mike

[Eladamri]

Well one thing I do know is that you never want to put Nitrogen/Compressed air on your gun and then switch to CO2 or vise versa in a short period of time. This can cause all sorts of problems with your o-rings and seals as i learned from doing it when I first got Nitrogen. I did it twice when I first got the gun and ran out of Nitro and switched to C02. It worked great until the next time I went to switch back to Nitrogen and one of the 0-rings would no longer seal properly and had to be replaced. Also if your friend happened to crony your gun on nitrogen and you then switched back to Co2 then your velocity may be set way to high and possibly be causing some of your problems. Nitrogen requires you to set the gun up higher than CO2 to shoot at 300 fps.