1st and/or 2nd stage leaking problem, please help

[halocline]

ScubaPro does not support users doing their own regulator service. Although I believe you can do it through a grey or black market (and it's not as easy as it used to be) acquiring rebuild kits can be problematic. ScubaPro won't train you to do your own service unless you come through and approved by a shop.

You may be able to find somebody in your area who has been through the training and is willing to mentor you in the process, but you'll still have the problem of acquiring the kits.

While this is technically true, there's such a strong DIY community of support that SP's 'official' policy is almost meaningless. The Wolfinger book and the harlow book have extensive amounts of SP-specific info, scubatools has all sorts of SP-specific tools, all the schematics and most model repair manuals are online and easily available, NOS parts and kits are routinely available on ebay, and there are SP dealers out there who will support DIYers. Plus, I believe that the nutso policy of restricting parts will soon come crashing down in the U.S.

 

[elan]

If we could see the gray market prices officialy in north america with parts and training officially available from SP I would sell all my other regs

I know... Im dreaming...

 

[amoses]

I took the regs in to the shop this morning and he is going to fix it. He took the cap of the end and the seat was wasted! He is going to tear it apart to try and figure out why the seat was destroyed so soon after rebuild. Thanks for all the advise on this thread. It has truly been a learning experience.

 

[ams511]

Please report back and let us know the tech's explanation.

 

[amoses]

Please report back and let us know the tech's explanation.

Will do!

 

[halocline]

Did you look at the end cap and figure out if it's a MK10+ or a standard MK10? It might be important, because they take different seats.

 

[Zung]

If you can get hold of the bad seat, please post a pic.

I've had 1 brand new MK20 seat that was bad, with a lot more creep than usual, and it's the same seat as the MK10Plus. And i've yet to see a new bad standard MK10 seat, even the after market ones by Trident.

Btw, holding or rubber banding a loupe in front of the lens works wonderful for macro photograpy, even with a cell phone.

 

[amoses]

Did you look at the end cap and figure out if it's a MK10+ or a standard MK10? It might be important, because they take different seats.

I forgot to do that when I dropped it off. I looked at my paperwork that I have for it and it says the Serial Number is MKX/G250 and is dated 6/5/91. Does that help

---------- Post Merged at 05:05 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 05:04 PM ----------

If you can get hold of the bad seat, please post a pic.

I doubt if he will save it, but I will ask for it. I should have taken a picture when he took the cap off.

---------- Post Merged at 05:09 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 05:04 PM ----------

I asked if it was a MK10+, which is different than a MK10. You can tell by looking at the bottom end of the 1st stage. That's the end opposite from where the 2nd stage hoses connect. There's a plug with two small holes. It takes up most of the end of the regulator. If it's shiny chrome like the rest of the reg, it's not a + (plus) If it's a matte finish it is.

I believe that it was chrome - just going off memory from when he took the cap off this morning.

 

[halocline]

If it's a regular MK10, which is likely, and he used the current MK10 seat, there is no reason why the seat would be 'trashed' whatever that means. The MK10 piston does have a sharp edge and cuts into the seat; that's how it seals. So there's supposed to be a circular groove cut into the seat once the reg is pressurized one time after rebuild, i.e. before it even leaves the shop. So either this technician used a bad seat (meaning the wrong kind) or there's damage to the piston edge. That's assuming your problem is IP creep, which it kind of sounds like but there might be other problems.

Out of curiosity, how much time went by between the rebuild and your problem? How many dives?

 

[amoses]

Out of curiosity, how much time went by between the rebuild and your problem? How many dives?

4 dives - 1 pool dive to check, 2 dives in Belize. The problem occurred 5 minutes into the 4th dive in Cozumel, the octopus stuck wide open (so we thought). Had to abort the dive. That was my only chance to dive in Cozumel - I was very frustrated. I changed the octo and did a pool dive a couple weeks later and the new octo did the same thing. That is when my primary start to leak as well.