Air leak from the front asa??

[Josh_IOG]

Ok guys bear with me on this. So I got a new 06 empire timmy. Took it to a friends house who is familar with timmy's and he gave me the basic run down on the general stuff. We aired up the gun and started slinging some paint. Man it was great no air leaks all was good. So the next weekend I go to show it off to my bro in law and as soon as I air it up it starts leaking air. The air is coming from right where the front asa meets the body. I try pulling the trigger but the eyes were on and no paint so no fire, drop in a couple of balls and fire a few shots still leaking. Then it stops leaking. So I thought maybe a valve was stuck open a bit or something. Turn the air off as we had some oyster on the grill(man they were good oysters). Ok ate some oysters and now it is time to show the awesome paint slinging abilities of the timmy. Turn the air on still leaking and doesn't stop till I shut the air off. So I wanted my bro in law to just get a taste of what it can do with the little bit of air I had left so I filled the hopper and set him up at a target and turned the air on and let him rip till the hopper was empty. It is still leaking. So today I took the grip frame off, took the front asa off and looked at the orings. They looked in good shape looked to have plenty of grease on them, grease didn't look or feel dried out. Tried again still leaking. With the air on I closed the HP reg and the leak stopped. Opened the HP reg and pushed the bolt forward with enough pressure to hear the rest of my air leak out the barrel. So now the questions. Anyone have any idea where the leak is coming from? What do I do next to try and find the source of the leak? Why when I first aired it up did it stop leaking? Sorry this is so long!!

Josh

[Squirlly]

Where do you live? If it was cold it could simply be a shrunken o-ring or a hardend poppit. My Timmy hates the cold and leaks if it's too cold.

-Tim

[Josh_IOG]

I am in Tallahassee FL. It has been a bit colder lately but I don't think it has gotten cold enough to shrink an oring. How do I check the poppit?

Thanks Josh

[Slimpikins976]

well first off if the leak is comming from the ASA it is generally different then a leak from the poppit area. The way to tell is to gas the gun up and take out the bolt , and the barrel so you can get to the the area the air is ejected from to displace the paint balls. From here if you put the gun next to your ear and listen for the leak. if it is coming from the poppit area see how bad it is by putting your finger over the hole. If you have to push down pretty hard to keep air from leaking then the poppit is suspect. See if this is where the leak is and post up if this is indeed the problem we can walk you threw it.

[Slimpikins976]

Oh and I assume since it is an 06 Empire it has a brass poppit. I had a few leaks with one of these and Crank is getting me the correct O-rings because the (middle O-ring on the brass poppit is the )one on my teammates gun keeps slipping off. Also what is your dwell set at?

[crankwalk]

Can you feel air with your hand coming from the ASA or is the sound of the leak just in that general area? Could be the poppet as mentioned by Slimpikins976

or

Get a fresh air fill.. low air tanks are notorious for causing strange leaks since there is not enouch pressure coming out of the tank to seal the valve and other things.

If it still leaks with a full air tank, and your regulators properly set (http://www.intimidatorowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19) (I suggest 65psi on the LPR gauge for Gen4s to start), let us know.

[Josh_IOG]

Slimpikins976 the leaking is coming from right where the asa and body meet. I can feel the air coming out on both sides of the asa right where it meets the body. I will get some air tomorrow and try the steps you described to check if it is a poppit leak. Not sure on the type of poppit i have not taken it apart to check that. I have not changed the dwell settings so they "should" be at the factory settings. Is there a way to restore to the factory settings just in case?

Crankwalk I can feel the air escaping right where the asa meets the body. It had about 2k of air in it when the leak started, but I will try with a full air tank first just to see if it makes a difference. I am pretty sure the regs are right but I do remember we set the LPR to 80 so I will try backing it down and see what happens.

Thanks guys.

Josh

[crankwalk]

okay it might not have been the air in the tank, i thought it might have been way lower than that but if it started at 2k psi in the tank its probably something else. Best bet would be to break it down, remove poppet, install new o-rings

and if you don't have a brass poppet you might want to contact BLAST to get one.. there was a problem with the delrin poppets that originally came in the Gen4s

[Josh_IOG]

Ok so I finally got to work on my gun. Full tank of air and it still leaked, I know this wasn't a prime candidate but I just wanted to be through. So I took off the front block and remove both o rings, cleaned, inspected, regreased (dow55) and put it back together. Lo and behold the air leak stopped. But since I now wasn't sure the rest of the gun was properly lubed I decided to break the thing pretty much all the way down and relube everything(except the soloniod). Took out the ram, ram sleeve, took apart the poppet (have brass one), took out poppet shaft relubed everything and put it back together. These things really aren't that complicated! The rear air barb block o ring was a little tricky getting it to stay in place. So I put it back together and aired it up no leaks! Well at least until I started turning up the HP reg. I think I need a new washer on the front ram sleeve air barb as it looked to be in bad shape. When I turned down the HP reg a bit the leak stopped. So now I just need to get some parts and maybe go back thru it and replace some wearables. How do you guys usually take the air barbs off? Socket? Pliers? I used pliers and didn't really like it. Are the stainless barbs really worth the extra money or the high flow brass ones ok? I have heard that the brass ones can sometimes break easily. Thanks Josh.

[crankwalk]

I personally use a 3/16" nut driver to remove most barbs - it makes it very easy but remember to not reinstall using this method unless you are very careful because the extra leverage given to you by a nut driver can make it very easy to snap the barbs off when reinstalling. Best bet is to hand tighten plus 1/4 turn.

When you turned up the HPR where was it leaking from?

[Josh_IOG]

Hey thanks crankwalk. It sounded like it was coming from the front part of the grip frame which is why i think it could be the front ram sleeve air barb. I need to do some more digging. Are the high flow air barbs you sell thougher than the brass ones? Are they just nickel plated brass? While I am full of questions what is the best way to remove hoses? Pliers? When you say "Best bet is to hand tighten plus 1/4 turn." is the 1/4 turn with the nut driver or pliers or just hand? Thanks Josh

[crankwalk]

They are nickel plated brass but even the stainless ones from Hybrid don't seem to offer much more strength overall, the material doesn't matter as much when you're dealing with hundredths of an inch of thickness around the walls of the threads where the barbs are bored out. The best advice is to just be gentle with them.

The quarter turn would probably be with any tool just to get it a bit tighter than you could with just using your fingers. To start, don't go over 1/4 turn when you've hand tightened them with your fingers. Unless its leaking from that spot then try turning a little more.

Also be sure to check all your barbs have the fiber sealing washers on them

[Josh_IOG]

The washers are there. But I did notice that the one on the front barb looks flattened out. Is there a local place to get these from? I would like to order some

Thanks Josh

[crankwalk]

The washers are there. But I did notice that the one on the front barb looks flattened out.I've got a few spares, check PM