X-valve issues - confirm my suspicions please...

Last weekend when playing with my Etac, upon airing it up the first time for the day I got a huge blow out from the back of the valve. Shut off the air, then aired it back up. *click* and no problems. This is becoming a common occurrence on the first air-up of the day.

That was likely just the seal in the reg piston not seating correctly, right? Does this mean my regulator piston is going to need replaced soon?

Second issue: After playing with the thing for a little while, I started to have problems shooting at all. Instead of pop, pop, pop! I heard a click, click click as the solenoid tripped. Putting the gun in mech mode had no effect, so that ruled out a weak battery or weak solenoid. This was good ol' fashioned bolt stick that manifested well after the gun was shooting correctly. After degassing and then airing back up again, I could get some shots off. Wait too long, and I'd have to degas/air up again. So I went back to my truck and put some oil through the valve, then opened up the powertube and oiled the carrier o-ring directly. A couple dozen shots to get the oil mist out of there and I had it consistently shooting on the second shot each time. Meaning, the first shot was a chuff, then pop, pop, pop, etc. Stop, and wait a few seconds. First shot chuff, then pop, pop, pop again.

I'm using a red spring on my L10 bolt. So I took off the red spring and put on a gold (short) spring, and all those problems went away.

I'm guessing my red spring is a bit stiff, or long, and may need trimmed down when compared to the level of friction and resistance that my carrier o-ring is giving me. (Going up a carrier size gives me a powertube leak that a whole bottle of oil can't quench, so that's not an option). If I use the gold spring for awhile, my bolt won't be as soft when the L10 activates, but it will give that carrier o-ring time to really break in and I should be able to go back to the red spring after a couple cases... right?


Let me know your thoughts, tech guys & gals. See if you can think of anything I'm overlooking.

I am no expert but I was having the same issue with a leak out the back when initially gassing a retro valve of mine. Same as you I could de-gas it and then air it back up and it would be fine all day. After questioning it here on the forum Tuna suggested I replace the regulator piston so I am now waiting for one to come in the mail from him.

the first issue you are correct about the reg seat o-ring

and the second issue could be that the field strip screw was too tight...did you be chance try loosening that to see if that was the problem?

The pressure release upon airing up does sound like your regulator piston is packing it in. It probably needs to be replaced.

The Powertube oring you are using may have an imperfection in it. That would cause you to need a carrier size tighter than you would normally need. If you are lucky, wearing the inner surface of the oring will smooth out the imperfection and it will become more manageable so that you no longer get the first shot bolt stick issue. Another solution would be to try another oring and retune your level 10 bolt with respect to the carriers.

When you are using your red bolt spring, what is the lowest velocity that your gun will cycle at? You should check it to see if that is actually contributing. I suspect it is a carrier oring issue, though.

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Originally Posted by athomas

When you are using your red bolt spring, what is the lowest velocity that your gun will cycle at? You should check it to see if that is actually contributing. I suspect it is a carrier oring issue, though.

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My shooting chrony has to have light to work, and my wife already has after-work plans for me tomorrow. But I'll definitely try to check this out on Saturday and report back. That's one thing I didn't really check. When I chronographed that morning I was shooting just over 300, and then I turned it down until I got a consistent 286, 286, 287, 285 or so, and never really checked the minimum velocity before hitting the field.