How to: Clean and rebuild valves

[smashingchuck]

After chasing leaks around my system for the last few days, I finally found my dump valves were leaking through because they were dirty. I took some pictures along the way, just because I haven't seen this subject covered in the past. I'm using One of my ODE brand valves, but all are pretty similar.

First, remove the wiring plug. Pretty simple so far...



Next, remove the coil.





Next you will want to split the valve itself. Be careful when taking this apart as there are spring and pins that can drop all over the floor once it is pulled apart.



Now you can see the diaphragm, pin, spring, and seal.



Use a low pressure air gun to blow the diaphragm out of the valve block, and remove the seal.



Next clean all surfaces inside the valve block,clean the diaphragm, seal, and all other parts. I used WD-40. In this particular case there were tiny brass particles inside the valve. I'm not sure if it was from use of the valve, or from the manufacturing process. My money was is on manufacturing, but there is no way to be sure.

After every surface is spic and span, reassemble the valve, and test it by putting pressure on it. If it still leaks through, you'll need a rebuild kit to replace the seals and the diaphragm. In my case, just wiping them down did the trick!!