Decided to start this thread as a fresh discussion on my leaking unit (2006). After further investigation, I believe that the failures of original and repaired units is the result of tooling marks left on the 1/2" tube during its fabrication. The critical seal point is at the taper section of each end which can only be seen when the old quick-connect is cut off or otherwise removed. To be clear, it is the taper that is near the ring and not at the opening. After giving the unit a good cleaning it was obvious that the tooling marks ran lengthwise to the tips and down the taper section. Thus, whenever someone replaces the failed quick-connect they are not fixing the problem. In the belief that this is the problem, I've spent time in polishing the taper section until the score marks were eliminated. It is not useful to do other areas of the tip; you only need to make a smooth contact surface at the taper so that the o-ring of the new fitting now sees a nice polished surface. The repeated failures of repaired units is simply due to not having removed those surface scratches, or so that is my conclusion. Those scratches cut into the rubber of the o-ring and along with the high pressure moves the rubber around accelerating the failure. If you have a failed unit hanging on the wall you can take a good look to see those scratches running along the length of the metal. You can also likely see them on the car's unit: take a strip of 240 or 400 grit and polish the pipe perpendicular to the length.
For those of you that drive these machines to the edge, you are providing a lot more vibration to that upper section so that the o-ring gets more vibrational beatdowns helping the scratches chew the ring even more. At my age, the testosterone and scared s**tless factor aren't in play as much thus my failure occurring at around 60Kmiles. The car was my son's originally (a Woodhouse unit) and he drove it the way most of you guys do, so it would probably have lasted a lot longer if I had it exclusively . I believe I have a solution for those of you that want the extra insurance, particularly when in the middle of a race and the hose blows. If there is interest in this solution, I could make this add-on that will prevent or at least reduce the frequency of failures. It would be a simple bolt-on in place that will only require an Allen wrench. I've ordered the parts and will be fab'ing it this week to test out the concept on my soon-to-be repaired unit. The proof will be if I can keep the hose/pipe from any motion during the revving of the motor.
Max
For those of you that drive these machines to the edge, you are providing a lot more vibration to that upper section so that the o-ring gets more vibrational beatdowns helping the scratches chew the ring even more. At my age, the testosterone and scared s**tless factor aren't in play as much thus my failure occurring at around 60Kmiles. The car was my son's originally (a Woodhouse unit) and he drove it the way most of you guys do, so it would probably have lasted a lot longer if I had it exclusively . I believe I have a solution for those of you that want the extra insurance, particularly when in the middle of a race and the hose blows. If there is interest in this solution, I could make this add-on that will prevent or at least reduce the frequency of failures. It would be a simple bolt-on in place that will only require an Allen wrench. I've ordered the parts and will be fab'ing it this week to test out the concept on my soon-to-be repaired unit. The proof will be if I can keep the hose/pipe from any motion during the revving of the motor.
Max
