Super Soaker Central

The orange thing in the picture leaks air when I pump it. When I put my finger over it, the gun can sort of hold air, but bursts it out of only one nozzle for less than half a second with 40 pumps. Also, I think the hole on the cap leaks too. I would not like to open this gun up so I was just wondering if I could just smother those parts in hot glue and have them hold pressure again.

Don't seal the hole in the cap. That's needed to let air into the reservoir to replace the water that is pumped out into the PCs. Otherwise you'll get negative pressure in the reservoir, the force could be enough to crush it.

The bit you show in the first two photos is the quick fill adapter. Probably its check valve is broken. If you never quick fill the gun then go ahead and seal it, I'd suggest something reversible though.

Also, never ming air, what does the gun do with WATER?

I moved your thread to repairs.

Test the gun with water. Water's a larger molecule than air's molecules and often what appears to be a leak with air seals fine with water.

The quick fill adapter can be filled in with epoxy putty if it needs to be. If you don't have a QFD there's no real loss unless you intend to sell the gun, but most people don't have QFDs either so it shouldn't make any difference. We discussed repairing the QFD port in this thread if you want to read more about that.

Read the page I linked to above about epoxy putty to learn about hot glues too. You could use hot glue to seal off that part, but, most hot glues are "low temp" ones that don't stick to plastic very well (I can peel it off with my fingers...). The higher temperature sticks are perfect. Epoxy putty should be cheaper though (you won't need to do buy a higher temperature glue gun). You can plug up the hole with either but it'll look a little messy compared against cutting off the pipe with the water gun open and fitting it in there..

Be sure to follow the tips recommended in the glues guide for the best repair.

As for the pump cap, there's probably no problem. The cap should let air in so negative pressure doesn't build in the gun so if it sucks air in then it's doing it's job. If it's leaking air out something's very wrong.

Let us know if you have any other questions, comments, or finish the repair. If you could show a picture of the finished repair it would greatly help those in similar situations in the future too.

Thanks for the suggestions. I pumped it up with water in it and the water just squirted out the QFD, but when I covered the hole and pumped it could pull the trigger and it was awesome! I think I will just hot glue the thing shut, as the screws are small and rusty. When I hot glue it, should I push the button thing as far back as it goes inside the QFD, leave it as it is, or does it even matter?

EDIT: Also, I noticed most MXLs have a black ring around the QFD, does that affect anything?

The black thing is an O-ring to ensure a seal between the gun and the QFD. It does not effect the gun unless you use the QFD, which I assume you don't

It shouldn't matter if you have it glued pressed or not.

Blue wrote:Thanks for the suggestions. I pumped it up with water in it and the water just squirted out the QFD, but when I covered the hole and pumped it could pull the trigger and it was awesome! I think I will just hot glue the thing shut, as the screws are small and rusty. When I hot glue it, should I push the button thing as far back as it goes inside the QFD, leave it as it is, or does it even matter?

I don't know if you've read my entire post, so I'll reiterate something I said. Most hot glues do not work. Unless you have high temperature hot glue it will not seal well. In fact if you use normal hot glue I wouldn't be surprised if it pops out after a little bit of use. Get either putty epoxy or high temp hot glue sticks.

The button's position shouldn't matter as CROC said.

How's the repair going? Did everything turn out right in the end?

Everything went great. I purchased what the Home depot guy recommended (silicone aquarium sealant) which was an ultimate fail of $4, then just used hot glue which has held up great for 40+ pumps about 5 times. I don't use this gun often because its so big and heavy and hard to get out of the garage. Next summer I'm putting this thing on eBay but for now its in my garage. Thanks for asking.

Glad the gun is repaired.

Are you using hot melt hot glue? Normal hot glues typically don't hold well under pressure, so if you used regular hot glue I would suggest cutting out the hot glue and using something like hot melt hot glue or putty epoxy.

The hot glue I used sticks to plastic, If you put a blob on a flat piece of plastic and try to pry it off with a plastic knife, only the top will come off. The bottom of the piece you pried off would not be smooth, it would still have pieces connected to the gun.

Sounds like some medium temperature stuff, if that exists. If you run into problems I'd suggest higher temperature stuff... it basically is stronger than the plastic itself from what I've read.

By the way, a hot-melt glue gun has glue sticks about 1 cm in diameter. Lower temp glue is about half that.

They are big glue sticks, about twice as large as some little ones I have.