Broken or problematic water guns

[SSCBen]

Post any water guns you've owned that broke or had other problems and their problem in brief, potentially with a link to a relevant thread about the problem. This will help identify problems with specific water guns and potentially be useful to manufacturers and consumers.

Information such as the nature of the problem, approximately how old the water gun was at the time, possibly causes of the problem, and what you did because of the problem would be most helpful.

[C-A_99]

Here's a breakdown of the problems I've personally encountered over the years.

Any pull valve based blaster: Spring from pull valve tends to wear out and not close the valve properly; may happen if the blaster is opened and the valve is pulled farther back, or may happen if the valve's spring is old.

-> Happened to my:
- 2100 (repaired w/ additional spring)
- old 1200 (valve stuck open, but shuts when water is pumped in)

The notorious poorly designed trigger piece problem (blaster age unknown):

-> Piece becomes weak or breaks:
- 2500, 2000, 2700 (reinforced before further problems)
- 2100 mk II, 4100 (2004 obviously)

Examples of blasters with GOOD trigger pieces:
- SC 400, CPS 1000, 1200

This problem seems to be uncommon on newer blasters, possibly due to better design or because something else breaks first.


Max-D's:

-> Broken Spring: Flash Flood (1 yr old when broken)

-> Leaky Valve (won't close): Max-D 5000 (from ebay, 2+ yrs old when starting to leak)

-> Other: Extension spring (that assists the Max-D valve by moving the trigger pack) rusted and broke on the same MD5000 mentioned above.

Notes: The Max-D spring on my MD5k is actually pretty strong, last time I checked and opened it up. Perhaps water pressure makes the valve substantially more difficult to close, but it works pretty well when I'm able to test it w/o water.

I have found that Max-D/WW valve leaks can sometimes be temporarily stopped by snapping the trigger. Pull it all the way back, then let go sharply (slip finger off to the side) and it should close. This has somewhat worked on crappy FF repairs and on all WW's I've had a problem with. However, it has never worked on my MD5k.


WW's:

-> Broken Spring: None

-> Leaky Valve: Orca 2007 (I've seen this happen 3 times, its probably fixed in the 2008 version), Piranha


Leaks due to weak/poor internals:

-> CPS 2100 (leaks in area around PRV), 1200 (leaks at pull valve area)

-> Random manufacturing problem: Leaky pipe where pressure system connects to pressure gauge. Happened on a 2008 Orca. Should be very uncommon.

___________________________________________________________________

Most prominent and common issues:
- Trigger spring (for ball valve blasters) breaking or weakening.
- Trigger piece breakage (common to older blasters, uncommon to newer ones)
- Some old pull valves

Parts that are almost never a problem:
- Pumps
- Nozzles
- Seals
- Pressure chambers

And thats about it for now. I can't get much detail on other problems I've heard about but never had to deal with or look at.

[Silence]

I've experienced a subset of C-A 99's issues:

• CPS 4100 (Soaker Tag re-release) – broken trigger
• Max-D 3000 – trigger valve no longer closes on its own

[Specter]

I had an XP-70 a long time ago. It was my favorite soaker. It broke when the reservoir cracked and then got a big hole in it and was thrown out . If I had the means to get my hands on the soaker again I would.

Also had an XP-90 pulse (me and my brother both had one) and we both experienced the same problems. The reservoir bottles had a manufacturing flaw and would snap off at the threads. I remember that those guns also didn't shoot very far. It was a cool soaker though. Those got thrown out as well

I have my Storm pistol that got debris in the nozzle some how, even though it has screens at each end of the tubing, and would spray when shot. I got the debris out last summer but never put the gun back together because i have 1 piece that I don't know where it goes. Also the output on the reservoir has a crack were the O-ring is, it doesn't leak when its plugged into the pump though so I'm not sure if it's really important in fixing, however, I might get some superglue and patch it up.

[cantab]

Flood nozzle on Arctic Blast failed. I de-max-D'd it and used a rubber band to close it, but that failed. I ultimately had to resort to closing it manually with the gun open, rendering the flood nozzle unusable

[C-A_99]

Silence, I also have a pair of 3000's, which have been used for 2 or so years. Except the Max-D spring wasn't the one to break. This time it was the pump. (an exception to what I mentioned above, I'll have to edit my post later) The pump stem's PRV is glued to it and that section broke apart. I simply put in new glue and plugged up the PRV since it wasn't working properly any longer. The triggers are fine so far and this only happened to one gun.

[SSCBen]

XP 70 - The plastic pressure chamber fractured when dropped perhaps only a few weeks after buying it. This was back in like 2000 or 2001 so the details are fuzzy.

CPS 2700 - The firing valve fractured along the edges after a K-mod and check valve freeze. Later I learned that this problems are typical of CPS 2700s when K-modded.

Relevant link: http://www.sscentral.org/repairs/cracked-plastic.html

CPS 1000 - Back in 2004 or 2005 the pump rod fractured around where the pump rod connects to the pump handle. I actually never finished repairing this but make an article on the procedure nonetheless.

Relevant link: http://www.sscentral.org/repairs/broken_pump_rod.html

CPS 3000 - After buying it off eBay last year (which would make it 9 or 10 years old) I noticed that the check valve assembly was cracked and leaking. I intended to repair this but haven't got around to it. I'll see what I can do this summer.

[arcticblastman]

Silence, I also have a pair of 3000's, which have been used for 2 or so years. Except the Max-D spring wasn't the one to break. This time it was the pump. (an exception to what I mentioned above, I'll have to edit my post later) The pump stem's PRV is glued to it and that section broke apart. I simply put in new glue and plugged up the PRV since it wasn't working properly any longer. The triggers are fine so far and this only happened to one gun.

Happened to me too, but the gun also sprayed water out of the pump

[C-A_99]

If water is spraying out of the pump, then the check valve is probably broken, which basically means the whole gun is screwed. That is, unless you find a way to replace or repair the valve somehow, or if you somehow hook it up to a small bike pump. It's probably more worth it to strip down the gun and use it for parts (just in case), get it to fill up by hose (by reshaping the nozzle to fit into a hose), or whatever else that isn't too much trouble.