Merc PT emergency release valve rant

9D280 · 12 March 2012, 13:33

Having traced the leak on my newly rebuilt PT to a leak out the Emergency release valve, I am now curious to know if I just hit the unlucky "Friday afternoon and it escaped quality control" moulding, or if this is possibly the biggest rip - off ever.

When I got it (Proper Merc branded OEM valve in sealed packaging) it was one of the worst mouldings I've seen for a long time (Christmas cracker toy quality with regard to the split line). I had to spend 10 mins filing the split line clean, and cleaning out the "dams" from the o- ring grooves. Turns out I missed the tiniest bit on the outer wall of the outer groove, hence the O- ring was damaged as it was screwed in, & the resulting leak. When I took it back out I took the digi calipers to it out of curiosity - it's not even round! It's screaming years of lack of tooling maintenance.

So, has anyone replaced their emergency release valve recently? Are all the mouldings as bad quality or was I just unlucky? £70 odd is a joke for that sort of quality. £7 would still make it a feature on the comedy channel.....

Rant over.

jyasaki · 12 March 2012, 16:58

Just bought that assembly for my F115 (old one is seized; I am assuming I'll trash it taking it out.) Lathe turned SS and a few O-rings; somewhere around $140 US.

jky

9D280 · 12 March 2012, 17:45

Yep, mine was trashed on removal too..... Had to buy it or no PT. I have since measured up to do much the same thing as you for next time.

I also have started to open / close it every couple of trips to try & stop it siezing again.....

jyasaki · 12 March 2012, 18:50

Sorry; meant the factory bit was turned SS with a flathead notch on the end. Next time I might have a friend make one up; gotta be cheaper than buying it.

I haven't gotten the old one out yet (it's a project for "one of these days")

jky

Turbodiesel · 12 March 2012, 21:26

I changed one the other day and it was ok. You should have taken it back to the dealer. All genuine parts have a years warranty.

9D280 · 13 March 2012, 11:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyasaki

Sorry; meant the factory bit was turned SS with a flathead notch on the end. Next time I might have a friend make one up; gotta be cheaper than buying it.

Looks like I should have got it from the US......

Question - the one you are trying to extract - is it metal or Plastic?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turbodiesel

I changed one the other day and it was ok. You should have taken it back to the dealer. All genuine parts have a years warranty.

I didn't have time - I needed the boat by the weekend, and he'd had to order it in......

On the plus side, it does look like I got a duff one.