I have a 6yo LS305NBA42-like detent spool that started leaking oil from the spring cap. This was posted on another site but I want to leave it here because it seems to work and took only ten minutes to fix. And if you do it yourself, it probably might only cost two bucks or less for the seal. I don’t know how long it will last but it could be an easy field repair.
“…My mechanic just fixed my valve in about ten minutes. For this valve, the seal (#20) looked like a garden hose washer. Initially, the valve was streaming fluid from the weep hole, he rotated the spool and it stopped. It started leaking again, so he used a (#211) o-ring from a seal kit. All he did was removed the spring cover (#30) and stretched the seal over the detent and stepped seal retainer (#21) using a pick and placed it in between (#21) and the original seal (#20). So in this case it was not necessary to disassemble the spool. He generously did not charge me either time. The spool seemed tight afterwards but quickly loosened up. So far so good.
I hope this helps someone, especially if it is a desperately needed field repair.”
![[Hearth.com] Rear Seal Trick on LS305-like Splitter Spool.](https://www.hearth.com/talk/attachments/img_7754-webp.348257/ "[Hearth.com] Rear Seal Trick on LS305-like Splitter Spool.")
“…My mechanic just fixed my valve in about ten minutes. For this valve, the seal (#20) looked like a garden hose washer. Initially, the valve was streaming fluid from the weep hole, he rotated the spool and it stopped. It started leaking again, so he used a (#211) o-ring from a seal kit. All he did was removed the spring cover (#30) and stretched the seal over the detent and stepped seal retainer (#21) using a pick and placed it in between (#21) and the original seal (#20). So in this case it was not necessary to disassemble the spool. He generously did not charge me either time. The spool seemed tight afterwards but quickly loosened up. So far so good.
I hope this helps someone, especially if it is a desperately needed field repair.”
