Apeks Ds4 Regulator Service ... Add Ons ??

[acteg]

Hello Scubaboard,

I've been a DIY regulator maintainer in the past but lately have decided its better to pay for the service as I have a lot of projects going on, and just don't have the time to sit down and service my regulators.

Fast forward to yesterday. I drop off my regs for service: Apeks DS4 with XTX50 primary and octo. I get a call from the tech today, and she recommends that I replace the following additional items (not part of the service kit):

Spring Carrier ($nominal)
Valve Lifter ($26)
Diaphragm clamp ($57)
Hydrostatic transmitter ($nominal)

It seems as though if these items are not part of the normal rebuild kit, then they are not normally replaced. I asked the tech if she is replacing these items because they are damaged, or based on her recommendation. She said just based on recommendation. Keep in mind the reg was working fine, stable IP, no issues.

I checked out the service manual for the DS4, and none of the parts identified by the tech are called out for replacement in the manual. Once again, I asked her if the parts were damaged, and they are not...

I guess I don't get it... if the parts are normally replaced as part of the normal service... and they are not damaged... why replace them?

I asked her if she would finish the reassembly with the existing parts that she recommended I replaced (everything else has been serviced/replaced/cleaned/etc). She said it was against, the store's policy to do that. I'm leaning to getting the regs back, paying for the work that was already done, and then finishing it myself...

Any experienced Apeks techs that can chime in?

 

[runsongas]

sounds fishy to me. almost like maybe they lost your original parts and want you to pay for new ones.

either get them to finish the service or return your reg for free.

 

[docmartin]

ridiculous - all of these sound like BS to me. The best one however is the diaphragm clamp. The diaphragm clamp should still be in perfect working order by the time mankind has moved to Mars. Why not replace the yoke clamp while they are at it? Maybe they forgot the parts in a boiling acid bath overnight and ruined them.

 

[tbone1004]

none of those should be replaced.... Like ever.... Only time is if the regulator was damaged for whatever reason, salt water corrosion or a bad technician.

The spring carrier MIGHT have to get replaced in an unsealed regulator if it sees a lot of salt use with improper rinsing, but the DS4 is sealed, so that should literally never be replaced.

The valve lifter is a solid piece of metal that never gets exposed to anything, so unless there is salt water ingress that caused it to corrode, it should never need replacing

If the diaphragm clamp has to be replaced, then the whole reg body or at least the enviro seal has to be replaced due to threads being bad, OR the technician scratched the crap out of it during disassembly, but then they should replace it.

Hydrostatic transmitter is plastic and not exposed to anything, so it should never need replacing unless it is lost, which it can't be during normal use, or broken during service, which it shouldn't be because if you broke it, you are a buffoon with the dexterity of a hippo

tell the repair tech that you won't be paying for those parts, you want the service performed as requested, then report the shop and technician to aqualung and publish it on here so no one else gets ripped off. That is some seriously shady stuff equivalent to going in for an oil change and being told you need to replace both tie rods when you're steering is still tight.

 

[macado]

Uhmm no.. None of these parts should need replacing. As tbone1004 said..maybe if there was major damage or corrosion on metal parts from salt water intrusion. I've serviced some pretty nasty DS4s and did not have to replace any of these parts.

I hate to place blame on a shop as I truly think most are trying to do a good job but I would have some serious questions / reservations here.

 

[akdeepdiver]

Wait a minute...let me get this straight, the technician recommended that the parts get replaced, but said there was nothing wrong. then said that the shop would not finish the work unless you agreed to replace the recommended parts. WTF! I am a apeks tech and have serviced a couple hundred in the last 5 or 6 years and have never replaced those parts.

 

[jhnmdahl]

So what shop? Uh, you know, for a friend.

Edit: I can't help but wonder if these parts weren't scratched, bent, etc. by an inexperienced servicer who now expects the customer to pay for their lack of skill or training. Sounds fishy.

 

[Tracy]

I have never changed any of those parts on any of my DS4s.

 

[Pao]

Those parts should last the lifetime of the reg. Maybe you can damage the valve lifter if you dropped it on the floor and stepped on it . It can't imagine how the rest of the parts could be damaged and need replacement.

 

[acteg]

Hey everyone. Thanks for the responses. I called the shop back today and spoke to the tech again. I relayed what many of you said, very politely, and asked for additional explanation. The tech passed me on to the head technician. I repeated the same message to the head tech, and he explained that there must have been some confusion with the message that was relayed to me by the first tech (I did get the feeling that first tech didn't exactly know what she was talking about). The head technician stated that the regulator (Apeks DST Status - sorry I forgot the status part in my original post), has a different diaphragm then the rest of the product line and that the diaphragm is no longer produced. Since the diaphragm is no longer produced, the next best path forward was to convert my DST status to a regular DST, and then use the DST diaphragm. Converting the regulator from the "status" to the regular DST required the 4 parts that were recommended. I told the tech that I was surprised that a company like aqualung/apeks would abandon their product and leave the consumer with the bill to convert an otherwise perfectly fine regulator, and asked if apeks/aqualung had any kind of conversion program for owners with this obsolescence issue. The tech said there was no such program but he could take off 30% on the parts.