Christolube..

[KG Diver]

Any tips on cleaning this mess out of the
1st stage?

Love my Z2 and B2 regulators, that is until it came time to service and I opened the puppies up and this stuff is a mess.

I plan on using tribolube 71 on the re-seal, but in the meantime I have to get this stuff out and just wondering if there is a better option than tons of Q-tips and shop towels.

 

[lexvil]

A tips and paper towels. If it’s clean looking it doesn’t hurt to save a little in a container as an assembly o-ring lube.

 

[rsingler]

FOAM Q-tips! Cotton Q-tips leave behind lint that will come back to haunt you. A lot of lint.

But no. There's no easy technique, and it's messy, but you only have to do it every few years. Make sure to build/test your reg before you seal it. Yes, you have to remove/replace the piston a second time, and could conceivably ding the HP oring, but that's better than finding you need an extra shim for IP, or have a leak, but now the reg is full of Tribolube.

 

[KG Diver]

FOAM Q-tips! Cotton Q-tips leave behind lint that will come back to haunt you. A lot of lint.

But no. There's no easy technique, and it's messy, but you only have to do it every few years. Make sure to build/test your reg before you seal it. Yes, you have to remove/replace the piston a second time, and could conceivably ding the HP oring, but that's better than finding you need an extra shim for IP, or have a leak, but now the reg is full of Tribolube.

Good call, I think that's actually called out in the service procedure documents I have.

Honestly, if it wasn't for that high pitch whistle on inhale when the 1st isn't sealed, I wouldn't bother re-sealing it. But man that's so annoying I'd rather deal with cleaning the lube out every couple years.

 

[rsingler]

I don't believe that whistle is because the reg is unsealed.

There is a very fine spring holding the stack of washers and HP oring in place under the seat. That thin spring is directly in the path of tank gas rushing in with each breath, and vibrates at an irritatingly high frequency.

Remove the HP seat carrier and rotate the spring so a different part of the coils is in the airflow path. If that 60‐sec fix doesn't work, pull the spring out and bend the ends so its resting shape is slightly banana'ed. Now one coil will be braced against the inside wall of the bore, extinguishing the vibration. I did that trick just a few months ago with my new TFX first stage in these posts:
first stage whine and
whine fixed

 

[KG Diver]

I don't believe that whistle is because the reg is unsealed.

There is a very fine spring holding the stack of washers and HP oring in place under the seat. That thin spring is directly in the path of tank gas rushing in with each breath, and vibrates at an irritatingly high frequency.

Remove the HP seat carrier and rotate the spring so a different part of the coils is in the airflow path. If that 60‐sec fix doesn't work, pull the spring out and bend the ends so its resting shape is slightly banana'ed. Now one coil will be braced against the inside wall of the bore, extinguishing the vibration. I did that trick just a few months ago with my new TFX first stage in these posts:
first stage whine and
whine fixed

I will definitely take a look and give it a shot. I didn't know the cause, only know that both z2s (unsealed) we bought new had that whistle. Switched to sealed Z2s and they're dead silent. Sample size of 2...Haha.

If that does the trick I will probably run them unsealed as we don't really do any diving that warrants a sealed 1st.

 

[rsingler]

...we don't really do any diving that warrants a sealed 1st.

Sure you do! You dive.
Here's an unsealed Mk20 that after 10 years of religious rinsing after a dive, still has a line of damage due to salt crystals or floating grit that came in thru the ambient holes, stuck to the crevice between the piston head oring and the wall, and scraped away at the chrome.

Newer Mk25...same problem

Atomic unsealed piston, with an ambient chamber leak - same problem

And oh, yeah. A corrosion-proof TITANIUM (but unsealed) Atomic that already has a scratch...

A sealed piston won't do that.

 

[KG Diver]

Sure you do! You dive.
Here's an unsealed Mk20 that after 10 years of religious rinsing after a dive, still has a line of damage due to salt crystals or floating grit that came in thru the ambient holes, stuck to the crevice between the piston head oring and the wall, and scraped away at the chrome.
View attachment 837926
Newer Mk25...same problem
View attachment 837929
Atomic unsealed piston, with an ambient chamber leak - same problem
View attachment 837930View attachment 837931
And oh, yeah. A corrosion-proof TITANIUM (but unsealed) Atomic that already has a scratch...
View attachment 837935
A sealed piston won't do that.

Well, guess I'll add tribolube back to the shopping cart haha...

I'd be curious to see what everything looks like once I clean out the christolube. These have been thoroughly rinsed after each dive (to the annoyance of some boat crews) but have not been serviced since 2018ish. Only about 300 and change dives on them.

 

[BoltSnap]

Well, guess I'll add tribolube back to the shopping cart haha...

I'd be curious to see what everything looks like once I clean out the christolube. These have been thoroughly rinsed after each dive (to the annoyance of some boat crews) but have not been serviced since 2018ish. Only about 300 and change dives on them.

Have done this before and have the appropriate tools, manuals and training?

 

[KG Diver]

Have done this before and have the appropriate tools, manuals and training?

Yes to - > Tools, manuals, mandatory reading of Regulator Savvy, and a lot of YouTube.

No formal training (hard to come by in these parts), but I'm fairly mechanically inclined.