Streamway shower valve leaks

[1madmouse]

Ok we have a mobile home with a Streamway 3 handle shower valve in the main bath. Had a leak, replaced the stems and the corroded seats, but still have a small stream leak, I took it apart, checked all the seats and rubbers , but found no problems, reassembled everything and still have the leak. these seats are long making it hard to see in the chamber/valve. I checked again with the seats out but cannot see any cracks or anything that looks like it could be leaking. I read some of the other threads and understand it could be a cracked or split valve body. I am hoping I may have missed something and am checking before I replace the valve. Anyone have any more info?

 

[Smooky]

Did you make sure you opened the stem before you screwed it into the valve body?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[1madmouse]

Yes as you should always do no matter what brand. I changed rubbers to domed because they are thicker and can see the seat ring on the the gasket on the end of the stems. As and added fun thing, the gate valve under the trailer was leaking so I tightened the packing nut and , you guessed it the damn center came off and no water. So had to crawl the under the mobile and fix that. My thinking is, if the valve body was cracked wouldn't it be leaking in the wall which it isn't? And the leak is a constant small stream of water that turning the stem in or out doesn't seem to change the leak. I mean when you open the stem it gives you water, but when you close it, you get the same stream of water as has always been the problem. So would have to be leaking at the threads for the seat? Thats the only thing that could be leaking.

 

[1madmouse]

This is starting to get up there with the sterling shower valves that come apart in the valve or the handle breaks off and you can't shut it off when the cheap management company insists on buying the cheap HD warehouse valves. Well frustration wise anyway.

 

[1madmouse]

Just a thought, years ago we have a bunch of triplexs that all had price/phister faucets. We were changing the stems to seatless stems and only had to remove the seats then install the new stems eliminating the compression stem/seat problem, except some of them would whistle. you ever heard of that and would that be an option if the problem was a crossthreaded seat leaking?

 

[1madmouse]

Just checked this post for any new replies, was hoping someone could help with this. Still leaking at faucet with stems and seats replaced. Hoping to avoid opening wall, but just might have to do that after all and just replace the old valve with something newer. Any help appreciated.

 

[Dj2]

What brand stems and seats did you get?

 

[1madmouse]

Streamway of course , found them at our local Ace hardware. Changed both and still have the leak.

 

[Smooky]

Did you use sealant on the seats? Teflon tape or pipe dope or both? If you didn't, try that.

 

[Smooky]

My thinking is, if the valve body was cracked wouldn't it be leaking in the wall which it isn't? So would have to be leaking at the threads for the seat? Thats the only thing that could be leaking.

Sometimes the webbing that the seat screws into gets cracked from somebody that does not know what they are doing. When that happens it leaks out the spout and not into the walls. When that happens you usually have to replace the valve. But it is probably not that. It is probably leaking at the seat threads.

 

[1madmouse]

Ok I was very careful to back up the seats until I felt that slight click then screw in as I didn't want to crack the threads. Doesn't mean I didn't crack them as it happens and I'm not perfect. My next step is to seal the threads with teflon tape and pipe dope. I was always told if you really don't want a leak to use both. So yes good advice Smooky. I'm going out to the place Saturday to replace the shut-off valve that the center fell out of and take the whole darn thing apart, (shower valve stem and seats ), seal the threads and hope the leak stops. I have been told by the homeowner/friends that they have been using other shower since this one now has no water pressure at all. The rest of the place is fine, but this shower is really acting odd. I can see replacing the valve , but would like to know why this is happening as it just doesn't make sense. I'm really thinking something like a rubber stem gasket is caught in the valve, or some foreign object, but when I replaced the stem rubbers, they were both there.