Kohler Coralais bath/shower valve dripping again... Can it be fixed?

[roehrich]

I still have an original Kohler Coralais shower/bath valve in my guest bedroom shower/bath.
Couple of years ago I replaced the cartridge. Now it drips again.
That bathroom is hardly ever used. I guess I could try to replace the cartridge. But I wonder whether this is really the issue.

Is corrosion inside causing this?

What woudl you do? What can be done?

p.s. the white stuff on o-ring on the right came off, might be my paper towel

 

[Slomoola]

Looks like you need a seat cutter. Lots of voids to leak from looking inside the valve. Don't even know if you can refresh those ports up. Maybe one of the experts can chime in on this.

Looks like you got your money out of it. Plumbing parts don't last for ever. Will leak again with a new cartridge. Brass water ports have missing material around them.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[ttthhh]

The seats that the cartridge o-rings sit on are not in good shape. First thing I'd do is soak a small rag in vinegar and stuff it in the valve body and leave it for half a day. Then clean it all out good. Now get a kitchen sponge that has a scotch-brite-ish side and work it around everything in the valve body until you get nice and shiny brass. You may have to repeat this process a few times. For more stubborn scale, I've also used espresso maker cleaner which is more powerful than vinegar. When it is all shiny, take some photos of the seats in the valve body and blow them up on your phone. The perimeter of the seat needs to be continuous or they will leak becuase the o-ring can only squeeze so much to fill in imperfections. If there is a gouge in the seat, you need to take some green scotch-brite and work the area around the gouge to make the seat continuous. As long as the o-ring can press up against a continuous seat you will be fine.

 

[roehrich]

thank you all. I will go ahead and will clean the inside of the valve body.
Meanwhile, I also got a new cartridge. This reduces the drip by about 50-75%.
I will post back after the cleaning

 

[roehrich]

so, here is the valve body after 2x CLR and green scotch-brite

 

[roehrich]

unfortunately, there is still a small leak (drops). But less than before I started.

 

[ProfessionalPlumbingInc]

unfortunately, there is still a small leak (drops). But less than before I started.

Did you put the NEW cartridge in, not the old one. The o ring seals will get hard over time and with the build up on the seating surface will cause the o rings to have a dent in them, so they won't seal. Those cartridges usually take a flat sided o ring but you can usually get one from the hardware store that will work if you don't have a new Cartridge.

 

[roehrich]

Yes, I did. I think 80% of the improvement is form new cartridge. Also tightened the cartridge retainer nut as much as I could

 

[Slomoola]

Yes, I did. I think 80% of the improvement is form new cartridge. Also tightened the cartridge retainer nut as much as I could

Do you use a cheater bar to tighten it? Might of over torqued it crushing the o-rings down to nothing.

Most plumbing connections do not require 18 wheeler lug nut torque.

That body is still filthy. Look at the pictures. There's clean and then there's CLEAN. All it takes is one piece of trash that the o-ring can't seal over.

Take some metal polish like Mother's Mag Wheel or Flitz. Polish it like a new one.