Hayward multiport Vari-Flo valve leaking out the top

[gworrel]

My Hayward Vari-flo valve is leaking out the top right where the selector is depressed into the filter position. It is a significant steady drip that I need to fix. I took the valve apart and replaced the shaft o-ring that I bought from the pool store but it did not fix the problem. The valve is only a year old. The spider gasket looks fine. It is possible there was some freezing last winter when I tried to keep my hot tub that uses the same filter and heater as the pool going all winter. I ended up draining the tub and all the plumbing (or so I thought), but I did not move the valve selector to the winter position. The pool store guy and I both looked for any cracks or damage in the valve but could not see anything. I hate to spend another $100 on a valve if there is a simple fix I am missing. Any ideas? Thanks.

[Poconos]

Wish I could help but I never had to take mine apart that far yet. Is it possible you missed a crack somewhere in that shaft hole? Might try taking it apart again and looking more carefully with a high intensity light. Sure appears to be something with that shaft seal. Hopefully someone else will kick in with ideas. I assumed you lubed the O-ring with silicone lube before reassembling it.
Al

[gworrel]

Thanks Al. The tip to look at it under a high intensity light was a good one. I found a small crack in the cover just in front of the notch for the filter position. The label has bubbled up where the water was leaking through. I found one place on line that lists the part but I don't know yet if it is in stock.

Now I am wondering if there is any good way to patch the crack. Perhaps with an epoxy? Will that stick to the plastic? I would like to try something since it will take at least a few days for the part to get here. Thanks.

[gworrel]

A follow-up:
Hayward apparently no longer offers just the cover but sells only the complete cover, spring, and key assembly. It was a little tricky to take apart and required a couple blocks of wood and some clamps to compress the spring, and a metal rod to tap out the pin. That is probably why they no longer offer just the cover.

The assembly cost at least $70 so it only made sense to try to repair this one. I used two products from the hardware store from Devcon. One was their marine/plastic epoxy putty. The other was their Weldit product. Both say they can be used to seal leaks and will work on hard plastics and pvc. So I put the epoxy putty on the outside and the Weldit on the inside. If one doesn't hold, the other should. Now I just have to let them cure so I can test it.

[Poconos]

I'll be curious how the fix works. There is another product JB Weld that may be a possibility.
Al

[gworrel]

The epoxy putty worked on the multiport valve.

I have another small leak from the filter bulkhead fittings that has me almost ready to throw in the towel. The bulkhead fittings have o-rings that seal them against the body of the filter tank. The tank and fitting seem to be made of the same material, a hard black plastic.

I have cleaned and lubed the o-rings, changed the o-rings, used two different sized o-rings from two different stores. Nothing has worked. The leak has only gotten worse. It is a Hayward Sta-clear DE filter.

Yesterday I used epoxy putty on it, figuring that if I ever needed to disassemble the bulkhead fittings, I would just replace the filter. Today I tested it and it still leaks past the epoxy putty. I may have screwed up when I applied the putty because I used another sealant/ adhesive first which made it difficult to get the epoxy to stick to the plastic. It kept wanting to come off with my finger.

I cannot understand why I could not get the o-rings to seal. It is like a union fitting. I looked but could not see any cracks though I am not sure what else it could be. Now the leak is so bad that I really cannot even use the filter. It leaks right at the joint where the o-rings should be sealing. I may try some jb weld on top of the epoxy I already put on. The next step seems to be a new filter. Very frustrating.