so I start opening up the top end, everything clean except the top of the high pressure discharge valve assembly...... lol, I became an expert this week.
there are no moving parts! I didn't expect that
the valves are just sorta like flat washers sitting on a spring. they move according to suction and pressure who knew?
I never really gave it any thought, never had to....... the thing just runs
anyway the valve assembly gets held down tight into the head with a jamb bolt and a lock nut, there is a copper washer at the bottom where it seats into the head.
evidently, the high pressure discharge valve assembly at the top is a point of condensation and gets rusty.... probably from not running enough, long enough, to get hot enough; imo
turns out my hold down lost enough material to loosen up the valve assembly...... that was my knock
hardest part was extracting the all the hold downs...... 2 of them broke off, even with heat. I made my own