Cleaning Valves


 
John-NY

John-NY

TVWBB Super Fan
I read the thread and watched the videos on cleaning valves.

I went to the store to get grease but they didn’t have exactly what I was looking for, so I grabbed something similar to purchase.

I told the employee I wanted to grease up my grill gas valves and asked if the grease I was holding would work.
He said no, it’s flammable, etc. not a good idea.
He said he uses this stuff and recommended it to me.

Should I use this? Or should I bite the bullet and order from Amazon and wait until next week when it’s delivered.
I wanted to start working on cleaning valves this weekend. 01BE92AD-7A13-4766-902B-71B80B09D998.jpeg
 
3 in 1 has been around for over 50 years. Good stuff. Probably not the best for lubing valves long term, but it will work. I would just make sure to not use too much. You can always redo them with a good grease later on. Most people on this forum use brake grease. You can usually buy a tiny pack of it in auto parts stores for a buck or two or buy a tube for 5 or 6 bucks. It is usually blue colored for some reason.
 
Bruce said:
3 in 1 has been around for over 50 years. Good stuff. Probably not the best for lubing valves long term, but it will work. I would just make sure to not use too much. You can always redo them with a good grease later on. Most people on this forum use brake grease. You can usually buy a tiny pack of it in auto parts stores for a buck or two or buy a tube for 5 or 6 bucks. It is usually blue colored for some reason.
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Thanks, I did see those tiny packs and was worried it wouldn't be enough. Good to know. How many valves do you think one pack could do?
 
One pack should be plenty for the three valves. Use sparingly. I don't know, but I am guessing you could do several grills with a packet.
 
Thanks. I was put in that awkward position where someone hands you something and says this will work...and then I didn't wanna be like..."no it won't, I'll pass" :oops:
 
Bruce said:
3 in 1 has been around for over 50 years. Good stuff. Probably not the best for lubing valves long term, but it will work. I would just make sure to not use too much. You can always redo them with a good grease later on. Most people on this forum use brake grease. You can usually buy a tiny pack of it in auto parts stores for a buck or two or buy a tube for 5 or 6 bucks. It is usually blue colored for some reason.
Click to expand...
Is this the stuff that should work? It's the only thing similar that's available in-store near me:

 
All good advice above, I'm only going to stress again about using the grease sparingly. There has been more than one guy on here that has over lubed their valves only to end up impeding gas flow.
 
So, I just cleaned the valves on my Silver A that I rescued from the trash in July 2020. This was the first grill I restored, kind of!!
Made some mistakes did some work twice but all in all its been a great cooker. I noticed the valves were starting to get sticky so I took it apart and cleaned and lubricated the valves with the correct method ( I watched the video that Chris posted some time back ). To the point, when I redid this grill in 2020 I used 3 in Oil all around the valves stem and it seemed to work! Fast forward to summer of 2022 they started getting sticky, when I took them apart this evening the upper part of the stem had a heavy sticky varnish I can only assume from the 3 in 1 oil. So, like the others I would go for grease and not oil!! As Steve mentioned I am also guilty of using a bit much grease which definitely caused some issues, that happened this summer when I was rehabbing my first Genesis 1000, and did my first valve cleaning job! Use grease but not to much!!!
 
Dave_C said:
So, I just cleaned the valves on my Silver A that I rescued from the trash in July 2020. This was the first grill I restored, kind of!!
Made some mistakes did some work twice but all in all its been a great cooker. I noticed the valves were starting to get sticky so I took it apart and cleaned and lubricated the valves with the correct method ( I watched the video that Chris posted some time back ). To the point, when I redid this grill in 2020 I used 3 in Oil all around the valves stem and it seemed to work! Fast forward to summer of 2022 they started getting sticky, when I took them apart this evening the upper part of the stem had a heavy sticky varnish I can only assume from the 3 in 1 oil. So, like the others I would go for grease and not oil!! As Steve mentioned I am also guilty of using a bit much grease which definitely caused some issues, that happened this summer when I was rehabbing my first Genesis 1000, and did my first valve cleaning job! Use grease but not to much!!!
Click to expand...
Another thing I like to do on the valves is get all the corrosion off of the valve stem itself. I think it definitely makes for smoother valve operation. You can just wrap a piece of fine grit sandpaper around the stem and sand until it's nice and shiny again. I imagine you could also try steel wool, a brass gun cleaning brush, or a brass wire wheel in a drill.
 
Well, I cleaned and lubed my first valve successfully.

Couldn’t be more dead simple, which is nice.

Thanks everyone! I have a lot more to do now.
 
So, if only one of these screws was brass or golden I wouldn’t think anything of it. But there’s one on each of the three valves.

It’s also very difficult to see the slots to insert the screwdriver head into on each of them.

Any idea why they’re like this and how to tackle them?
I have them soaking in penetrating oil right now.
But whereas the “regular” screws came right out, these gold colored ones are definitely far more difficult.

9D053139-6F40-45E2-97ED-50CCEE3A8C41.jpeg
 
John-NY said:
So, if only one of these screws was brass or golden I wouldn’t think anything of it. But there’s one on each of the three valves.

It’s also very difficult to see the slots to insert the screwdriver head into on each of them.

Any idea why they’re like this and how to tackle them?
I have them soaking in penetrating oil right now.
But whereas the “regular” screws came right out, these gold colored ones are definitely far more difficult.

View attachment 62550
Click to expand...
It kind of looks like someone replaced some screws after stripping the gold colored ones. It's hard to imagine it was made that way, all the ones I've seen have had matching screws. It might be easier to work on if you take the manifold off of the grill first, if you haven't already. Your picture looks like it's still on there.
 
That's going to be tough. I wish Weber did like Lazy Man, a very old maker of gas grills. They used small bolts on their valves instead of screws. Much easier to service, anyway!

IMG_4245(1).jpg

You can try some different screwdrivers. I have had some luck with the Harbor Freight "Quinn" alllegedly diamond tip Philips screwdrivers. They aren't the greatest overall, but for this application they seem to have a better bite than others I own. Also, you can try GENTLY hammering the Philips to reform the "X" pattern. Penetrating oil that you are using will also hopefully help you. Sometimes it is just a no-go, unfortunately.
 
First thing I would do is loosen/remove the steel screw and see if I could wiggle the upper part of the valve. There doesn't seem to be much left of the head of the brass screw and the steel screw could be the only thing holding it together.

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