Another Leaky Pen thread - Pilot 78G

[lowjax]

So, I am loving my 78G, but it's leaking on me. I have tested it just laying on it's side and not moving it; and after a few hours, there will be a black ink ring around the base of the nib. I did find the nib a bit loose when I started to use it, so I seated it better and it's good and tight now, however, it is still leaking. In the picture below, you can see a bit of the blank ink ring around the outside of the green plastic. It happens every time I lay the pen down.



I am wondering if it is leaking from whatever that notch is in the base of the plastic piece (what is that part called that the feed & nib seat into?). I know the notch in the feed is supposed to be there, but I'm talking about what looks like a notch with something in it that is part of the green plastic. Here's a different angle, but not sure that will help much. That notch is on both sides (by the feed in the pic above, by the nib in the pic below).



Maybe that's not it, but not sure what else it would be. The ink's not on the nib or anything, just on the base of the green plastic part. Would putting some silicone grease around the nib and feed and then re-seat them help or would that just cause issues with the flow of the nib?

This pen was from a pass-around box, so it may have been banged around a bit. To help me troubleshoot, I ordered a new Black Pilot 78g from ISP.

I love the way it writes, so I hope I can get it going without leaking. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. If anyone wants more pictures, I'll see what I can get. I pretty much just have a phone, so the quality won't be great.

 

[syngent]

the big square intake is where the pens ducks up ink, once the pen is filled that chamber will have ink still inside of it, if you don't dry it up with a tissue or cloth it will run back down and leak, is it possible that is what's going ?

 

[lowjax]

Thanks James. I don't think that's it as it had an empty cartridge when I receive it and I've put a new one in. I've had it in there a week and have cleaned it up and wiped it down pretty much every day. If it was filled a converter, it wasn't done anytime in the last 2-3 weeks.

I did pulled it totally apart since your post above and make sure that it was cleaned out there and I double checked the nib/feed seating as well as the seating of the cartridge. Also took q-tips to the cap to make sure that nothing was hiding in there and leaking and it is pretty clean as well.

 

[Snargle]

Take a good look with a magnifying lens (such as a 10X loupe) and see if you can see any cracks in the section. I've had a couple of vintage pens that had micro section cracks and leaked like crazy. Unless you really examined it carefully, you'd never see them.

 

[syngent]

the problem i was talking about only happens when filling from the nib with a converter, sounds like you have another issue. something must be cracked or misaligned in there, unfortunately i don't own a 78G to really be able to help here

 

[lowjax]

Thanks, Larry and James. I will check it out with a loupe (if I still have my old one somewhere) and see if that's it. If that doesn't show me any issues and I can't find anything else wrong, I will probably just leave it in an upright pen holder and leave it on my desk so it doesn't leak.

 

[syngent]

what happens when you hold it nib down, will it let a drop of ink out ?, of so where does that ink drip from ?

 

[lowjax]

No, it's too slow for that. After I cleaned it again before my last post (about 20 minutes ago), it hasn't leaked again. Maybe the full dis-assemble, clean, and re-assemble helped. I'll leave it lay on it's side overnight and see what it's like in the morning.

 

[syngent]

Best of luck, hope it cleared itself up

 

[lowjax]

Thanks James!

 

[nemo]

Your feed doesn't seem to be inserted deeply enough.

So here's mine:

 

[lowjax]

Thanks for that picture, Doug. I think that's it. If I check the nib now (after I cleaned and re-assembled it at 4:00), it is inserted all the way like in your picture, not partially out like my picture above. Also, it hasn't leaked in 4 hours, which is the longest it has gone without leaking. I guess I should have bought a second 78G earlier so I would have had one to compare it to.

So, the lesson is to break down, clean, and re-assemble your pen before posting on here about it leaking.

Thanks for all the help guys!

 

[lowjax]

After laying on it's side for about 14 hours, still not a drop of ink has leaked. That must have fixed it.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Alejandro Salemandro]

Nice! Glad to hear it. I've been following this thread with great interest

 

[celestino]

Congratulations on the repair!

 

[Ronnie Aloha]

Good to hear all is well.