Problems with my Phenom :(

I picked up my new Phenom three weeks ago - the first weekend it worked perfectly - full auto worked all the time and not a single breakage, I was in love!

I did the basic break down, cleaned and re-lubed the orings.

The second weekend, I was disappointed that the electronics wouldn't work - basically auto fire just resulted in clicking (an air problem) - mechanical worked fine, but auto fire resulted in either no fire, or sporadic firing with ball breakage. (I found out after the fact that this was a known problem and tippmann posted a video on how to fix it, but this came afterwards)

I took the gun apart and checked the o rings - the o ring from the cyclone to the valve body looked a little mangled, so I replaced and dry fired - everything seemed to be fine, I test fired about a dozen rounds and everything worked, I thought we were good to go and was looking forward to our Saturday game)

Yesterday (Saturday), we went out again and I had the same problem so once again I spent the day using just the mechanical - still had a blast, we still won the majority of our games, except now when I used full-auto a new sympton developed.

1) Going into full auto resulted in the electronics clicking, and then firing a few balls are various speeds, resulting in ball breakage 100% of the time)

2) Clicking with a hissing noise coming from the rear of the gun - this happened on the last match.

Once again, I broke everything down and disassembled the marker, including the valve body (TA30024) per the manual instructions.

Once I got the internals out (the firing spool, the valve spacer, ect) I noticed that in the middle of the valve body, inside the body there is some sort of fiber (it looks like cotton, I was able to get some of it out), however it's stuck in side there. I tried to remove the power tube (TA30102) per the manual instructions, however it's seized into position. I went so far as to put it into a vice group with vice grip locking pliers to try and remove it but only succeeded in marring the body to where it will certainly have to be replaced (I was able to turn the power tube inside of the valve body, it just won't pop out) - see pictures).

Finally after all of thisI came across Tippmann's videos where they addressed the electronic manfunction and how to fix (remove the firing pin and re-tighten the brass seating with a small allen wrench - this apparently comes lose from the firing of the marker, like an impact wrench and mine was also loose).

As far how the fibers got in there, well that's a real mystery - I cleaned the gun with small rags that are cut from some old bed sheets (they were 800 thread count so they don't exactly come apart =P ) - maybe some debris got in there somehow, but I'm not exactly playing paintball in the cotton fields of Alabama =P )

So my thought is that the valve body / power tube will need to be replaced, the question is would it be covered under warranty since it originated from an apparent malfunction of the marker, which is known to Tippmann, but I did marr the body/tube with the vice grip (I put cloth around the grip to prevent this, still happened though) or should I just order these parts on my own from tippmannparts.com (about $66 for the two)?

This is my first Tippmann gun so I haven't worked with them before with repairs/warranty but everything I've read suggest that they're first class when it comes to customer service, I'm just a bit disappointed that after one solid day of playing that I started to have issues with the Phenom, and from what I've looked at on various paintball forums I'm not the only one.

The Phenom is the Ferrari scenario/woodsball markers, but it also breaks down like one so far.

It is however very easy to work on - I can disassemble / reassemble the entire thing in about 10 minutes and the videos posted by Tippmann on youtube as well as the manual are exceptionally helpful and thorough.

Below are pictures showing fibers and barrel marring.

Glad your experience was to your satisfaction. Good Luck this weekend.

Ouch, nasty work on that powertube. That tip is held in by a snap ring. Use a knife to pry out the small plastic cap at the base of the powertube (Under where the rubber washer sits) and you'll see it.