XL lid won’t seal

shapp76

Lid won’t seal when I attach the springs. Talked to Duane at HQ who told me to tap the lower band at my problem areas which forces the lid down. Everything lines up and passes the dollar bill test until I add the springs. At the the 10 and 2 position, the dollar bill slides easily. Any tips?

bikesAndBBQ

My large doesn't exactly pass that test .Cook with it and see what happens. Mine holds temps fine without a dollar bill pass everywhere.  You could loosen the top bands and push down on the dome. That helped my large out.

NewbeeMinimax

@shapp76, I spent several hours on XL trying to figure it out. There are several ways to fix it  but I like the one shown in picture (I did not take the pic while I was fixing my XL). Please search this form for details--Ron "RRP" suggested this method. 

derka123

I sat on top of mine and cranked down all the bolts, passes the dollar bill test a year later on all sides. Don't drink too much beforehand.

thetrim

Double check that the bands are attached the right way.  I mean the parts that the springs attach to.  Maybe you mixed those up.

Thomasc18

My xl has same problem when I add the springs. Without the springs it lines up perfect with no air gap. Dollar bill pass. Once I attach springs the lid shifts and the dollar bill test goes south. My local dealer has tried to fix issue he even replaced the egg. I had the same problem on both eggs. The 10’oclock  and 2 position has the worst gap issue but doesn’t seem to leak?  Called BGE and they said with use and time it will work itself out?  I haven’t used the XL much, also the XL builds up a lot of moisture/condensation inside the egg.  Not sure why?  I think it might be the cover I use. I have my XL on a nest with BGE cover. I don’t believe much air can circulate. I do not have any issues with my med. it’s on a table with a breathable cover from JJGeorge. Very disappointed with my XL. 

Thomasc18

If you find a solution please share.  I purchased my XL back in November 2017

Teefus

I'm adding the updated hinge setup to my Large today. Hoping I don't have any issues with sealing.

distanceman

@shapp76 I believe I loosened the band and used the tap up method to push the dome down with the springs on. I also pushed down on the dome as I was re-tightening the bands. I had a small (.25") underbite, but after a lil while it ceased to bother me. Cooks well, passes $$$ bill test, cooks great. Had it now 7 months. 

@Thomasc18 I also bought the BGE cover. What I usually do is the next day, scrap out any crud off the grates, take off my Smokeware and open the bottom vent all the way (I leave the screen closed). I think this allows it to breath a certain amount. I use it Fri-Sun usually, so if it's hot/humid in the GA summer, I'll normally check on it once or twice during the week to make sure no mold is growing. So far, so good. 

Thomasc18

@distanceman I opened the XL the other day and noticed mold starting to grow. I took the cap off and ended up putting the daisy wheel on top and opened the bottom vent half way.  Haven’t had a chance to check. Hopefully this will correct the condensation issue.  Which should fix the mold issue. Later this week I’ll crank her up and get rid of the mold. 

shapp76

Finally got it figured out yesterday. Appreciate all the tips. I took a ratchet strap and cranked the dome down to the base. Then tightened both bands. I had a small amount leak out at the 10 position but nothing to get worried about. I just swapped to the Rutland gasket so hopefully it will get settled in with more cooks. Thanks again, fellow eggers!

Tlane002

So just put my X-Large BGE together this week, I have spent the entire week trying to get the seal correct.. The top dome lines up great after minor adjustments (no more over or under bite). Without the springs the seal is great, once I put the springs on the back half lifts up to where I can easily pull a dollar bill out with no friction at all.. I have the bands properly adjusted and it still won't seal with the springs on? I see another person has had this issue has BGE said anything about replacement springs to elevate this issue?

Tlane002

BTW I have owned a Large Egg for three years and never had such an issue. The dealer I purchased the Egg from is having the same issues with the X-Large eggs on their showroom floor, They stated they believe its a spring issue as well. All of the X-Large eggs I tested with the dollar bill on the showroom floor had the same issue to the point where they are not selling them until they can resolve the issue..

JethroBodeen

I received a warranty replacement large base through my dealer that was not square at the band mounting area. It was ever so slightly canted inwards allowing the band to slide up. As you stated, mine was fine with the band tight and in place. Add the springs and you could watch the band pop up just enough to cause poor seal. Duane at the Mothership helped me through it and asked me for some measurements. We then worked through the dealer for another replacement.

abpgwolf

Here is a post from a few years ago. I use this every time my egg gets a little "wonkey". it always works!

So basically here's what was the problem and what I did.  The first problem was that the lower band was not wrapped around evenly - it was lower in the rear than in the front.  He explained to me that the lower band should come right up to the edge of the lower gasket all the way around the lower half.  So I loosened the carriage bolt on the lower rear band and GENTLY tapped along the band using a block of wood and a rubber mallet until the band was placed evenly around the whole bottom.  Then I tightened the band.  From that point, the underbite had improved significantly, but there was still a bit of unevenness along the planes where the gaskets met and it still did not pass the dollar bill test.  In fact, the gap on the rear side between the gaskets was slightly worse, but I wasn't worried because I knew there were a couple more steps to 

Next step was to adjust the front to back placement to fine tune the sitting of the top to the bottom.  There are two slotted acorn nuts on the top part of the hinge (above the spring) on both sides of the top that needed to be loosened so that I can 'wiggle' the top into a centered position.  So I loosened all 4 nuts, wiggled it into position, then tightened.  Now the top was centered properly (no under or overbite), but there was still unevenness on the plane of contact - in other words, it still failed the dollar bill test. 

The last step was to somewhat repeat the first step (loosening the carriage bolt) except for the upper band.  Wherever there was the largest gap between the two gaskets, I GENTLY tapped the band upward which essentially pushed the lid downward by it's own weight.  Once I saw that the upper band was positioned in such a way that the entire top part of the egg sat nicely and evenly on the bottom, I tightened the carriage bolt of the top band and vuala!  It was fixed.  Dollar bill test passed all the way around the egg.  No more underbite (or overbite). 

SonVolt

Is it normal to get a tiny bit of smoke out of the 2/10 o'clock positions? 

Money_Hillbilly

@SonVolt  There should be no gaps.  The gasket should seal all the way around.  I have owned 3 XL’s over the years.  One had a severe under bite and I unsuccessfully worked on it several times.  Finally I followed the same procedure @abpgwolf suggested and it fixed the problem. 

Tlane002

@abpgwolf, thanks for the tip I will try it tomorrow. only one question ur instructions stated "The last step was to somewhat repeat the first step (loosening the carriage bolt) except for the upper band." and later in the instructions it says, " Once I saw that the upper band was positioned in such a way that the entire top part of the egg sat nicely and evenly on the bottom, I tightened the carriage bolt of the top band". was that just a typo? my bottom band and top band are level all the way around.. and as I stated in the previous post it sits very firmly on the seal until I put the springs on and then the back 10 to 2 position lifts ever so slightly where it will not pass the dollar bill test.. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.