Leaking actuated valve shaft seal

[jblizzle]

Fired up the Solar over the weekend and found that there was water practically pouring out of the top of the valve around the shaft seal when I rotated it to turn the solar on. So, busted out the tools to take a look.

Seals looked fine, but had a spare valve and swapped seals put it back together and no leak.
Put the actuator back on and toggled it and it started leaking again.
Loosened the screws holding the actuator on the valve almost to the point of being loose and the leak slowed to a few drips which is how I left it.

Any idea what is going on? Why would the actuator be causing the seals to leak? I can only assume that it is causing some kind of moment to be applied. Anyone else seen leaks due to actuators?

For reference it is a Pentair solar valve (with the built-in check valve in the diverter) and an Intermatic actuator.

First actuator I got was actually cracked internally such that the cams would not engage to stop rotation due to play in the shaft. That was replaced without hassle under warranty by Intermatic.

 

[JasonLion]

I would take it apart and look very closely at the surfaces the shaft seal seals against. My guess (just a guess) is that there is a scratch, chip, or notch in one of those surfaces.

 

[jblizzle]

When I pulled apart the valve I see there are 2 o-rings with a plastic C-ring between them. At first I thought that the plastic ring was broken and that was the problem, but the new valve was the same.

I may look again this weekend (maybe even try the top off the other valve). It is odd that it does not leak until I install the actuator. Almost like the actuator shaft is not well aligned and putting torque on the valve shaft.