Valve leakage

[opus37]

I have this very old helicon. It plays well, but when I play it the valve oil, water, and gunk comes out of the holes in the bottom valve caps. I use Monster oil now and have used others. I tried putting a leather bib on the valves which worked for a while, but I was wondering if there was another solution to this problem.

[iiipopes]

Clean and dry the interior of the valve block, including all inner and outer slides, thoroughly. Reassemble and oil valves with a conventional valve oil (hold the Hetman's #3 for now). If the valves continue to drip badly out the bottom valve caps, one thing I have done with worn valves to see if they are to the point of needing replating and relapping is to take a one or two ounce valve oil bottle, fill it half full with a conventional, and one drip at a time add pharmaceutical grade mineral oil (shaking the bottle to disperse after adding) to increase the viscosity of the valve oil. Wipe off and re-oil the valves, play the horn, and repeat the process, adding a drop each time until you start to notice lag in the valves. Then put one more splash of valve oil in the bottle to keep the viscosity just below where the valves start to lag.

If the valves continue to emit water out the bottom valve caps, and especially if you notice any intonation quirks or stuffy or "dead" notes, then it is probably time to rebuild the valves.