Emergency! ICS stock M4 AEG not feeding at all, no visible problems

[swordlordaj]

My ICS M4 has never had feeding issues before I don't think.

Been using the same mid caps and original ICS high cap magazine for years, worked perfectly.

Old ICS hop unit replaced with the exact same ICS hop up unit a year ago, as the old one broke.

This was done by a gun tech, and done very well, was feeding perfectly a year ago.

Hasn't seen any use really in a year, no skirmishes only a few tests here and there. Worked fine.

Now all of a sudden, the hop up won't feed any of the mags.

The hop is fitted perfectly and is basically brand new with no visible defects or blockages or anything out of the ordinary.

The inner barrel is clean, no blockages happen, the hop up won't load the mags at all.

Not even firing upside down with gravity working with it.

BBs fit in the nozzle of the mag well hop up section fine. Mags seem to load fine.

If I put a BB in the inner barrel, all the way down to the hop up, it will fire normally.

If I put a BB in the mag well hop up nozzle, upside down, when firing it just dances up to try get out of the mag well hop up.

BBs won't load at all. Everything was perfect a year ago when skirmishing with it and even after the brand new hop up was installed.

Not sure what's going wrong. Everything looks perfect.

 

Can post pics and possibly videos to illustrate, if needed.

I'm at a complete loss as to what's wrong. I have a game on Sunday, don't really want to go back to my local gun repair shop as they might not be able to get it seen to before Sunday's game.

Please someone tell me that something little needs to be tweaked or is there something obvious I am missing?

It's my primary and I have a game Sunday! Panic!

Would massively appreciate any help guys.

[Samurai]

Usually this happens when the hopup rubber is protruding in the way of the BBs. Now how that happens on an unused gun is a mistery. Maybe the rubber dried up completely and hardened.

Take out the barrel, remove the hopup rubber, give the rubber a good spray of silicone, wash it with soap very-very thoroughly, then dry it. Check the hopup unit for any crap stuck in it. Reassemble.

[ImTriggerHappy]

Are you sure the hop isnt just dialled all the way up?

[swordlordaj]

hop is completely off for the testing, tried what you said Samurai, thank you for the suggestion, but no dice. Still exactly the same problem. Everything looks perfect and clean and correctly assembled, but it won't fire a single bb through the basically brand new, apparently flawless hop up unit. I'm not an expert on hop up units at all though, so I really have no idea what's going wrong. Any other suggestions would really help though guys, I really appreciate it.

[Sitting Duck]

try to inch it over on full auto

looking in magwell to see the nozzle does at some open correctly to allow bb to feed

might take you half a dozen attempts but you should see the nozzle nigh on clear the well

 

if not then the tappet plate etc... will need investigating further

 

but hopefully the nozzle should be moving back n forth correctly or the problem will likely be gearbox related

[swordlordaj]

gear box seems 100% fine, putting a bb in the inner barrel fires it out perfectly. not sure what you mean by this though: try to inch it over on full auto

looking in magwell to see the nozzle does at some open correctly to allow bb to feed

might take you half a dozen attempts but you should see the nozzle nigh on clear the well

[Sitting Duck]

gun upside down....

look in magwell like you was trying to get a bb to feed upside down

now on/off trigger or inch gun over.....

you should see nozzle moving back n forth.....

 

BUT at some point for a brief moment that nozzle - it will be harder to see if everything is jet black

but at some point the nozzle should clear for a short brief point on the cycle and at this point the bb should feed....

If it don't clear - and I said it might take you a number of attempts....

 

If nozzle don't clear then that is where you problem could be.....

 

They got a split gearbox design so then you could check the top half and see if tappet plate is bent/boned/worn

but you need to do a few checks and process of elimination etc... to help narrow it down a bit

[swordlordaj]

it would seem the nozzle often blocks the bb hole so this would be the problem. sounds like a spring missing or tappet plate broken then? I'll try have a look

[swordlordaj]

not sure I feel that comfortable taking the top half of the gearbox apart though, is it complicated?

[Sitting Duck]

Be careful if you are not sure what you are doing - no offense

 

it should of allowed a bb in mag to feed no problem,

a bb sitting in magwell hole if it don't jump out should drop into hop eventually on inching her over

 

but keep checking it that the nozzle is not clearing properly......

 

Again no real offense but you are a little unsure and perhaps ring a local shop

and maybe say feed problems and might be nozzle/tappet related

 

Thing is have you got a few spare parts to hand for a start,

could you fit them if needed and ensure it works ok for sunday?

 

find out if they can look at it - it could be a boned tappet or it might be something else/worse

(though my rough - and it is rough guess coz I'm no expert and more so I don't have the gun in front of me - perhaps tappet plate)

 

Seriously - yes you can take the two halves apart - tells you in manual

ensure you get the gears in the lower gearbox parked - no teeth showing on sector gear when you reassemble

But like I said even if you diagnose it correctly you need to get bits n fit etc.....

So ring shop first is what I suggest

[swordlordaj]

just taken apart the top half of the gearbox, the part with the nozzle, and the tappet plate looks fine, not worn, out of shape, bent, broken, spring still doing it's job well, I just can't understand it, everything about the internals look perfect, it's so weird. might have to go to the shop then, but it looks to be unlikely that I can get it seen to before Sunday.

[Sitting Duck]

I'm no expert - especially on ICS's - but "think" they use regular tappet plates

(some bits on ICS's are bespoke but most box stuff is normal TM compat - i think)

 

something ain't right but I can't keep stabbing at this n that I'm afraid but not got it in front of me

it is or "should" be hop or nozzle/tappet plate related the way it won't allow a bb to feed even if upside down...

something is responsible for it not clearing to feed

 

So yeah give them a bell and see if they can look at it - sorry

 

read up on manual how to ensure gears on lower box are correct place when you reassemble 2 halves

[swordlordaj]

yeah I made sure that there were no teeth showing on the lower half gears when reassembling, so it comes together again fine. thanks for all your suggestions by the way. I am sure the problem is nozzle related, perhaps something happened in storage and the new hop up and nozzle are too tight fitting and it can't cycle the nozzle back properly. the tappet plate seems great and works great, the nozzle and hop up don't seem to get on together any more. I've spent so much time and money getting my AEGs up to a reliable working standard and it never lasts long, I feel so unlucky. So fed up with spending time and money now. My ICS M4 seems so well designed and in good working condition that theoretically it should be amazing but something always goes wrong anyway! spring and gas guns have never given me this kind of trouble, which is weird too. Perhaps I'll get lucky on the day and have one of the tech guys look at it before the games start on Sunday. thanks for all your help, appreciate your time.

[Samurai]

Are you sure when you are closing the top half, the tappet goes in the right place? The only time I fixed an ICS was years ago so I don't remember if you can close it in a way that the tappet is in front of the sector gear's "thing" (insert the proper English word here) that moves the tappet.

[swordlordaj]

tappet plate needed replacing, problem solved, thanks guys