Fixing friend's leaking kitchen faucet (Pfister Hanover GT529)

Problem

One day, I was invited for a dinner at my friend's house. I was surprised to see their kitchen faucet is as same model as mine, and theirs was leaking somewhere in the spray head. The model is Pfister's Hanover GT529-TMS.  My kitchen has different color, though.

Figure 1. Pfister Hanover GT529-TMS Stainless (Photo courtesy http://www.pfisterfaucets.com)

She asked me to see if I could replace the faucet for her but I thought it would be a waste of money if it could be fixed.  So I promised to take a look some day.

Today was the day.  As before, the spray head was still leaking so I started to disassemble the spray head to see if it would be fixable.

 

Figure 2. Leaking kitchen faucet spray head (Pfister Hanover GT529 Stainless)

Disassemble

 I unscrewed the top part then the spray head came out.  Then I screwed out the bottom black plastic part very carefully not to scratch the plastic.  After a few snug rounds, bottom part finally removed.  I still had no idea where the leak is coming from.  I wanted to take a look at the inside of the spray head but it did not come out until I shake it hard.  It finally came out after a few shaking!

Figure 3. Removed spray head (left) and the inner assembly.

Finding Clues

When I temporary screw just this black part in the main water hose, I was able to see the leak in the upper black screw part.  I wish I had a picture of it!!  When I unscrew the upper part, as shown in Figure 4, there are a rubber rim and the other side (upper side) is the plastic.  As you can see in the picture, the rim had cracks and broken into many pieces.  The water was leaking right there!

Figure 4. Finally found where the leaking is happening!!!  (See the broken plastic rim in the zoom-in picture in the left (or upper)).

Fix

I have decided to use the WaterWeld that I have bought for my bathroom renovation project.  It is waterproof and water pressure resistance so it is a perfect tool for this project.  I have assembled the parts and used the WaterWeld putty to fill the gaps due to the cracks.  I used enough putty to tightly fill the gaps.  Then it was dried a little bit although it can be wet right away.  I just wanted to give some time to dry up to be able to work with water pressure.

Figure 5. WaterWeld was used to block the cracks.

Finally

After about an hour, I assembled the spray head back and the leak is fixed!!!

Figure 6. Water leak is fixed!!!

Epilogue
I was able to buy the spray head parts and it would have cost ~$48.  If this fix breaks I would just recommend to buy the part, but at this moment, the fix is satisfactory.  My friend has saved some $$.