5 hours of my life and 50 miles driving around and no progress. That's the ********* frustration of modern plumbing.

What probably costs $1 in plastic and rubber seals parts, buried 5 layers deep in the shower handle stem. Unique, proprietary, not labled or part numbered.

WTF.

Single shower faucet leaking for many months. Ignored b/c I knew it would be a real hassle. Finally shut off water, took it apart, pulled out most of the stem. Some of it is stuck and I cannot get it out. No obvious clips, screws, or fasteners. I've pulled, and twisted and pulled and cannot get this piece out.

4 hardware stores, and endless varieties but nothing matches and the labels are obscure and nonsensical.

Any suggestions? A total rebuild? Will that even work? They're trying to sell me $100-150 entire rebuild kits... when I know this is a $10 part or max maybe $30 for the whole new guts of this handle and stem cartridge part.

What honestly should be a 30 minute job, is a multi-day ********* event with most of that involved in hunting for the right replacement part.

Oh, and the best part, unlike a toilet, there is no ******** shutoff value on the shower. Unless that nut on the bottom is the shutoff? Otherwise, must reassemble the broken unit, or leave the entire house without water until fixed.

I want to pull my hair out due to the morons that design these obsolete fragile and frustrating things, with no obvious helpful features like a name, part number, shutoff lever on the water, etc.

There never is a shower shutoff valve.

If the shower was just dripping most likely what you needed was a new cartridge. It's the little plastic cylinder that was just behind the handle. It controls the hot/ cold mix and water flow. 99% of the time a dripping tub spout or shower head is due to the cartridge seals/gaskets wearing out.

Moen, Kohler, etc all have their own style but big box stores generally carry the common ones. Take your old cartridge to the store and compare it with those of the same brand as your blend valve. You'll most likely find the one you need.

BTW, if you ever build a house, install access panels and local water shutoff valves at each shower or spigot. It's common sense, so you don't have to shut the whole house down if you have a leak or repair. Good grief. That should be code, frankly.

Yup, like any good DIY'er, I watched videos, looked at manuals, and did all of what you suggested. Was unable to get what appears to be the cartridge out. No obvious clips, screws, hooks, levers or anything. It's a buried plastic piece that appears to maybe need some proprietary tool. Which I might be able to find if I knew what manufacturer it is. Luckily, the maker did not put his name or ANY identification anywhere on any part, save some code which *might* be American Standard.

So, best guess as to company. Scowering their web pages and hundreds of images leads to nothing like what I have.

Lowes, HD, Ace, and McClellans are, as usual, useless. They carry a few items but nothing deep or wide or obscure. And no entire rebuild kits for a single shower faucet. Typical. Any time I go there with something above basic, the employees are clueless and they never have anything in stock. Example - anti-siphon spigot heads. These are code. You won't find them anywhere but McClellans or maybe Ace. Generally they stock ONE. Most employees look at you like you're crazy when you ask for it.... and it's bloody CODE.

Post a picture of the parts you already removed.

I used to run a plumbing showroom. There are a zillion manufacturers, and the industry has changed a lot with companies dying or getting bought out buy bigger fish. Still, parts are usually available. must admit that the valve body you show isn't familiar.

Can you post a picture of the trim?

There are companies that specialize in old parts so don't give up hope.

Stop shopping the big box stores and go to "salon" plumbing shops. There are more than a few in Seattle.

If you can identify the manufacturer there are usually exploded diagrams available on-line and maybe from the manufacturer.

BTW: My 30 year old Grohe (and some other plumbing valves made by others) have shut offs where the copper feeds into the valve so you can shut the water off to change cartridges or o-rings, etc.

It really is a PITA to have to shut off the house water, and drain the hole system... feels, yo.

One more thing: The "nut" in the bottom of the valve is probably just a plugged outlet to allow you to plumb a tub spout into the set up.

I texted my brother the pic and description (has been plumbing for almost 20 years) and he said it looks like you already have most of the cartridge removed, but the rear end was left behind and is stuck in the valve. It will not come out easily, so you will need to get it out piece by piece by breaking it or drilling it.

He asked me why you don't just have a new valve put in?

Maybe you're thinking of something different. The cartridge is right behind the handle. Once you remove the handle there is usually a washer and a small toothed slip ring to remove then you can grab the old cartridge with needle nose pliers and it slides right out with a good tug.

Also, it might be worth your time to call a plumber. If you end up with a leak in your wall the resulting water damage could be costly.

http://www.arpny.com/

http://www.foxdistributors.com/plumbing.html

https://www.markspp.com/

just a quick search for obsolete plumbing parts got those three. Still, the biggest hurdle will be identifying the manufacturer and model.

Call a plumber, spend the money, and get it replaced.

Thanks for the help so far.

I added more pictures so maybe a plumber may recognize what this is.

My parts, and the unit at states of disassembly, and some codes. I'd guess 2005 manufacture. Very helpful that nowhere is the maker listed.

Trust me, if I could, I would. I'd rather eat this week...

Bathing>Eating