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Huh? Am I missing some thing? This seems to conflict with the next sentence.
"The water puddling near the heads when the timers switched on indicates that there is a signal between the controller and valve, which is good."
"After that, since you said it comes on fine with the bleed screw, then the solenoid may be dirty. A good careful cleaning may do the trick."
OK, I'll try cleaning. I also have a spare solenoid that I can swap for the original one.
While waiting for a reply, I tried running it with the controller. It actually worked properly once out of five tries. Wire connections to solenoid & controller are good so intermittent electrical signal isn't likely.
Best regards, Richard
Thanks for the comments. After trying another solenoid & cleaning the valve, it's become obvious that the time to replace them has come. As you suggested, it does appear there is a problem with the diaphragm. For what ever it's worth, my system was installed in the summer of 1988 - 23 years ago. Many of the heads & one or two valves have already been replaced.parts for a Rainbird EV-100 can be had under the Irritrol HR1 model. Certain failures of a diaphragm assembly can give you a partially opening valve. Other issues could be in play.
That valve is long out of production, so there might come a time when you just decide to install a new manifold of valves.