Tire leaks without actaully leaking - help.

One of my tire deflates from 32 to 9-psi mysteriously every two weeks. The other three tires are fine, they hold charge pretty well. They're all the same brand. The tire in question have good threads and never been punctured, other than being aged from the sun.

I remove the wheel from the car and inflate it to 40-psi. I submerge the tire into a pool of water. No air bubbles! I pump it to 44-psi. No air bubbles! I install it onto the car and it begins its slow leak. I have another Honda that does this. I just give up and buy a new tire. Would you have pump it to 50-psi? How would you have done it differently?

TIA, Tibur Honda Accord `92 130K, Toyota Tercel 140K mi.

Reply to
Tibur Waltson
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This used to happen on my 89 Prelude. The tyre wasn't sealed to the rim properly. The gap only let out air when the weight of the car was compressing the wheel and tyre, so the leak couldn't be replicated in a workshop, just like you describe. The problem was solved by refitting the tyre.

HTH, Al

Reply to
Al Reynolds

Use dish soap in water and a rag and wipe it down good. Use enough soap that it will foam up good. Even a slow leak will cause bubbles to grow and they will be easy to see. Wipe the soapy water everywhere (include the bead area as other poster said, the rim itself, around the valve stem and the valve stem itself). You will probably find something stuck in the tread you that closed over or a leak at the bead. Could be the valve stem or even a bad casting if these are Aluminum rims (heard of this but never seen it).

Reply to
bobby

Has anyone tried one of those aerosol cans of sealant you spray into the tire? They look cheap compared to the cost of repair and rebalancing for a slow leak. I too have a slow leak which requires topping up every week or so and was wondering if they work.

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Reply to
William R. Watt

"Tibur Waltson" spake unto the masses in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.bubbanews.com:

I've seen this due to two factors:

1) A puncture 2) Rim leak.

1) Sometimes the puncture is inflicted just so, so that the puncture needs to be close to the ground, in the distorted portion of the tread that is close to where the tread actually touches the road. If the puncture lies in that flexed portion, the hole is forced open, causing a leak. Next time you stop, if the puncture happens to be in a portion of the tire AWAY from the road, there is no distortion, and therefore no leak.

2) Same thing as above can happen with a rim leak. Rim leaks can also be affected by temperature. Colder day, lower pressure, more flexing, more leak.

Solutions:

1) Remove tire from rim. Inspect INTERIOR for puncture. Repair if found. 2) Remove tire from rim. Sand off rust on wheel/tire mounting surface. Clean flakes of rust off tire bead. Apply tire sealant to bead of tire or rim. Reseat on rim.
Reply to
Tegger®

That is a rim leak you are describing.

Try testing it in water with only 10 or 15 psi in it. Adding all that air seals the leak up. Then putting the vehicle weight back on it works the leak loose again.

Same thing just happened to our Cherokee with it's aluminum rims. I took the tire into the shop and they said it isn't leaking. I had to argue with the fool to get him to take my money for a rim leak fix he figured I didn't need.

It hasn't leaked since.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Tibur Walts>

Reply to
Mike Romain

Tibur Waltson wrote in rec.autos.tech

One of the common areas to leak is the valve stem. Leave the tire on the car, inflate to normal pressure. Then put a little bit of spit in your mouth and wipe it over the head of the valve stem. If a bubble forms, you will need to tighten the stem. If you don't see one, take the tire to a tire shop and have them check it. They will know how to check for leaks properly, and they will have a tire tank to check it in. When I worked in a gas station, back in the days when they were truly full service, I checked many tires, and found some that were leaking at the stem, or at the bead, even though the tire itself looked good. And those leaks were hard to see without the tank.

Reply to
Dick C

William R. Watt wrote in rec.autos.tech

I heard that they work, but that they also leave alot of residue in the tire that makes the leak harder to repair. And if you don't drive enough when you put the stuff in to spread it around the tire, you will throw the tire off balance. They will, apparently, seal the leak. Myself, I would just take the tire in. If you take it to the place you bought the tire from, they should fix it for free.

Reply to
Dick C

thank you. I called Walmart and was told as long as I had the receipt they would fix and rebalance the tire free of charge. When I bought the tires for $25 each they advertised "free installation" but charged me $9 each for balancing which I thought was dishonest advertising. I had made up my mind not to take my business there again. I'll take the tire there to be fixed but won't buy new tires there again.

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Reply to
William R. Watt

Had the same problem on my 96 ex Accord 5sp coupe. Leak was impossible to find, but it lost air (10 lbs every 2 weeks). Took the car to NTW, they said it was a known problem with the OEM Michelins and put some sealant goop on the alloy rims. This helped, losses went down to 5 lbs every 2 months. When I replaced the OEMs with Dunlop SP40s the problem went away permenantly, they don't lose even 1 lb in 3 months. Also, car rides and handles better though the tires are a bit noiser at slow speed (Under 30mph).

Reply to
Don

the tire shop i go to puts 50 lbs of air in the tire so when they try to find the leak the air will come out pretty easy.......

Reply to
jim

William R. Watt wrote in rec.autos.tech

I know people buy tires there, but I have always wondered why. Les Schwab is close to where I live, always has good deals on tires, and has always been upfront about everything. Nor do they try to sell me anything more than what I need or came in for. About balancing, it is needed, and it is only rarely free. And it does not count as mounting. When you read the ads for most tire companies, you will see the term, mounting and balancing. So if someone offers free mounting, the balancing would not be included.

Reply to
Dick C

Tibur, Others have suggested valve stem, poor bead seal, and a hidden puncture. All are good possibilities but allow me to suggest still another. Have you ever run the tire with low air pressure (such as the first time it happened)? If so, you may have destroyed the inner liner of the tire. All tires are made from synthetic rubber compounds with different formulae but all have one characteristic in common - they are all porus. Air will leak out through the rubber of the tire because it is not airtight. This is over come by spraying a thin film of hypalon based compound (usually) inside the tire. This compound seals the tire. The only problem with this compound is that it is not very flexible. Under severe flex situation, such as running the tire seriously underinflated, will cause that lining to break up into small pieces, detach itself from the inner walls of the tire, and the tire will leak. Suggestion: dismount the tire and see if it is full of rubber debris. If so, that is the problem and the only solution is to replace the tire. Replace the valve stem and reseal the bead when doing this (if the inside of the tire is clean) and your problem should be solved...

Dave D

Reply to
Dave Dodson

But not if the leak is because the tyre isn't sealed to the rim properly, and all that pressure is actually holding the tyre securely against the rim...

Al

Reply to
Al Reynolds

Then they are fools.

If you have a rim leak, high pressure will seal it up great.

Mine would go flat overnight. Took it to shop. Shop pumped it up hard and no bubbles in water tank. Shop left it overnight, still no leak.

I had to insist they take it off and treat it like a rim leak. No more flat now.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
Reply to
Mike Romain

Gee Tibur, are you positive some neighbor kids are not trying to tease you? It sounds like a rim leak on your 12 year old car. Do they look rusty? I bought a tire for 1$ at a garage sale that had nearly new tread. I soon learned the tire would leak at the rim from a combination of hardened rubber and rust on the bead. I tried various DIY fixes and lately, when I had the tire off, I put oil along the rim bead margin to soften up that rust. I have not added air in months now.

Reply to
MaxAluminum

I read almost all of the posts--you received some excellent advice. I had a similar problem that was traced to a rim leak. I suggest that you have a rim leak fix job. I had the problem over 10 years ago--at that time they still used intertubes in some tires. I placed an intertube in the tire and it solved the problem. You could buy a new rim or have the old rim fixed so it does not leak. In the mean time--use some special tire sealer fluid that should cause the leaking problem to slow down so that it leaks much more slowly. You should check it every time you get gas.

Reply to
T. Nelson

rim leak? bad valve stem? bad valve stem core? practical joker in the neighborhood?

You could have it remounted (perhaps w/ some bead sealer if the rim and/or bead are a little rough) and replace the valve stem. You might try replacing the valve core first though, they're cheap and easy w/ a core removal tool (also cheap).

Reply to
The Masked Marvel

|> I remove the wheel from the car and inflate it to 40-psi. I |> submerge the tire into a pool of water. No air bubbles! I pump it |> to 44-psi. No air bubbles! I install it onto the car and it begins its |> slow leak. I have another Honda that does this. I just give up and |> buy a new tire. Would you have pump it to 50-psi? How would |> you have done it differently?

Sounds to me like a rim leak. Depending on where the wheel is oriented when you stop, If you happen to park with the leaky part down, the slight deformation of the sidewall at the bottom is enough to make it seal. Otherwise, it will leak. Rex in Fort Worth

Reply to
Rex B

Occasionally this happens with a puncture. It will leak only when a certain portion of the tire is on the ground.

Reply to
Al Smith

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