Lesson Learned - Leaking Valve Stem Core

[dale farley]

I was checking the air in my tires in preparation for the trip to St Louis when one of my valve cores stuck open. I tried pushing it several times with no luck and eventually the tire went completely flat. I went to NAPA and bought a pack of stems and replaced the leaking one. Unfortunately, the tire had settled and partially separated from the rim. I had Paulette hold the air chuck on the valve while I tried to pull the tire close enough to the rim for it to inflate. No luck.

Called my Good Sam Road Service and they told me they would only send someone if I wanted to replace the tire. They would not send someone to get it back on the rim and air it up.

It was getting late so I called my local tire repair shop and they sent a truck to make the repairs. The mechanic attached a tire chuck that held itself in place while air was flowing through the line, then he used the blaster to blow the tire back on the rim. Took about 10 minutes for the whole operation. Cost $119.
He then told me that I could have probably just connected my air chuck to the stuck valve and blown air in the tire and the core would have reseated and stopped leaking. I'm sure some of you already knew this, but I didn't.

But if one of yours starts leaking, remember to try blowing air back through it and see if that re-seats the valve core. The mechanic said they get stuck many times because when you pull or push the gauge on the tire it causes the core to get a little off centered and therefore, does not seat when you release it.

[JIM KELLER]

Dale, do you have Equal in your tires ? I have heard of this happening when a particle from inside gets stuck in the valve core. The actual stem of the valve core is very small and can get bent to the side and cause the problem you described. I feel sorry for Paulette. I just know she took the blame for the whole thing !

[dale farley]

Jim,

The balancing media was also my first thought, but I didn't see anything on the core when I removed it. Of course it could have fallen out by then. I have some kind of newer stuff that does the same as equal but is not supposed to gum up or stick my valve core. Maybe it doesn't do what it is supposed to do. Or maybe it did what it is not supposed to do!

Of course it had to be the outer drive wheel with the valve stem turned backwards and the end of it in the little round hole, so it was fun getting the core out and back in. Your people probably have more experience with this type situation than the mechanic who worked on mine, but he said it was a fairly common occurrence. He said the more times you pull (since mine was backwards) the chuck to check the air or if you wiggle it while doing it, the more apt it is to get it off centered when the spring returns the core to its seat. That does make sense when you look at the seat of the core.

[Gil_J]

Dale, why are your valve stems on your outer drives turned toward their wheel hole? Turn them. There is no reason they have to be positioned that way.

Equal requires a special valve core. I wonder if the media you are using should use the same.

Another not so Good Sam story. I, like many, switched to Coach Net. I did so after talking to a contracted commercial tow operator. He said GS would force him to dispatch a wrecker that was too small first and then hassle him when he said it would require heavier equipment.

Have a safe trip,

[dale farley]

Gil,

I'm not sure why they positioned the valve stems that way. I'm also not sure if I have room to turn them without breaking the tire down.

[Gil_J]

You don't need to break the tire down, but you will most likely have to take the air out. Get a 2x12 that you can pull the inner dual up on or just put a jack under the chassis and you should be able to take the air out without any fear of the tire bead breaking.

[cthalfman]

I had a similar issue. As Gil indicated they make valve stems with filters on them for the media. I had all of my stems replaced by Boulevard tire when I had one leak down to zero and unbead.

I have also placed inflate through double seal caps on all of my stems. They will hold a seal even if the valve stem sticks open.

The tech indicated the same thing. Put the air chuck on to clear out the media.

[Bacon]

When checking tires, I always squirt a little air in first. If there is anything around the inside of the shrader valve it will blow into the tire and not hang up the valve.