Leak finding tips

[Short_Bus]

Any suggestions for finding a slowish leak? I've been losing 1-2 psi per day but haven't found any obvious leaks.

My plan is to use a soapy water mixture and add air. How much pressure do you use? More than the standard pressure I run it at? It is a p-metric a/t tire.

Any other suggestions?

 

[Brian123]

Any suggestions for finding a slowish leak? I've been losing 1-2 psi per day but haven't found any obvious leaks.

My plan is to use a soapy water mixture and add air. How much pressure do you use? More than the standard pressure I run it at? It is a p-metric a/t tire.

Any other suggestions?

Same thing happened to me, no nail in tire. My neighbor did the soapy water thing from a Windex Bottle, and there was a small tear in the tire and he plugged it up. Just take the tire off and do the spray bottle thing. You might also check the Valve Stem!

 

[Sequoiasoon]

In a big wash bin that whole tire can dip in. Some use pool, bathtub etc. just something you can submerge the whole thing or good sections in case it's a rim leak.

The soapy water works if patient. Could be rim corrosion, leaking TPMS gaskets, leaking valve core also. I had a valve core that was slightly loose after 3-4 years one winter tire/rim. The valve cap with O-ring actually maintained most of it. I check all the time and the one fall I went to check, removed cap and got HISSSSSS.

This is different car. Had seals replaced, no issues.

 

[Lubener]

Any suggestions for finding a slowish leak? I've been losing 1-2 psi per day but haven't found any obvious leaks.

My plan is to use a soapy water mixture and add air. How much pressure do you use? More than the standard pressure I run it at? It is a p-metric a/t tire.

Any other suggestions?

You can fill it up to the max as listed on the sidewall and the soapy water you already mentioned. Don't overlook the valve.

 

[mk378]

Use normal pressure. More pressure might actually stop some leaks by pressing the tire onto the rim. I've also seen rim leaks that only happen when the leaky place is distorted by the weight of the car. Park with that side up and it does not leak.

 

[Short_Bus]

Follow-up:

Found the leak! I was seconds away from giving up then saw extra bubbles.

The problem I found with the soap method is I had bubbles everywhere so didn't understand how I was going to find bubbles from a leak. But as the initial bubbles subsided, the leak created new ones.

 

[Traction]

Some small pinhole leaks from 22 years' experience fixing hundreds of leaky tires only showed up at low pressure like 5psi. At high pressure the air can shoot through a small hole at a higher velocity and not make a bubble at all. It's like blowing kids bubbles, if you blow too hard you get nothing.

 

[Kestas]

After 10 or 15 years, corrosion at the bead starts to become common. lay the tire flat and flow soapy water into the bead. Any leak will slowly start to foam. Try to flow the solution onto the area in a way to prevent bubbles, which can interfere with diagnosis.