tire won't accept air

[Number_35]

Hello all, I hope you can help me with a strange tire problem.

A friend was visiting this morning, and while preparing to leave noticed that the rear driver's side tire on her '97 Chevy half-ton was low. I confirmed with a gauge that it was down around 13 PSI.

Fired up the compressor, but was unable to get the tire to take air. Figured the valve was frozen (it's - 6 C here) and removed it. Tried to confirm that it was a valve problem by shooting some air into the tire with the valve removed, and couldn't do that either.

(The valve worked fine in letting air out before I removed it.)

So, I took a bicycle spoke and pushed it right through the valve stem into the tire. No problem. (But wondered if I'd knocked out some ice while doing so.)

Tried to put air into the tire again, both with and without the valve installed - no go.

Finally put the spare on for her. (No problem with my compressor/hose/tire-inflator thingy taking the spare pressure from c. 20 up to 35 PSI.) She'll take the flat tire to her regular shop, and I am most curious as to what the mechanic finds. This one has me stumped. Thoughts from anyone? Thanks in advance.

 

[tony1679]

FWIW, all 4 of my mom's tires were low recently. Our local 7-Elevens offer free air, so I took a gauge and went to inflate them. The front two aired up just fine. The rears wouldn't take air. I thought either the valve cores were bad, or the compressor just quit. So I took it to another store a mile away. Same problem, rears wouldn't inflate. So I told my mom my best guess was the valve cores somehow are bad, and to go have them changed out (local tire shop does them for free). She went and they tried to inflate them first. Sure enough, they took air just fine. I also tried the same two compressors on my car the same day, no issues inflating. I think some compressors (specifically their hose attachments) matched with some valve stems/cores just don't work. No clue why.

 

[ragtoplvr]

Metal bent on the end of the stem

some tire chucks are not made to standard and do not depress the core. The old plastic extensions they used to use can be screwed on and then the tire will take air.

Rod

 

[Astro14]

Except that the OP said he removed the core...right?

So, should be an open passage at that point...

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted by Astro14
Except that the OP said he removed the core...right?

So, should be an open passage at that point...

ya at that point he should have had a real big leak.

 

[Number_35]

Originally Posted by Astro14
Except that the OP said he removed the core...right?

So, should be an open passage at that point...

Correct, and that allowed me to insert the spoke, which should have cleared out any obstruction or at least made a passageway large enough to allow at least a bit of air to pass through.

 

[CapriRacer]

The problem is the inflator, not the valve. Sometimes they go bad and sometimes they don't allow air through.

 

[andyd]

Aired up 3 sets of tires using SIL's rig from HF. It has a wonky gauge . Finally rooted around and found a plain one. I would have stolen a valve core from a bike tire. Both of my gauges agree. Tpms goes off at a 3.5 psi loss. 10%. It is good nanny ware.

 

[Linctex]

Originally Posted by CapriRacer
The problem is the inflator, not the valve. Sometimes they go bad and sometimes they don't allow air through.


THIS

except - pulling the valve core out should've flattened the tire in 30 seconds.

 

[Number_35]

Originally Posted by Linctex
Originally Posted by CapriRacer
The problem is the inflator, not the valve. Sometimes they go bad and sometimes they don't allow air through.


THIS

except - pulling the valve core out should've flattened the tire in 30 seconds.

I had the truck jacked part-way up at that point, with most of the weight off that tire. I let most of the air out by pressing on the valve no problem, so there was very little pressure when I unscrewed the valve.

I wonder if there was some issue of compatibility between the inflator and that particular valve/stem assembly. As I said earlier, the same inflator worked fine to take the spare up to spec.

If I were to do it again, I'd try my bike pump on it to see if the tire would accept air from it. (Would have taken half an hour, though.)

 

[Linctex]

Time for them to just put a new 99 cent valve stem in and be done with it

 

[tcp71]

When you removed the valve stem, you removed the pin that releases air from your chuck so no way to fill the tire. The Schroeder valve center pin didn't bottom out due to being bent or seated down too far to press the release on your inflator. Sometimes you need to press harder or replace the stem with a longer pin version.

 

[Number_35]

I'm wishing now that I'd gone ahead and replaced the bad valve anyway. I have new spares, and lot of old bike inner tubes. Will find out next week when we see her again.