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John Stott · 12-13-2020, 06:03 PM

I have a mystery flat on one of my inner duals. In the spring of 2019 when I took the MH out of storage after a long winter, I noticed that one of my inner duals was at 60 LBS instead of the usual 85. When raised the air pressure to 85 LBS, it stayed that way (without losing any air) until the fall of 2019 when I returned it to storage (all tires at 85 lbs) then again in the spring 2020, coming out of storage, that same inner dual was at 60 lbs. Again no air pressure lost all summer. How can the tire not lose any air all summer yet lose 25 lbs when in storage? FYI - No visible damage to the tire. Spray bottle with soapy water yields no issues either. - What gives? Is it an issue with the rim?

Any thoughts, I asked a tire shop and they say they would take the tire off the rim and put it on again, to see?

Any thoughts? Any similar experiences?

tvp · 12-13-2020, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Stott

I have a mystery flat on one of my inner duals. In the spring of 2019 when I took the MH out of storage after a long winter, I noticed that one of my inner duals was at 60 LBS instead of the usual 85. When raised the air pressure to 85 LBS, it stayed that way (without losing any air) until the fall of 2019 when I returned it to storage (all tires at 85 lbs) then again in the spring 2020, coming out of storage, that same inner dual was at 60 lbs. Again no air pressure lost all summer. How can the tire not lose any air all summer yet lose 25 lbs when in storage? FYI - No visible damage to the tire. Spray bottle with soapy water yields no issues either. - What gives? Is it an issue with the rim?

Any thoughts, I asked a tire shop and they say they would take the tire off the rim and put it on again, to see?

Any thoughts? Any similar experiences?

Same issue ..... following

Domo · 12-13-2020, 07:12 PM

Not too many components to troubleshoot - valve stem, valve core, tire, rim (and TPMS if you have one).

I'd remove any stem-mounted TPMS first if no TPMS I'd change the valve core- cheap and easy to do and you can do it yourself with a simple tool from the local auto parts store.

After that it'd be time to pull the tire, inspect the rim and tire, change the valve stem, remount and pressure test.

If you had balance beads, dust may have gotten into the valve stem causing the core to seat improperly thus making a very slow leak. Or, if you have some fancy "dually" valve setup that fills both tires (etc. etc) then that could be suspect - but it doesn't sound like you have anything very exotic - just one tire that loses air when sitting.

Let us know what you find - even if it takes another season of storage to verify your actions...

Arch Hoagland · 12-13-2020, 08:33 PM

Had the same intermittent loss of air on a rear 22.5 "tire, Went to a place that specializes in truck tires. They put it in a big tub of water and discovered the valve stem was defective.

They said it's a fairly common problem so they took the tire off the rim and replaced the valve stem. That was about three years ago and it's been fine ever since.

ArtJoyce · 12-13-2020, 08:42 PM

Had about same issue went to the tire shop. They found a valve leak around the valve seal to the rim. They took it apart and installed new seals. $50

Old-Biscuit · 12-13-2020, 10:41 PM

Valve stem .... valve stem seal

Why slow leak ONLY in storage??

Leak is a leak......they don't heal then leak/heal then leak

Somebody at storage messing with you??

MN_Traveler · 12-14-2020, 07:28 AM

I had that happen. It was a nail in tire. Did not leak during the summer, but did in winter storage. Weird, but that is what happened.

ArtJoyce · 12-14-2020, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old-Biscuit

Valve stem .... valve stem seal

Why slow leak ONLY in storage??

Not sure. Was it colder in the winter and it did not seal as well?

What I think I was doing, but did not recognize. Was as winter approached and temps dropped. I'm always adding air to all the tires just about every trip out. Maybe I was adding a few more lbs to that one tire because of the leak and did not notice it. But after a long winter hibernate all the tires were low by about 10 lbs, but that tire was down by about 25-30 lbs.

akcampr · 12-14-2020, 04:24 PM

I have a tire that was doing something similar. Took it to a truck tire shop to get the valve stem replaced. They took the tire off and found the original label hadn’t been cleaned off the bead completely. Tire only leaked if parked just right on the label... they cleaned the tire and remounted it. No more leak so far.

dieselclacker · 12-14-2020, 08:16 PM

Metal valve stem leaking due to effect cold temperature has on metal. (Contracts) Check it when it’s cold by spraying with a soapy solution around the installation nut and looking for bubbles.If this proves to be the case, try snugging the stem nut up a bit, then re check with the soap solution. I have fixed both a front and an inner rear wheel on my rig by doing this.