lndwarrior
Well Known Member
Tire went flat. Refilled and it went flat over night.
Then I made my first mistake. With a very little air in the tire I put put some spit on the valve. It showed no sign of leakage. At the time I did not have a valve stem tool, and did not try and tighten the valve stem.
The important step I forgot before I removed the tire was to refill with air and retest the valve.
Then I assumed I had a bad tube and went and removed the tire. I then tested the tube for leakage in a dunk tank.
Testing the partially inflated tube in the dunk tank with the valve stem now tightenen I could find no leak in the tube.
The tube is an Aero Classic Leakguard.
I am now inclined to believe that the problem was the valve stem which I will replace. The only thing that still raises some concern is the strange bulges in the tube itself. See the attached pic. One of the bulges appears to have a small pinhole looking anomaly on the surface. I am wondering if there is some issue because of these bulges in the tube and whether there may still be a leak that would not be identified by partially inflating the tube.
I am trying to make certain before I put the tire back on the plane and then have another flat. The tube is no more than about two years old any plane only has 130 hours on it.
What do you think?
https://photos.app.goo.gl/1Iu74t9KHvEqZdmw2
Then I made my first mistake. With a very little air in the tire I put put some spit on the valve. It showed no sign of leakage. At the time I did not have a valve stem tool, and did not try and tighten the valve stem.
The important step I forgot before I removed the tire was to refill with air and retest the valve.
Then I assumed I had a bad tube and went and removed the tire. I then tested the tube for leakage in a dunk tank.
Testing the partially inflated tube in the dunk tank with the valve stem now tightenen I could find no leak in the tube.
The tube is an Aero Classic Leakguard.
I am now inclined to believe that the problem was the valve stem which I will replace. The only thing that still raises some concern is the strange bulges in the tube itself. See the attached pic. One of the bulges appears to have a small pinhole looking anomaly on the surface. I am wondering if there is some issue because of these bulges in the tube and whether there may still be a leak that would not be identified by partially inflating the tube.
I am trying to make certain before I put the tire back on the plane and then have another flat. The tube is no more than about two years old any plane only has 130 hours on it.
What do you think?
https://photos.app.goo.gl/1Iu74t9KHvEqZdmw2
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