Storing a vehicle for the winter, trying to pressurize the tires; they are at around 24 psi now with the 30 deg weather. However, the tire won't take air; it's actually happening with 2 of them. They're not getting any lower so they are not flat I assume. Valve stem? I already checked that the o-ring from the valve cap is not stuck down the valve shaft.
That would be where i would start. Unscrew the valve core, air should come out unrestricted. Replace with a new one and inflate. I use a jack or put blocks under the car to keep the tire from going completely flat and the rim doing damage to the tire.
I'm hoping you checked the obvious. Frozen valve stems or air line could be the problem. My dad had a Buick that had a chrome strip down the middle of the hood which allowed rain water to fall on the air cleaner lid and find an open valve in the rear driver side cylinder. We had a hard freeze and the water froze in the cylinder. Dad pulled the plugs and found ice on that one. He heated oil and used an oil can to inject into the cylinder which melted the water. He cranked it after a while and blew out the mixture. Plugs back in and good to go.
I think I covered these bases... So if I use a tiny screwdriver (carefully) and push in the valve center the valve will let out air. Air line? As in line coming from compressor? I filled up 2 tires ok, 2 are stubborn. The air chuck should not be the issue since all stems are the same. I did order a better air line just to rule out the chuck (maybe it's marginally working on 2 of the valves and not on the others). Here's a question - would it be possible for a valve that lets out air to NOT let in air if properly activated? I can't see how...but.
Also check the valve stem threads at the top. Perhaps a few got bent or the top of the valve stem is bent a bit and is oblong instead of a "perfect circle" and prevents the chuck from fitting down far enough to open the valve. I have had 1 such stem in my life and I couldn't "see" why the one chuck didn't fit on correctly, but other chucks seemed to work fine.
it is impotant to identify what type of gas was used... some mfg and tire places use nitrogen rather than air... high octane nitrogen is most often recommended... mixing the 2 could start a mixture issue... then there is the issue of freezing temps, if inflating during a freeze... also chuck valves become inop if not lubed
Yes, but those of us "analytical" types with OCD would like to know why. Can those chucks be that variable?
Had the same issue the other day with one of those ripoff $1.00 for 5 minutes air machines at a service station. Car was my DD Infiniti G37, and the chuck wouldn't depress the Schrader valve sufficiently until I forced it down on the stem as far as it would go. If I "rocked" the chuck at all, it would stop filling.
And this is why I never encourage people to work on their own car. Too many cant air up tires and argue when you tell them why.
I had the same problem. What I found was that the pin in the chuck was broken and as a result would not push down the valve on the tire. The pin was still there but was damaged.
I just have a hard time believing this post isn't for fun. I can't see it being a technical problem on a Ferrari form. Chuck this , chuck that , frozen valve , bent stem , yata , yata. This sound like a post for ford escort.
I'm wondering if the compressor is in fact running!!!! This could be the answer. Oh wait....the hose!!!!!!
I have a still further source for potential malfunction. Maybe the manometer is defective and you are filling and filling air in, without noticing until the tire blasts.
What is the temp of the outside air ? This could be a "hot air" issue .... as in not full of hot air.
Wow guys I didn't realize this would generate so many responses...here's the situation to see why this was puzzling and worth the 30 seconds to put a post up ;-) 3 cars side by side, 12 wheels between them. Temperature inside the garage ~40 deg. Goal - over-inflate the wheels for the duration of the winter (somewhere in the 40 psi? range) to that the tires are less likely to have flat spots. Compressor was holding pressure at around 50-55 psi. 10 out of the 12 wheels inflated fine; the reading is done via an external digital gauge for confirmation that showed they took in air normally/etc. 2 out of the 12 wheels (or 2 of 4 of the same car) had the issue I posted about. For this particular car all wheels started at around 25 PSI but like said - 2 of them would not take any air, also heard no hissing/etc. (normally when air goes in this is heard, and so is heard if there's a leak letting air out at the same rate that you put it in ). Seemed puzzling enough to me...
