Leaky Stans valve

Hi there

I’m a new Stan’s user and can’t get the valve to stop leaking. I’m doing the Andalucia Bike Race in Feb, would love to use my Podium rims but not sure I can trust them. Any advice would be much appreciated. Tim (www.puremountains.com)

Have you filed the excess tape from the valve hole, if you leave flappy bits they can leak

You mean air is leaking around the valve? You might need to take the valve out, put a bit more tape over, pop the valve back in, tighten it up (finger tight), and then pop some sealant in.

Leaking at the rim hole or is it the valve itself? Are you following the instructions?

http://www.notubes.com/helpcenter.aspx

I had one on a flow that was the same cured it with some ptfe tape in the end, been like that for 6 months and no leaks

Tim,
You big girl, put down the man bag and use both hands to tighten them up

Are they the round valve end or the square ones? I found the square ones rubbish but just tightened up the round ones as much as i could by hand then the sealant did its job

I had a leaky Stans valve and in attempting to tighten it up enough managed to pull it right through the rim (no tools being used either).

If the leak is at the base of the valve it could be you’ve damaged the sealing tape somewhere around the rim, so as you add air it goes through the damaged bit then the pressure drives it out the only place it can escape – the base of the valve.

Don’t ask me how I know this. Ahem.

An improvised rubber gasket cut from an old inner tube and placed around the valve stem fixed the leak for me.

Just to be clear- is it the valve leaking, or the seal between the valve and rim?

Thanks for all the replies – particularly you Mr Wade.
The air is escaping from around the valve stem, as if the valve hasn’t seated in the rim properly. The tape doesn’t appear torn and the valve is a Stan’s one. Sealant hasn’t sealed it.
A puzzle.

The air is escaping from around the valve stem, as if the valve hasn’t seated in the rim properly.

Can you get the tyre inflated OK and then a leak over time? Or will it simply not inflate?

If the latter, when that happened to me it was a slit in the tape.

Decent layer of grease around the valve before you insert it through the rim, simples 🙂

Check the valve core isn’t loose. Happened to me.

Tyre going up then…down. I’ll try the grease James.
Cheers.

Weirdly I’m having exactly the same issue. I’ve checked the tape, all looks good, the tyre goes up but then deflates over time. The air is coming out around the valve – not from the valve.

Stans tape, valves, Flows.

I’ve stuck tubes in now as per the instructions – what? If I followed instructions first time this wouldn’t be my forum of choice now would it? ;D

I’ll see how it goes tomorrow when i take the tubes out.

Any tips on valve installation other than the grease – is it as simple as jamming them in or is there more finesse / technique to it? 🙂

Don’t overtighten it, is the main thing- if the plug deforms it can open up a hole (or pull right through the hole in the rim!)

Also, really be sure you’re following the instructions 😉

One thing that nobody seems to mention is that if you have a hole in the tape anywhere around the rim, it’ll let air (and sealant) into the rim bed, which will then come out at the valve hole. So leaking at the valve hole doesn’t neccessarily mean a problem at the valve hole.

I had a similar problem once. It was a slowish leak that I eventually traced by sticking the wheel in the bath to identify the source. Reseated the valve by sticking a small piece of insulation tape over the valve hole then pushing the valve through to form a better seal and adding more Stansted. Has been fine ever since. As North wind says also check the whole tape for holes and reapply if need be be.

Sorted! Found a tiny tear in the rim tape, repaired it with electrical tape, added some grease around the valve and….no leaks. Thanks everyone.
Tim [www.puremountains.com]