Bicycle Pump Trouble Shooting & Pump Repair
00:15 Pump gauge goes way up but no air into tir
00:40 Air leak around pump attachment to valve
01:16 No air flow: Repair / Replace pump piston o-ring gasket
04:32 No air flow: Silca type pumps – Recondition / Replace felt piston head
04:52 No air flow: Chuck Replacement
08:38 No air flow: Topeak Smart Head (chuck and tubing replacement kit)
Quick Fix that you can do:
1. Most common it to push down on bicycle floor pump handle but no air goes into tire and gauge pressure goes way up: Presta valves are notorious for sticking preventing air flow. Remove the chuck (pump head) and tap the valve. Then re-pump.
2. Another problem is leaking bicycle pump. Reconnect the pump chuck and try again. If that fails and air is leaking out around the valve, most likely the rubber gasket inside of the chuck is worn. We show you a quick fix with Teflon tape (plumbers’ tape in the upper right).
3. Push down on pump handle but no air flow and gauge is still on 0. Remove the bike pump cylinder head and look at the gasket at the end of the pump rod. If it’s a small rubber gasket in fair to good condition, use some silicon synthetic grease on the O-ring gasket. Most other greases contain petroleum products that may deteriorate the rubber. If you don’t have a silicon grease, I suppose you can try some Vaseline. Try once more. If the rubber gasket is worn, you’ll need to measure it and order one from the pump manufacturer or take it to your local bike or hardware store to get an exact replacement. Remove the old gasket and replace with the new. Again, grease as shown before.
4. If you have a Silca pump, look at the leather gasket at the end of the pump rod. It may well have seen better days. Measure the diameter of the gasket. You can order a replacement (which will be slightly larger than your measurement since the gasket is worn) for under $5. Here how to replace the gasket.
Silca:
Silca Pump Head:
Can used leather conditioner, Vaseline, or high-quality synthetic motor oil
731 leather gaskets
Work in the conditioner until you can turn it inside out. Go slow working in the conditioner so you won’t tear the gasket when turn it inside out.
Put on washer, do not force over threads but turn it as if you were screwing it on
Tighten with ratcheted firmly.
Guide the leather gasket in starting at one edge of the gasket
4. Check the pump tubing for wear and cracks. Replacement kits including tubing and chuck (pump head) are available from Topeak (on Amazon or about $35).
5. If the tubing looks good, pump while looking at and feeling around the chuck. If you notice problems with the chuck itself, replacements can be obtained of eBay for less than $5. We take a closer look at chuck replacement. We show you how to replace chuck head and problems you may encounter
6. Topeak Smart Head Kit (chuck and tubing replacement):
The kit allows replacement of the tubing & chuck and with multiple adapters. In addition you’ll need a 14 mm box wrench, pliers (optional), and silicon grease. As previously mentioned, one can substitute Vaseline or a light synthetic motor oil but stay away from other petroleum products that may damage the rubber of the tubing or gaskets. Attach the Presta or Schrader adapter in the valve head. At the other end, place the plastic locknut on the Smart Head tubing, small end first. Lubricate the SmartHead connector and attach to the smart hose as shown. There are instructions on using their adapters for connecting the hose directly to the pump base which have been able to do but the adapters don’t always have the correct threading to allow this. The way to connect the SmartHead is to cut the pump tubing, slide on the stainless-steel clamp. Lubricate the HCI lubricated adapter and insert into the cut end of the tubing and then move the clamp up and tighten. Lubricate the threads of the SmartHead adapter and screw in place (a little tricky since the entire housing and pump head must turn). Other options are shown in the instructions. My overall rating: Costly and not always work
Oh no my pump doesn’t work but before You rush out and buy a new one we have Some quick easy fixes To go to the particular problem that you Have take a look at the top of our Description you can jump right to it Probably the most common problem we run Into is we go to pump the tire and get a Lot of resistance and with this Resistance to clumping the gauge goes Sky High Press the valves are notorious For sticking so Give it a few Taps before you go And place the chuck on If you notice as you pump air is leaking Out around where the Chuck attaches to The valve Good bet You have a problem with the gasket and The pump Chuck itself And we show you in the upper right hand Corner of Quick Fix or at least this Type of pump If you have A dual Type of pump such as this get a little Closer you can see we’ll link to a quick Fix by RJ the bike guy at the end of the Video With this particular pump when I go to Pump it very little air comes out and There’s a few things that we need to Check First off examine the tubing and the
Chuck look for any deterioration cracks Brakes which may indicate that we need To replace the tubing or Chuck in this Case it looks pretty good the easiest Thing to do is go ahead and remove the Cylinder head sometimes they’re attached By two bolts on either side in this case It looks like it just screws off Foreign Examine the end of the Piston In this case we have a rubber O-ring We’ll go ahead and remove that O-ring And take a look Sometimes these O-rings can either Fray Can break or deteriorate and you can Replace these O-rings either from the Manufacturer I’ve been taken down to my Local bike store or hardware store and Found exact duplicates to replace this Go ahead and clean it if it looks pretty Good and this one does And we’ll clean the end of the Piston Head also just a clean Microfiber cloth I usually stay away From Such things as degreasers Because Degreaser will deteriorate the Rubber or anything that comes in contact With the rubber Often I’ll stretch it and make it Unusable so just use a clean cloth This looks pretty good A little dried
Out And we’ll go ahead and coat the end With some In this case we’ll use silicon lubricant Especially made for O-rings I usually stay away from most petroleum Products of other types because they may Deteriorate The rubber itself as the Degreaser does The Silicon grease is good you if you Don’t have that you can use Vaseline or A synthetic light motor oil Go ahead and Really grease it up nicely With our in this case we’re using a Silicon And then we’ll go ahead and reinsert This Carefully line up the plunger Rod Vertically with the cylinder Insert it And either a Bolton or in this case Screw on the top firmly but don’t over Tighten we don’t want to break the Top plastic of the cylinder and then we Can go ahead and test it out I’m getting much better airflow having Lubricated the O-ring If this doesn’t do the trick We’re gonna have to look at other means By the way if the gasket at the end of The Piston is a leather gasket as we see In most silica pumps These are treated and handled in an
Entirely different way especially if They’re worn as this one is and we Address that in a video in the upper Right Foreign And cylinder look fine the tubing is not Cracked But you have a problem with the pump Chuck it is possible To obtain a new Chuck for just several Dollars They’re made in China by the way and Depending on where you buy them If they’re present here in the U.S and You have it shipped you’ll get in a few Days their shipped from China will be a Few months To just replace the Chuck head you need To unscrew it in most cases And down inside There is a safety pin that keeps the Tubing locked onto the Chuck and that Needs to be removed and that could be a Little feet in itself There we go it’s that could be tough and It’s tough Let’s remove that lock nut Some come with a lock nut some do not If they don’t obviously a lock nut that Was on there won’t fit either of these So you do want to get a lock nut first Problem that was presented to us when we Tried this on several pumps is that the Tubing would not fit through the
The lock nut itself on this one We can get it to fit We can Place the Chuck head in Tighten the lock nut Remembering that we don’t have the Safety pin that will keep the tubing From blowing off See if we can tighten this up The Pump seems tubing seems secure the pump Is Unlocked in the upright position when You use it you press it down to lock it Onto the Either straighter or press the Our biggest problems that you’ll run Into is once a while this is just not Secure enough because it doesn’t have The Locking pin and the tubing will just Blow off the end or as we see in some Cases the tubing will not fit the lock Nut or I can’t really screw it on any More than this let’s try the other with This lock nut See if we cannot do it See if we can remove the chuck which Again seems pretty secure We’ll try the other Goes on a little easier That’s about as far as I can get it Again this second pump head also from China
You the open position is like this and You lock it by turning it up just the Opposite of the other you’ll just have To fool with it It was Secure and we were able to pump The tire but again on some pumps when You use this you may blow off the tubing Uh you may not be able to get the tubing In the lock nut But for a few dollars might be worth a Try Another option available to us is the Tow pack pump repair kit which includes A pump Chuck either as a smart head Recognizing either Presta or Schrader or A dual head tubing number of adapters to Hook it up to your pump or existing Tubing and instructions The problems I have had with this is When it does hook up The lever can be really stiff difficult To use when using the dual head when you Throw the pump Lever in Either direction it seems to lose a lot Of air out the other side unless you do It really quickly Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t For thirty dollars not sure really pays To even give it a try but I’ll leave That up to you Below subscribe to keep up with our Latest videos this is Tony of 2010 speed Safe cycling
