# Leaks



## 462222 (Apr 28, 2009)

How many of you guys have small leaks?
My rear bags leak probably 5psi over 20min of driving. No big deal, I just add some air and adjust. 

Not sure if it's worth re doing my rear fittings. 

Anyone else just deal with it?


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## rgarjr (May 19, 2012)

that sounds like a large leak. I would try to find it. Does it dump all overnite?


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## Falut (Aug 19, 2011)

Yea... That is a large leak. My air tank will empty to 1/4th pressure from full when left over night (and I know which plug is leaking, just haven't fixed it yet) but my bags don't leak at all, even over night


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## 462222 (Apr 28, 2009)

Ahhhh ok. Ill re do the fittings on the rears :thumbdown:


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## 462222 (Apr 28, 2009)

Went and re did them. Problem solved.


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## gtipwnz (Jun 6, 2010)

I lose about an inch of height on my rear left corner over 24 hours, but it doesn't bug me and it hasn't gotten worse in a year. :thumbup:


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## DoctorDoctor (Oct 18, 2006)

To the OP, glad you got it fixed :thumbup:

In the cold, my tank loses a couple of PSI, but now in the summer my pressures stay where I leave them :thumbup:


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## TuckinLow (May 12, 2012)

Rather than making a new thread. Bump

I have been trying to track down a small leak in my tank (~15 PSI over night). And I just can't seem to locate it. I've sprayed all of my fittings with soapy water and don't see any bubbles. Was wondering if there is something that I could put in my tank that will come out of the leaks so I could finally hunt this down. I have a VU4 manifold with the 5 gallon aluminum skinny tank with 2 SMC water traps. Don't want any of that to get damaged obviously. Any help is appreciated, Thanks.


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## soulrack (Apr 3, 2011)

TuckinLow said:


> Rather than making a new thread. Bump
> 
> I have been trying to track down a small leak in my tank (~15 PSI over night). And I just can't seem to locate it. I've sprayed all of my fittings with soapy water and don't see any bubbles. Was wondering if there is something that I could put in my tank that will come out of the leaks so I could finally hunt this down. I have a VU4 manifold with the 5 gallon aluminum skinny tank with 2 SMC water traps. Don't want any of that to get damaged obviously. Any help is appreciated, Thanks.


 Are you sure the leak is in the tank and not between the line going to your manifold? I installed an SMC check valve today due to a similar situation as yours. After a few hours it seems the leak was not in my tank but the manifold. Won't know for sure till I let the car sit overnight.


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## TuckinLow (May 12, 2012)

dubb34r said:


> Are you sure the leak is in the tank and not between the line going to your manifold? I installed an SMC check valve today due to a similar situation as yours. After a few hours it seems the leak was not in my tank but the manifold. Won't know for sure till I let the car sit overnight.


 Do you have the VU4 manifold? am not sure how prone to leaking they are, but I did make sure the line going into the manifold was cut straight and set all the way into the PTC.


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## baconfenders (Dec 16, 2010)

germanbycar said:


> Went and re did them. Problem solved.


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## soulrack (Apr 3, 2011)

TuckinLow said:


> Do you have the VU4 manifold? am not sure how prone to leaking they are, but I did make sure the line going into the manifold was cut straight and set all the way into the PTC.


 No I've got the V2 manifold.


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## DGK_KGD (Nov 11, 2010)

one of my supply lines going into my VU4 manifold is pushing it at just the right angle to cause it to leak slowly overnight.... so instead of rerunning an entire line im just waiting for a PTC union to extend the line a little and allow it to go into the mani straight on... so i hope this is the problem :screwy:


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## TuckinLow (May 12, 2012)

I just went out today and had a heyday with some soapy water. I sprayed every fitting twice. My last problem was a leaky water trap at the bottom due to corrosion had that replaced and I checked it again just to make sure and the new trap is leaking the same exact way. So I drained the tank and retightened that trap so we'll see how that goes. Hopefully it seals this time since it is a brand new trap.


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## bryangb (Jun 16, 2010)

No tank leaks. I do have a very slight leak in one of my rear bags though. One day when I'm not lazy I'll redo the fitting and make sure its properly sealed


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## Andy P (Jan 6, 2007)

bryangb said:


> No tank leaks. I do have a very slight leak in one of my rear bags though. One day when I'm not lazy I'll redo the fitting and make sure its properly sealed


 x2 pass rear - but if I leave mine air'd up over night that one bag will be air'd out... need to fix that before h2o


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## soulrack (Apr 3, 2011)

Instead of clogging up this thread 
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthre...with-the-AutoPilot-v2&p=78878730#post78878730 
I'm moving my conversation over here. 



Piso said:


> Did you use tape or loctite?


 I've used both. Tape the first time, second time another brand like loctite, then back to tape this time around the pink teflon. Ordered Loctite 545 last night. Planning on doing the soapy water *again to see what I find this time around. 



Squirrel Nuts said:


> It more than likely didn't gain any air. There's more weight on that corner because of the loss of air in the other corner so the pressure becomes higher. If you were to air up the corner that leaked it would probably go back to where it was before you left it.


 Don't know about that since the difference in PSI is more than 10. But mainly car was parked on my driveway which is pretty steep. Front of the car was more on the decline and the rear on the more leveled section... so the cars weight is much more up front. 



Squirrel Nuts said:


> It may have been asked already but did you cut the end of the airlines evenly and cleanly?? If they're not even, you'll have all kinds of air leak out of there. FWIW, I had an issue with a leak and asked Air Lift for some extra 90 degree PTC that go in the manifold and it fixed my problem. I'm sure they'll get you squared away though.


 Yeah I've cut the lines numerious times now. I did have a few of them that weren't as evenly as I had originally thought. I have the same elbow PTC you're talking about that connect the lines to the manifold. I've always tried not using those at all, same results. Will mentioned I could also have a very small pinhole in the tank itself. 

Obviously I'm doing something wrong. It's mind boggling I've recut, refitted everything 3 separate times now and I can't get a single bag to hold air?


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## soulrack (Apr 3, 2011)

Looks like my fittings had been turned way too tight during the initial install. Possibly to the point of damaging some if not all of them. Running out tomorrow to buy all new fittings for the tank and start from there.


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## iowarabbit (Mar 29, 2007)

my pressure slowly drops about 10psi from max fill and then seems to stabilize. immediately loses a couple (no big surprise there, valves aren't instantaneous) but then it works its way down from 173 to the mid-160's within the hour. held there for a few hours until I started playing with it. this is with an ob2 compressor and autopilot v2 manifold, running in manual mode with just the fronts. bags hold pressure like a champ, and only had one obvious tank leak that I already tended to. maybe the Loctite is still working its way around to make a positive seal since things are still fresh.


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## 20vtVdubb (Feb 27, 2008)

I lose about 100lbs from my tank overnight. just a couple like 3lbs from 2 of my stuts. I sprayed every port of my tank with soapy water and could not any bubbles. where else do i look?


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## iowarabbit (Mar 29, 2007)

20vtVdubb said:


> I lose about 100lbs from my tank overnight. just a couple like 3lbs from 2 of my stuts. I sprayed every port of my tank with soapy water and could not any bubbles. where else do i look?


 bad manifold? what setup are you running? the 3 lb change is more than likely just lower air temp. PV=nRT (ideal gas law). n and R are conststants and your volume is essentially constant, so temp will directly affect pressure.


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## 20vtVdubb (Feb 27, 2008)

iowarabbit said:


> bad manifold? what setup are you running? the 3 lb change is more than likely just lower air temp. PV=nRT (ideal gas law). n and R are conststants and your volume is essentially constant, so temp will directly affect pressure.


 v2 manifold


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## iowarabbit (Mar 29, 2007)

did you check the water trap and compressor junctions too? trap drain also may not be fully sealed. i'd honestly try it w/o the trap for a couple days and see if that solves the problem, then call air lift if there's no change.


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## 20vtVdubb (Feb 27, 2008)

iowarabbit said:


> did you check the water trap and compressor junctions too? trap drain also may not be fully sealed. i'd honestly try it w/o the trap for a couple days and see if that solves the problem, then call air lift if there's no change.


 I check the fitting around the comp and trap but not the bottom of the trap. i'll do that on sat


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## TuckinLow (May 12, 2012)

20vtVdubb said:


> I check the fitting around the comp and trap but not the bottom of the trap. i'll do that on sat


 The bottom of the smc trap is where I had my leak. my first trap was fine until I drained it the first time, then it wouldn't seal up. Would leak about 15-20 PSI overnight. Same thing happened with the new SMC that I bought. So I just switched to the parker high pressure traps this morning waiting for the loctite to cure overnight. Hopefully its good to go tomorrow.


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## Slamtastic (Jul 24, 2010)

You shouldn't have any leaks. It's lazy and unsafe.


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## iowarabbit (Mar 29, 2007)

TuckinLow said:


> The bottom of the smc trap is where I had my leak. my first trap was fine until I drained it the first time, then it wouldn't seal up. Would leak about 15-20 PSI overnight. Same thing happened with the new SMC that I bought. So I just switched to the parker high pressure traps this morning waiting for the loctite to cure overnight. Hopefully its good to go tomorrow.


 i admittedly don't have any long-term anecdotal experience with air setups (just finished my own), but being an engineer this is precisely where i'd expect a seal failure to result if DOT fittings were used the rest of the way through. NTP fittings are easy to manage (i.e. coat liberally w/ thread sealant and wrench the **** out of without much fear of breaking), trap closures not so much.


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## soulrack (Apr 3, 2011)

dubb34r said:


> Looks like my fittings had been turned way too tight during the initial install. Possibly to the point of damaging some if not all of them. Running out tomorrow to buy all new fittings for the tank and start from there.


Forgot to post an update, here it is. 

All leaks are gone. Tank was fitted with all new fittings and loctite 545. Also got rid of the elbow PTC going into the manifold as they where leaking no matter how I placed them.


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