12v Tyre Pump rant

russcannell · March 23, 2010, 18:58

Went out in the company hack late last night to get some shopping in. Returned to the car park to find a flat tyre. So into the boot i goes and pulls out the tyre pump. Plugs it in and psst the fuse went in the ciggy lighter. 3 Fuses later i stripped the pump and found the little con rod had come off the crankshaft. Refitted it and plugged in again. Ran for all of 10secs and then it threw the rod. s:shock: :shock: s:shock: So managed to borrow a manual jobby. 10mins later and on the verge of a coronary infraction the tyre was pumped up enough to limp to a garage with an airline. This morning anticpating the worst i had searched out an additional 3 pumps. Tried every one of them and they were all busted with the same fault. Worn main crank bearing. This included the rolls royce of pumps a halfords 29.99 jobby s:crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: s:crazyeyes: Now over the years i have probably only inflated about 4 tyres from flat. At an average price of a tenner a pump plus the halfords one thats 59.99 i have wasted on useless crappy pumps.

There is no moral or wisdom to say about this.... It's just the rant of a grumpy old man.

Oh and if anyone says why didnt i put the spare wheel on. They will get a tyre iron on the back of the head...!!

Anonymous · March 23, 2010, 19:11

So the moral of the story is to buy a manual one and work up a sweat?Could be worse.

Anonymous · March 23, 2010, 19:24

Have you noticed that tyres only go flat at the bottom? s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

Anonymous · March 23, 2010, 20:42

Commiserations. Had to rebuild my my little cheapo Rolson pump on Sunday after the crank pin magically disappeared, presumably through one of the cooling slots while in use. Split pin is temporarily doing the job but does anyone know if it is worth spending £30 on the Slime motorcycle 12v pump which seems to be a good size for keeping in a roadster.

mrzwei · March 23, 2010, 20:52

s:lol: :lol: s:lol: I think these days I'd just call out the RAC.

Mad Matt · March 24, 2010, 10:23

I think you may have misinterpreted the lion picture. The one at the back is trying to get the spare off and the one at the side is looking for the jacking point :-) :-) :-)

stargazer30 · March 24, 2010, 11:20

Yeah could be worse, Try jacking up a renault clio in the pouring rain only to watch as the car drops back down because the jack just went through the sill s:shock: :shock: s:shock: I swear I'll never buy a french car again! I had missed the jacking point by a few inches, it was dark and I didn't have a torch.

Thudd · March 24, 2010, 15:09

I've had two of these where the fag lighter adaptor has "exploded" and fired out the fuse. The end of the plug was never recovered.

dbrown · March 24, 2010, 19:48

got mine back from mot at mrT

thought this doesn't feel right wonder if i have a slow puncture
(i found a rear a bit low a few weeks back but seemed ok once i pumped it up)

first rear i checked was 22 psi but i think opposite side to last low one
then other rear was 37 psi and both fronts were 32 psi s:shock: :shock: s:shock:
would have half expected all the same pressure but thats was a bit strange
keeping an eye on them though

never used an electric pump but on the '2 the tyres don't take long to pump up with a manual one
hadn't thought of a motorcycle one for the size though

Mad Matt · March 25, 2010, 16:30

I've got two electric pumps which you fit in the cigarette lighter. One is fifteen years old and both work without any trouble. So it seems I'm the lucky one for once :-) :-) :-)