I assume you installed the washer with the open (concave) end down. I also assume you did not stretch the washer when you oiled it, and did not add any metal washers under the screw. I would not have used olive oil, which spoils. I would have used a petroleum based oil.
The washer acts like a valve: it opens on the upstroke, and closes on the downstroke. Yours is not opening. This indicates that one of the conditions previously mentioned exists. You need to make sure the washer is rolled down so that it is concave toward the head when it is installed. Otherwise, it cannot let air in, and this is your problem. If you stretched it, you need a new one.
Louis Schulman Tampa, FL
-----Original Message----- From: marcus.e.helman@gm.com Sent: Sep 12, 2005 10:13 AM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR]Need Silca help
I just installed a new leather washer on an old Silca frame pump. Thanks to Paulie Davis for the washer. I smeared it with olive oil, a new one for me, since I had always used grease before, and installed it. The pump has the nice metal Campagnolo head. When I cover the hole in the head (the pump head, not my head) with my thumb, and draw the plunger back, no air comes in. If I let the plunger go, it slides back toward the pump body.
What should I do? Please do not advise me to ditch the Silca in favor of a Zefal. I want to get this one working.
Thanks,
Marcus Helman
Warren, MI