Home · Services · Trailer air system & air leak repair
An air leak you can hear is a trailer that will not build pressure, will not release its brakes, and will not pass a roadside inspection. We trace leaks properly with soap and pressure, then repair the line, valve, fitting or chamber on site — anywhere in Broward, 24 hours.
An air leak is priced by how long it takes to find, not by the part that fixes it. A glad hand seal costs almost nothing; a cracked line inside a frame rail can take an hour to reach. We charge for the trace and tell you what we found before replacing anything.
| Factor | Why it moves the number |
|---|---|
| How long the trace takes | A leak you can hear is minutes. An intermittent one that only shows under load is where the time goes. |
| Where the leak is | Glad hands and fittings are easy. Lines run inside frame rails, crossmembers or under the deck are not. |
| One leak or a tired system | An old trailer often has several small ones. We will tell you honestly whether chasing them individually makes sense. |
| Which valve | Service, relay and spring brake valves vary by make. Some are stock, some are ordered. |
| Roadside or at your yard | Roadside carries travel, setup and risk. Booked work is always cheaper. |
| Time of day | After-hours and weekend work costs more. |
| Whether it is out of service | A leak that fails a stroke check is a safety item, not a maintenance item, and it gets fixed before you roll. |
We quote before we start and we do not begin work you have not approved. We do not publish ranges here, because the same job varies too much by trailer, access and hour — call and we will give you a number for your unit.
Because the spring brakes need air to come off, and something is stopping them getting it: no supply from the tractor, a leak dumping the system faster than it fills, a frozen or corroded valve, or a seized spring brake. Read the symptom off this table before you call.
| Symptom | Most likely cause | Check first |
|---|---|---|
| Loud constant hiss, pressure drops fast | Split line or blown chamber diaphragm | Listen at each wheel end and at the gladhands |
| System builds but the brakes stay locked | Frozen valve or seized spring brake | Whether the red line is charged at the trailer |
| Slow leak, drops overnight | Fitting, gladhand seal or tank drain | Soap the fittings; check for water in the tank |
| Brakes drag while rolling | Valve not exhausting, out-of-adjustment slack | Feel for a hot wheel after a short pull |
| Trailer brakes apply on their own | Loss of supply pressure — a leak, not a fault | Pressure at the dash while the trailer is coupled |
| ABS lamp on with no obvious leak | Sensor or wiring, unrelated to the air system | Needs a scan tool, not a guess |
Never chase a leak by tightening everything. Over-torqued fittings crack, and a cracked fitting is a bigger leak than the one you started with.
An audible leak is a defect an inspector can find without tools, and brakes are the most-cited category in roadside inspections. A leak that drops pressure past the allowable rate puts the unit out of service on the spot.
We repair out-of-service air and brake defects on site and document the work for the file, so the unit can be cleared where it stands rather than towed.
Fleets running the port and I-95 daily are better off on a PM program where leaks get caught at the quarterly check instead of at a scale house.
Yes — lines, fittings, gladhands, valves and chambers are all mobile repairs, and we carry them. What we will not do is patch a leak well enough to move a trailer that should not be moving. If the safe answer is to repair it where it sits, that is what happens, and if the shoulder is too dangerous to work on we relocate the unit first.
Tell us where you hear it and whether the trailer builds pressure at all. That is usually enough to bring the right valve or line the first time.
Call (561) 780-3221