My friend Eric and I are in our mid sixties and have worked together as software engineers for about thirty years now. In that time we have diagnosed and solved at least a thousand technical problems of varying complexity, so I think we can tackle a defective Seal-and-go emergency tire repair gizmo. Well.
For the last couple of years, we’ve spent most Wednesday mornings on a lovely drive from Sonoma County down to the company office in the south bay. On the drizzly morning of December 17, 2025, while coming down the Waldo Grade towards the Golden Gate bridge, we were attacked by a softball-sized rock that struck a bullseye on our right front tire, ka-whump. Dammit. I quickly popped up the tire-pressure display and it was already showing 38psi for the right front versus 40 for the others. 36… 34… and we’re on the bridge. Dammit.
I learned the hard way years ago that if you drive too fast on a low tire it can overheat and blow out the sidewall. On the other hand, we had almost 2 miles to get across the bridge as the tire lost air. What’s the best compromise speed here? I decided that the answer was not 42, but 44mph, so we watched the pressure drop, 28… 20… 15… for a few very long minutes. We made it over the bridge and into the space Reserved for District Car #12 in the service lot.
No worries! Time to try out the handy dandy Tesla Tire Sealant inflato-kit thingy I bought when I got the car in 2023. As you may know, Teslas do not come with spare tires, but they had this sealant thing. Looks like the inflato model I got is no longer available, which – considering what follows – is no surprise.
It seemed simple enough: Attach clear hose to tire; Check. Move switch to “Tire Goo” setting; Check. Plug it into 12v; Check. Press power; Nothing. Dead. So we scramble around, rebooting the car and whatnot, wasting time trying to be sure the 12V is on, which, turns out, it was all along.
So we gave up on the goo and called for a tow, which would arrive in about an hour and half. Engineers with a defective device and time to kill means: Let’s try to figure this thing out. Hey, if we can get it working, we can cancel the truck and drive to the shop. Could save an hour.
I found the release button and popped out the Goo Canister. Aha, inside near the top of the chamber there are two electrical contacts! Bridging them with damp finger enabled the pump — it’s an interlock to make sure the canister is in there (for no sane reason that I can imagine). Ok, fine, but on the side of the canister where it meets the contacts there is only plastic, no conductor. Quality control?
All we need is a conductor to bridge the contacts. Enter MacGyver. We have no gum wrapper or any other “foil” thing, but I find a paperclip – that will work, surely. Now, the clear hose is kind of short, and, being old, I did not enjoy crouching down to work on the stupid thing, so I detached the hose from the tire and stood up. Much better.
While I was monkeying around unsuccessfuly with the paperclip, Eric found an actual MacGyver-approved gum wrapper in the grass! This was meant to be. He has it nicely folded over, and while he holds it in place I slide the canister back in – click.
One thing we have learned over the years is the importance of testing. No matter how well you think you understand the problem and your imagined solution, there will be times when you missed something subtle, or were just plain confused and wrong. So, to test our fix, I press the power button – the pump comes on! It worked!
Another thing we have learned is the importance of not rushing things, so you don’t miss important steps. You may recall I mentioned detaching the hose so I could stand up. I did not mention reattaching the hose, because I had not done so. So yes the pump works beautifully and does its job of forcing the goo from the canister through the clear tube… and onto the ground, the car, me, and the side of the tire, like some robot bloodbath. Of course I instantly turn off the pump, but what’s done is done, and the goo continues to seep out of the tube as I quickly reconnect it to the tire in an act of determined futility. I’m sure we got some small fraction into the tire, but certainly too little too late. Game over.
I like to think that I was more excited than senile, but in any case I got the distinct sense that it was (wait for it) time to re-tire.
Epilogue
Fortunately, it seems the goo was (mostly?) water soluble and easily rinsed off the car, my hands, my shoes. The tow arrived and off we went to the Van Ness service center, where the wifi was great, the people were nice, the coffee was acceptable, and Tommy’s Joynt was just two blocks away for a fine lunch. We will always regret coming so close to a perfect MacGyver moment, but we agreed the bigger regret was not getting the whole thing on video.
See here for a few still photos that prove beyond any reasonable doubt that this all happened.