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      10-06-2008, 09:17 AM   #1
jeremyc74
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Tire going flat...with no punctures!

A few days ago I was pulling out of my apartment complex and wondering if my TPMS even worked, because I'd never seen it come on. Amazingly enough, it answered my question about 5 minutes later. It was the coolest morning we'd had since I got the car, so I assumed I was a few lbs low on one tire.

When I got out and started checking, everything was fine except the right front, and it was down to 20 PSI. I looked it over for nails or screws and couldn't see anything. I aired it up, and then didn't really drive the car the rest of the day. I started it up the following afternoon and it was low again, down to under 20 PSI. I put air in it again, and by the time I had driven 5 miles the warning was back on, and sure enough it was low. I put air in it AGAIN, and looked for the leak. I normally plug my own tires, but I couldn't find anything wrong with this one, so I took it to Sears. The guys at the Sears here in town have done good work for me in the past, so I figured this would be no problem.

After a few mintutes the guy comes out with a :iono: and says he can't find anything wrong with it. I explain to him that it lost its air in a matter of minutes and that there HAS to be a hole. He had the whole tire in a water tank and saw no bubbles. He put it back on the car and pumped it up to 30PSI, and we let it sit there for a few minutes. We checked it again...30 PSI...WTF!?

I told the guy to try putting it up higher, so he put 45 PSI in. After a few minutes it had dropped back to 41 PSI. So at least now the tech didn't think I was an idiot. He scratches his head and pulls it back off the car. Another trip into the tank at 45 PSI reveals the problem...the nut holding the valve stem and TPMS sensor in was only fingure tight!

We checked the rest, and they were all loose. Just a heads up, because this kind of problem could be a real PITA if you don't have a tire tech who's willing to work with you. :roundel:
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      10-06-2008, 08:17 PM   #2
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Interesting. Thanks for the heads up. I just got a TPMS rebuild when installing my new wheels this weekend. Will definitely check it.
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      10-07-2008, 12:26 AM   #3
jeremyc74
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Quote:
Originally Posted by penny View Post
Interesting. Thanks for the heads up. I just got a TPMS rebuild when installing my new wheels this weekend. Will definitely check it.

The guys at the tire shop had the torque specs for the sensors, and were pretty cautious about tightening them. Be careful not to overtighten if you go at them with a ratchet. These guys used a small in-lbs torque wrench and it didn't take a lot of pressure to meet the spec. :w00t:
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      10-07-2008, 04:04 PM   #4
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Thanks for the advice - I may be having the same problem. Is there any way I can tighten this stuff at home?
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      10-07-2008, 06:02 PM   #5
jeremyc74
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dclee1 View Post
Thanks for the advice - I may be having the same problem. Is there any way I can tighten this stuff at home?

Yeah. You just need a small deep well socked that will fit down over the tire stem. The nut is right at the base of the stem. The one on mine was on finger tight, so it will be easy to tell if that's the problem. If you do it yourself, just snug it down and then give it another 1/4 turn or so. You don't want to tighten this down like you would a lug bolt. There's a rubber seal on the inside that will compress.
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      01-18-2009, 02:25 PM   #6
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WOW.. same happened to me..2 seperate tires today...what a PAIN..
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      01-18-2009, 03:17 PM   #7
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thanks for the info.
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