Several weeks ago, my TPS started going on. It went on three times in 10 days, always the same tire - front driver. I took it to a tire store to look at. They couldn't find a problem with the tire per se, but said something about scraping something or other on the wheel. However, they recommended I replace both front tires (they were OEMs, and I have about 31,000 on them).

I must say, the care drove noticably better with the new tires, so that was fine.

But this AM, 9 days after the new tires were put on, the TPS light goes on again. I check my pressure - 3 tires are at 37 PSI, but same front driver is at 31. This was one of the new tires.

I'm guessing it's not a coincidence. Can I be losing pressure in brand new tire because of the tire's location? What might be going on here?

I plan to reinflate and then take it back to the tire place if it loses pressure again.

Thanks for any suggestions, insights, advice, etc.

 

If you got new tires and they balanced them correctly with no problems, you def have a leak coming from that sensor...take to your dealer or sears(if you want a cheaper tpms). It happened to my car too but that's after I got new factory rims, the seals on those sensors become brittle over time.

 

So there are sensors that are NOT on the tires and it could be the sensor for this particular tire?

Is this something a Merchant's could do? Or should I take it to the dealer?

Many thanks for responding!

 

It could also be a cracked rim.
Not sure if the valve stem is built into the sensor or new stem is attached to existing sensor when tires are replaced. Definitely take it back for further investigation.

 

Thanks - definitely will be taking it in, but I'm thinking the dealership may be the best bet at this point. Hate to drop it off at the tire place only to find out its something that's not in their capacity to address.

 

Competent shop/tech should be able to find the problem. Especially since you already paid them to put the new tires on. All shops should have the TPMS equipment, to marry the new sensor to the car, if thats the issue. Dealer would not necessarily be better at this.

 

With a new tire on the same rim, and then the same problem cropping up, it is definitely not the tire. It is either a rim crack, or, more likely, air leaking out either thru or around the valve stem, which, in this car, is an important part of the TPMS system.

You could take off the stem cap, then slather spit across the top of the opening.If a bubble begins to form very slowly, then there is a leak insde the valve stem. In the old days if that happened, I would simply ues a valve cap cover that had a valve stem tightener and tighten the mechanism inside the valve stem. I'm not sure if that still works inside these new TPMS stems.

 

Take the wheel off, air it up to 40 psi, and put it in a tank if water and look for bubbles... Well at least that's what I would do when I worked at Goodyear... Chances are, it would be the TPMS valve stem and it would need to be rebuild which is only a few bucks compared to $50-70 for a whole new sensor