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Tire leaks Air


borgward
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We just took our 2013 CMax hybrid in for "battery ocassionally looses charge". Also took care of the air bag recall. We told them the left rear tire does not hold pressure. Never has. The low pressure indicator does not come on until pressure goes down too low. 25 PSI. That's too low! They checked the tire for leaks in a water bath while rotating the tires. Tire is still not staying inflated. I suspect the leak is thru the cast wheel itself. Probably has a tiny crack, or a porous spot that the air is leaking out thru. This used to be a problem with "Mag wheels". Anybody else having the same problem?

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If they also submerged the wheel as they rotated the tire, that would have shown a leak. As an art metal caster, I've read a little on metallurgy and I'm not an expert by any means, but if there was a defect, crack or inclusion in the casting that allowed air under pressure to pass through, the casting will eventually fail. Try striking the wheel lightly and carefully with a metal object, if there's a crack, it will make a different sound.

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Borg what did the dealer say? Did they offer to fix/replace tire or wheel if it's under warranty?

 

Tim, unless they knew what a good one sounds like your advice won't help much as they have nothing to compare it with unless they take off one of the other wheels and do the same...

Is that what you meant?

I agree you don't want a wheel to crack/fail at hwy speed and have an accident.

Edited by salsaguy
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Borg what did the dealer say? Did they offer to fix/replace tire or wheel if it's under warranty?

 

Tim, unless they knew what a good one sounds like your advice won't help much as they have nothing to compare it with unless they take off one of the other wheels and do the same...

Is that what you meant?

I agree you don't want a wheel to crack/fail at hwy speed and have an accident.

I guess I wasn't very clear. Lightly strike in different areas of the wheel and in the areas where there are no defects there will be a ringing tone and in the area where there is a defect the tone wont ring and sound like just metal on metal. Now, this method may not work because the tire rubber in contact with the wheel. I don't know, it was just a suggestion. It's not really my problem, so I'll stay out of it.

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one thing you can do....  jack the car up  take the wheel off.  fill up a squirt bottle with a solution of dishsoap and water.  go heavy on the soap. 

 

fill the tire up to 40 psi  and start squirting the wheel, tire, valve stem...  yes you can do it while on the car.  but its harder to see the inside bead area....

 

if you have a leak,  you will start blowing bubbles at the point of the leak...

 

common points of leaks. 

 

valve stems, and bead areas.   When mounting a tire, if the person doesn't use any lubricant,  its possible to tear the bead but still mount ok and not notice it.

 

sometimes the valve inside the valve stem is loose and will leak.  sometimes a small screw or nail  then ends up getting broken off and its hard to see.

 

if you find that air is escaping through the wheel itself.  mark the area with a sharpie  and then take the wheel into the dealership OFF the car.  bring your squirt bottle and ask to see the service manager.    While showing them,  ask them why a technician that getting billed at $100 an hours  was unable to  find this and you had the spend the better part of an hour wasting your time to do something they should have done.  Bet you'd get a few oil changes and car washes out of it...  But Not sure I'd really want to take my car back to that dealership again...if they cant find a tire leak...

 

If the leak is in the tire....plug it(so long its not in the sidewall), dealership will try to sell you a new tire. 

 

if the leak is in the valve stem.  try putting in a new valve first.  if that doesn't solve it.  then you'll need a new TPS...dealership may help.  but you have to dismount the tire and then re mount it. 

 

if the leak is in the bead area.  dismounting the tire, cleaning the rim edge and remounting  will most likely solve the problem.  unless you can see a tear.in the bead.  then its a new tire... Again,  if they are factory tires...  you'd have a case against ford since it was their employees that mounted the tire...

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One other thing it might be, and this is just a guess, the valve stem may not be tight and screwed down all the way. If they checked for leaks with the cap on, it may not have shown a leak at the filler end.

Edited by timwil56
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