I’ve got a Toyota Sienna with those newfangled pressure guages, you know the kind that light up a warning light on your dash if the tire pressure gets low. Well I’ve got a slow leak in my left front and the car is about to go to the junk yard, it was totalled in an accident as I was pulling into my driveway. 21 yr old driving too closely behind me. BUT I will be getting a NEWER Toyota Sienna to replace it so the question is a serious one and not moot. Who knows some dark and stormy night i might need to know the answer to this question. CAN I USE my can of fix-a-flat without screwing up the pressure guage thingy???
tnx
Fix-a-flat coats the inside of the tire and wheel with a nasty, messy gooo that is very hard to work with and clean off. Many tire shops cringe when you bring them a tire where fix-a-flat was used and some simply won’t work on them at all. The stuff messes up the tire changing equipment.
What it does to the tire pressure monitoring system I’m not sure. I expect it would screw up the pressure thingy.
In my experience, fix-a-flat stuff is always bad for the tpms. (tire pressure management system)
The air pressure gets to the sensor through an opening that is not an open hole but is a porous passage. The fix-a-flat clogs this passageway and the sensor is confused forever more. $ cha-ching $ for new sensors.
Perhaps one would keep fix-a-flat on hand for the absolute emergency but every tpms tire I’ve seen in our shop with gunk in it needed new sensors.
fix the slow leak.
You may not.
Yes you can, but you should not use it under almost any condition. It is bad for all wheels and tyres.
I used to use it and it screwed-up my wheels . . . also the tire stems. I don’t carry it anymore, instead I went out and bought a cheap compressor at Wal-Mart . . one that plugs into the cigarette lighter (whoops! . . .the accessory power port). I can now fill any tire for long enough to either get the car off the road or to a tire shop. The tire goop will screw-up your tire pressure monitoring system, IMO. Rocketman
To all who posted thank you! The Salvage company comes to get my toyota in four days, after that the tire pressure guage on that car is no longer a problem or a concern. BUT the newer toyota which I am also getting in a few days will if no severe emergency ever arises, will never see the use of fix a flat. YES i do have one of those little pumps that plugs into the accessory port, which I have been using until either the car was taken to the junkers or i got an answer. Ken Green your answer was particularly clear and intelligent and made sense. Thank you. And Mr Pleasedodgevan2 your answer was particularly …well you apparently have owned dodges, you have been punished enough
The Toyota Sienna doesn’t have a built-in pressure gauge. The TPMS detects a low tire with the ABS and stability control sensors. When one tire starts to spin at a different rate as the other tires, the computer figures the pressure is getting low and the light comes on.
Fix-a-flat won’t harm the TPMS at all.
—was just gonna say that. Fix-a-flat can save your bacon in emergencies, but sure makes a big mess. Some shops won’t work on a tire if they know this stuff is in there—some varieties are very flammable and there have been cases where a spark has blown up a tire when it’s being worked on—rather unpleasant for the tech. Your call.
I’m pretty sure my wife’s 2006 Sienna was the last year to use that system. I had to reset it after the tires were rotated because the TPMS light was coming on occasionally with the tires at the correct pressure. The 2007 and later models use individual sensors in each wheel.
Ed B.