I have a 2009 Jeep Grand Cherokee. One of the tire valves has a slow leak. I figured I could get a new valve for about 10 bucks. But, instead, the guy reminds me that the valve has the pressure sensor built in. He could put in a regular stem, but then the light on the instrument panel would never go out and I’m assuming I couldn’t get through inspection like that. I now have to go to the dealer and spend perhaps $250 for the part and an hour of labor?
I have a nice spare, so I put that on for now. I’m wondering if there is any good trick to get that valve fixed at a less ridiculous price.
Those sensors seem pretty common nowadays. I don’t know how a tire shop could get away with not having an answer when one breaks. But that shop was pretty ghetto.
I did some more research and this is what I learned:
The dealer only charges 80 bucks for the part and half an hour of labor. So in reality, it would only cost me about $150.
I could buy the part from the dealer and have somebody else put it in for $30 and that would only cost me $110.
I live in New Jersey. NJ doesn’t do a safety inspection anymore. They just inspect for emissions. But low tire pressure hurts fuel economy and that does increase emissions. It’s a gray area. If NJ is serious about air quality, they probably SHOULD check the tire pressure. But they do not. If my wife never drove this car, I would be more than happy to put a regular valve stem in there and let that light burn.
ETD is a bigger operation and they get aftermarket sensors from Taiwan. They are much more convenient and had the part in stock, so I just had them take care of everything for $130.
If so, these stems are known for leaking. When you have the stem/sensor replaced have a sensor with a rubber valve stem installed. Do the same for the other sensors when the valves start to leak on them.
“But low tire pressure hurts fuel economy and that does increase emissions. It’s a gray area.”
Wow would that set a lousy precedent,if anything that lowers MPG would cause one to bust emissions. I.e. [inspector spies golf clubs in trunk] “Hey, you golfing today?”////"Nah, I just leave 'em in there. "////Sorry…FAIL! (I’d have to explain how my tools are occupationally necessary to haul around…)
NYS has a safety AND emissions inspection. TPMS is not part of the inspection so a TPMS light will not fail you. The OP should check the law in their state as this may be true in their state as well.
The problem with these safety inspection is that the regulations all have a catch-all clause that allow the inspector to reject a vehicle with any finding that he believes might be a safety issue. Most inspectors stick with the defined criteria, and most even use common sense beyond that, but as with any population there are a few jerks out there. Once they reject the car, you have to go through all the aggravation of appealing it and fighting for a sticker.
IMHO safety inspections are just revenue generators. 33 states don’t even have them, and there are no differences in accident statistics. A few states have even discontinued safety inspections with no change in accident stats.
I know others here feel differently, but that’s my honest opinion.
I don’t know about the inspection issue, but I know a lot of car owners get fed up with the tps warning messages, when the problem has nothing to do with the tires, but instead simply that the sensors are faulty or the tps system itself is broken, so they simply ignore the tps lights on the dashboard. Not an ideal situation, but with the seeming unreliability of the tps systems out there, sometimes this may be the best solution. It seems like there were fewer problems when this function was done with the ABS wheel speed sensors, maybe the car companies will revert to that method in the future.