I have a 2012 Honda Accord EXL sedan. I have one tire that looses air pressure since it was put on by Curry Honda 5 years ago. This time during inspection I requested the tire be re seated because of this. The problem has continued and less than a week after filling again the pressure was down to 22 from 33 today. What are the likely causes that the dealership would not have caught?
Could it be the valve stem? I made sure the valve insert was tight a while ago.
This brings me to another question; how does the pressure detection system work in this car? The light went out after filling w/o even driving. I asked the service associate but he had no clue.
5yr old tire can hit a nail just like a new tire. Air is going somewhere. Sidewall leak?
as a tire ages it tends to dry rot and crack. they can leak air slowly from the side walls. take a soapy solution and spray the whole tire with it. even the valve stem with the cap off. then look for bubbles to form. or if you have a big enough plastic or metal tub you can put the tire in water. it may take a while to see depending how slow it leaks.
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Corrosion on the wheel beads can cause a leak. Porosity in the wheel can too. Replacing the tire valve is the correct path, not just the stem.
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Thanks for the feed back guys!
@weekend-warrior I would have expected a competent mechanic would have done this given the symptoms. Maybe maybe not 
What about a can of that sealer stuff.
I am thinking $39 would not have been enough for a reseat AND a balance so maybe already not balanced.
Might that also take care of a porous aluminum wheel?
The goop doesn’t seal rim or bead leaks well at all. Centrifugal force throws it to the tire tread away from the bead.
Plus if you have TPMS sensors in the tire, it will wreck them. And your tire changer will be very mad at you when you get new tires even if you tell them you gooped the tire.
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I’ve sometimes been able to find leaks using the soapy water technique mentioned above. Works well for the valve stem too as long as it is positioned at a the bottom. Sometimes for finding leaks at the rim this requires removing the wheel and placing it on a horizontal surface, then flipping the wheel and repeating. Make sure to get the soapy water in the area the tire meets the rim, then wait for 5 minutes, looking for bubbles. Sometimes the leak is very tiny, and bubbles are tiny too & hard to see at first, but w/time they’ll grow into a gob of small bubbles… . A common leak spot along the rim is where any wheel weights are located.
You can always use your bathtub to find a leak , don’t let the spouse know though … lol …
Small problematic leaks of unknown origin for me have always turned out to be rim leaks due to rust on the bead part of rim surface. I’ve always been able to fix those by removing the tire from the rim then wire-brushing the rim off all the rust, then replacing the tire back on the rim. I generally first put witness marks on the tire and rim so to get it back in the same orientation for balancing purposes.
When you hire a tech to do this sort of thing, the economics of finding the leak might turn out to be better to just buy a new tire rather than replacing the old one on the wire-brushed rim.
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If you’re losing 11 PSI in a week, soapy water should show the leak.
You’re not actually driving on the tire at 22 PSI, are you? That’s a bad idea.
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In my experience, 9 out of 10 slow mystery leaks are from corrosion at the bead of the tire. Taking the tire and wheel back to the shop that installed it (or your favorite tire guy’s shop) and having them dismount the tire, completely clean the bead so it is free of corrosion, apply bead sealant, and remounting the tire will almost always make the problem go away.
As a footnote, I have had a couple of tire shops do a sloppy job of the procedure outlined above and that has resulted in a return visit where they get to repeat the job (this time correctly).
The other one out of 10 slow leaks? A varied assortment of valve stems, porous wheels (usually cheaper aftermarket types), and various sharp objects embedded in the tread but not readily noticed until the tire is submerged in a dunk tank.
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Take the wheel off and give it a close inspection. If you can’t find the nail, then use the soap solution to find it. They’re may have been a nail in the tire that fell out, making it impossible to locate the leak without the soap solution. If you can’t find it on or near the tread, heck the bead on both sides of the wheel and around the valve. One time I had a faulty valve and replacing the interior mechanism of the valve fixed it. They are cheap at the auto parts store.
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It seems like the tire is now 9 years old. Is that true? If it is then you need to know that it’s reaching it’s retirement age soon. Tires do deteriorate with age.
Meanwhile, I can only say that in my experience a leak that goes down so fast is usually a puncture of some sort. Also, I rebuild old motorcycles as a hobby and I have had several that had old, leaking valves. On one I simply grabbed the valve and wiggled it and it broke off in my hand because the rubber was old and brittle and cracked. The other looked good and simply flew off while I was riding the bike at about 60 mph. That was a very unhappy experience.
In any case go to a tire shop, not the dealer, and have them look at the situation. Tires are tires, not unique to any vehicle, and a tire shop will have the tools and know-how to help you out. The chain stores are more likely to sell you a new tire and valve, but if the tire is 9 years old they might be right. An independent shop would be my choice.
5 I think, another couple of years left.
The metal wheel itself could be slightly bent or damaged. If it’s been slowly leaking for 5 years now, and “fixing” the tire doesn’t help, I’d be looking at the wheel itself.
This happened on one of the wheels on my car. I had a mobile alloy wheel repair guy come to my house and fix it in my driveway for $100. Haven’t had a leak since.
Discount Tire (and many other tire places,) will check a leak for free, and perhaps even fix it for free if it needs a patch or stem repair.
I suggest you go there, and don’t mess with the inept tire people at this dealership anymore.
when I added the air in my wife’s Rav4 last week, I didn’t need to drive for the TPMS light to go out on the dash. Just started it up. Sometimes it works like that. Sometimes not.
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First find the source of the leak.
If it’s the tire bead (common on older cars) have them dismount the tire, clean the rim with a wire wheel, remount/balance and never go to that tire shop / dealership again.
Instead, look for that local independent shop “that’s been around forever” and will do the job right.
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I doubt I could get someone to come and fix it where I live for $100 but it is an idea.
I remember a comment about the cost of sensor valves for a Honda. I could not find it searching the forum I thought it was $100 for all 4. The dealership said about $225 EACH. What is a reasonable cost for each?
$25 for the sensor and $20 to mount it, register it to the car and balance the tire.
A simple google seach or a look on Rockauto will get you the sensor prices… OE and aftermarket. The sensors install similar to a simple valve stem but a little larger.
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Thanks Mustangman
So about 200. If only one leaks can just one be replaced?
Would a Honda shop be the only ones able to register it?
While I am a long ways from installing the stem myself, if I had it installed is there a device available to register it myself.
I am really considering avoiding the dealership in the future. The car is 10 years old and the benefit of using the dealership shop when they can’t even get a leaking tire fixed is questionable in my mind.
Yes, just one can be replaced. Tire shops have the scan tool to register it for the Honda. If you had a 2013 Accord, you would have no in-tire sensors at all.
For my Ford, a small $30 device is required but it is a DIY.
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