1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Air Pressure Warning

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by TGM, Aug 27, 2008.

  1. TGM

    TGM New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 6, 2007
    9
    0
    0
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    All,

    I notice that my air pressure warning light goes on fairly regularly. Is this common? I know that tire pressure is critical for fuel economy so is this Toyota's way to make sure the car is operating at full efficiency?

    Thanks,

    Tom
     
  2. rigormortis

    rigormortis Active Member

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2007
    1,340
    26
    0
    Location:
    san jose, ca
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    it's not supposed to come on unless the tire pressure drops 25% of the threshold

    if it comes on regularly maybe one of your tires has a leak

    its a federal requirement of all cars since 2007, i think

    read your manual, after you top off the tires, i think your supposed to press and hold the tire set light until the light flashes to reset the monitoring system.
     
  3. thepolarcrew

    thepolarcrew Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 17, 2008
    4,426
    271
    0
    Location:
    North Dakota
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    I have a tire that is a slow leaker. Have looked for a nail-screw etc. haven't found anything, put a little spit on the valve core and it doesn't leak either. Could just be the tire didn't seal on the rim.

    Have newer tires (07) on the van and experienced the same thing and found a nail. I really like the indicator. The wife does most of the driving and doesn't check, Have had a tire or two run low in the past that needed replacement.

    Hope you find your problem.
     
  4. bushface

    bushface Junior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2008
    41
    0
    0
    Location:
    Spruce Pine NC
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    I had a car with a bad wheel one time. The tire lost about 3 or 4 lbs per week. Had value stems replaced and even glue the tire to the rim with rubber cement to be sure that it had sealed, this worked on a old car I had in college. New tires did not work either. I tried a tube adn that worked but radials like to pinch the tube. Had to replace all 4 because the warrenty had run out plus the new ones look much better.
     
  5. thepolarcrew

    thepolarcrew Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 17, 2008
    4,426
    271
    0
    Location:
    North Dakota
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    Had to take emery cloth after the inside ridge of my 08 caravan mag wheels to get a new seal. It's like they become pitted.
     
  6. TGM

    TGM New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 6, 2007
    9
    0
    0
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Thanks guys. Indeed the front left was low. The others were fine. My current guess is that I have a slow leak with the front left. Bottom line, the sensor worked as advertised.
     
  7. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2006
    18,058
    3,074
    7
    Location:
    Northern Michigan
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    This is one of the problems with alloy wheels. They don't rust, but they corrode. It's one of the main reasons that many people don't like to use the same wheels for both summer and winter tires. The seal area gets beat up, and slow leaks develop.

    Tom
     
  8. Celtic Blue

    Celtic Blue New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 4, 2008
    2,224
    139
    0
    Location:
    Midwest
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Beats the heck out of an internally rusted steel wheel though. I had a used car with rusted steel wheels once. The leak rate was enormous when I had new tires mounted, so I had to buy new wheels.
     
  9. JD Barber

    JD Barber New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 3, 2007
    1
    0
    0
    I just read that the Goodyear tires that came on my Basic '07 are known leakers and need to be checked for pressure regularly. I found this out shopping for tires for it today. Wish I'd known that before the treads wore out on the outside edges. But, I did manage to get the 40K miles out of them that they are warrantied for. Any one know of a good tire to replace them with?
     
  10. lenjack

    lenjack Active Member

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2006
    804
    114
    0
    Location:
    Pennsylvania USA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    The Integrities? Known leakers? I must have missed this. My 20 month old '07 with integrities has never lost any air. Maybe I'm just lucky.