About a month or so back, I had a nail in my tire. I discovered this because my Charger has an idiot light on the dash to tell you when a tire is low. When the light first came on, I looked each tire over. Visually they appears to be 'full' so I just let it ride. Because the light remained on, everytime I exited the vehicle, I would walking around the call looking at each time. After several days, I finally was able to visually determine which tire was low, and almost immediately I spotted the nail.
The lights behavior is as follows. When the car is started, it turns on a few seconds and then turns back off, just like all the other idiot lights. Once I start moving, within a second or two, it comes on if the pressure is off. Unfortunately it doesn't tell me which tire it is.
Last week the light came on again, at which point I started walking around the car everytime I got out. After a few days I noticed no difference in the appearance of the tires, so I got out the gauge. The total PSI difference per my pressure gauge between the highest pressure and lowest pressure reading was 2 PSI. I attempted to even it out, but again, I don't think the pressure gauge I have is consistent and reliable enough to achieve such a feat. After all this effort I got back in the car and backed it down out of the driveway. The light stayed on. "Oh, well I thought, the tire will eventually visually make itself aware to me."
The weekend rolled around and I decided to have another go at the pressure equalization. After adjusting the pressure in all my tires, and in David's Miata as he just happed to arrive while I had everything out, I backed down the drive again. The light came back on again. Oh well, return to visual inspection plan.
This morning when backing out of the garage, the light turned on as I had grown accustomed to expecting. On the way to work it went back out.
Ah-ha! Apparrently the thing has a memory. So I wasn't actually foiled a second time as I expected yesterday afternoon, I just didn't drive it far enough (or is it fast enough?). I guess 50 feet doesn't count.
All the tires are now apparently within tolerance. Do I have a tire with a nail in it? Not that I can tell. Do I have a slow leak? Possibly. Which tire? Who knows. I guess I will wait and see if the light comes back on.
What have I learned here?
1. Nothing.
2. Ok, possibly one thing. I need a more accurate pressure gauge than the common $0.99 pen shaped gauge that everyone is familar with. This gauge is just not as accurate as the pressure sensors on the car.
Plan: Locate and purchase a more precise $1.99 gauge. Perhaps a nice digital one made in China. I wonder what Harbor Freight has to offer?
Final Thoughts
The daily temperature has begun to change. Is it possilbe, the light came on because it has been colder outside. That can affect tire pressure, right? PV = nRT, right? I would have assumed that the temperature differential for all tires would be the same so the light would stay off. After all, it was my understanding that the sensor didn't actually look at the tire pressure but simply compared the speed of the rotating tires, much like anti-lock brakes. A low tire, has a smaller radius and will therefore turn faster than a tire with normal pressure. Assuming this is true, if two tires were equally low, the speed would remain similar and the light should stay off. Maybe.
Look at the monkey
I have now been trained to walk around my car every time a yellow tire looking light appears before me. Imagine what I could learn to do if someone would just start ringing a bell. And contrary to what you may have heard, the door is not a jar, it is a door.
1 comment:
Maybe you could let Jordan drive and you could run along side.
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