TPMS sensor leaking at the rim

RGUPTA19

MEMBER
2010 HONDA ACCORD
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
96,000 MILES

Hello,
I have the car listed above that I bought pre-owned in 2012 from a dealer. Three years ago I replaced three of my tires from Firestone. They were Valera Touring tires. I kept losing air and went back to Firestone 3-4 different times and they kept saying all is well. Meanwhile I kept putting air in 2-3 times a month which gradually became every 5-7 days (snow and hail and all). Long story short, there were big splits on the inside wall of my tires, they could have blown out any time!
And turns out the tires were recalled within 5 months of my buying them. Which Firestone never told me during any of my many visits.
Now I have new tires but still leaking air. Took it to dealership (never again to Firestone) and was told that all four TPMS sensors are leaking air.
My question is:
1. Could having constant leaks and driving on low pressure over three years caused the TPMS sensors to go bad/leak?
2. What kind of impact did it have on my fuel economy and wear and tear of my car?
3. Dealership has a quote of over $700.00 for replacing the sensors. I know next to nothing about cars, is that reasonable?

any insight is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

3 Replies

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

Hi,

It is unlikely that the faulty tires caused an issue on the TPMS sensors. Basically, this is just a regular valve stem that connects to a sensor that is on the inside of the wheel. The only way this could be related is if the tire installer damaged them or did not install them correctly.

I will say that it is unlikely that all 4 sensors would leak at the same time. Normally, when multiple independent parts fail at the same time, we look to outside interference or some other common denominator.

Unless the dealership found some sort of evidence that something was done wrong, I don't know how you would prove this. Just having the unlikely hood of all 4 failing is not enough for me to "blame" anyone for causing something because it could just be a coincidence.

Low tire pressure does have an impact on the fuel economy because it is harder to roll a soft tire then a harder tire. However, I doubt that this would be a noticeable or even measurable. In other words, it would not be a significant amount. As for wear and tear on your car, the same principal would apply. I doubt you would notice any difference but it would affect it in theory. The most important thing is the fact that you kept filling the tires when they were low. So it is not like you drove the entire time on tires that were severely under filled.

As for the price from the dealer. That does sound high but I know the sensors are not cheap. If it were me, I would just install regular valve stems and just live with the tire pressure light being on in the dash. Then I would check the manually every so often. Granted, I am in the industry so I completely understand if you don't want to drive around with the light on.

You can always send me a copy of their estimate and I will be happy to look at it for you. Just block out the business info and your personal info and post it to the site. Or just type in the breakdown of what they are charging you for.

Let me know if I can be of more assistance.

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