Low tire pressure warning

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Volusiano

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 24, 2011
Messages
1,461
Location
Phoenix, AZ
My Leaf's low tire pressure warning came on yesterday. I measured them out and one was 36 psi, a couple at 35 psi, and one at 33 psi. I put them all back to 36psi and the low tire pressure warning light went away.

This makes me wonder what is supposed to be the trigger point for the warning light to come on? It looks like in my case, it goes on after a 10% drop or so.
 
Interesting. I had read that is was 6 pounds low (30) but your experience would seem to contradict that...

Volusiano said:
My Leaf's low tire pressure warning came on yesterday. I measured them out and one was 36 psi, a couple at 35 psi, and one at 33 psi. I put them all back to 36psi and the low tire pressure warning light went away. This makes me wonder what is supposed to be the trigger point for the warning light to come on? It looks like in my case, it goes on after a 10% drop or so.
 
I thought these tire pressure sensors were not pre-set to a fixed "fault" pressure, but that they can be "initialized" at some "higher" pressure, and that the fault will occur at some fixed percentage of that "higher" value.

Does the service manual describe these, and now to initialize them?
 
Volusiano said:
My Leaf's low tire pressure warning came on yesterday. I measured them out and one was 36 psi, a couple at 35 psi, and one at 33 psi. I put them all back to 36psi and the low tire pressure warning light went away.
This makes me wonder what is supposed to be the trigger point for the warning light to come on? It looks like in my case, it goes on after a 10% drop or so.

That sounds about right. My wife's Corolla's is set to come on at 28 (less than 10%) and the recommended pressure is 30. The recommended pressure for the LEAF is 36 so I'm guessing it may have come on when your tire was 34 and by the time you checked, it had dropped to 33.
 
Here is what the service manual says about pressures:

DTC Display Item Malfunction detected condition. Possible causes:
C1704 LOW PRESSURE FL Front LH tire pressure drops to * kPa (* kg/cm2, * psi) or less.
C1705 LOW PRESSURE FR Front RH tire pressure drops to * kPa (* kg/cm2, * psi) or less.
C1706 LOW PRESSURE RR Rear RH tire pressure drops to * kPa (* kg/cm2, * psi) or less.
C1707 LOW PRESSURE RL Rear LH tire pressure drops to * kPa (* kg/cm2, * psi) or less.
*:196.5 kPa (2.0 kg/cm2, 28 psi) [Standard air pressure is for 250 kPa (2.5 kg/cm2,36 psi) vehicles.]
 
TomT said:
Here is what the service manual says about pressures:

DTC Display Item Malfunction detected condition. Possible causes:
C1704 LOW PRESSURE FL Front LH tire pressure drops to * kPa (* kg/cm2, * psi) or less.
C1705 LOW PRESSURE FR Front RH tire pressure drops to * kPa (* kg/cm2, * psi) or less.
C1706 LOW PRESSURE RR Rear RH tire pressure drops to * kPa (* kg/cm2, * psi) or less.
C1707 LOW PRESSURE RL Rear LH tire pressure drops to * kPa (* kg/cm2, * psi) or less.
*:196.5 kPa (2.0 kg/cm2, 28 psi) [Standard air pressure is for 250 kPa (2.5 kg/cm2,36 psi) vehicles.]
I'm pretty sure none of my tires dropped to 28 psi when my warning light came on. The lowest one was 33 psi.

I use one of those round analog tire pressure gauge that's supposed to be pretty accurate. I must admit that I measured and refilled them right after a trip and didn't give them a chance to cool down first. But even after they cooled down, I remeasured the pressure and they were still at the recommended pressure of 36 psi.

I would like to hear from others who've had their warning light come on to see what low pressure level their tires reached.
 
Unless I have a leak from a nail or something, I doubt I will ever see the low pressure warning because I keep them at 41 for less rolling resistance. I have coasted in 'N' for over a mile already! I have a 'Milton' pen gauge that the Pros use. It's really heavy unlike the other inexpensive pen gauges. I've tried all kinds of other gauges, circular like what's on pumps, digital, etc., and they are all off (low) by several pounds.
 
I've had my light on for a while now, finally filled them tonight, 1 @ 29 and 3 @ 30, this is strange, i'm not sure if they were not filled correctly or there is a slow leak with these tires, I will check pressure again in a couple weeks and let you know the results.
 
I generally run 4 pounds over the factory pressure on all my vehicles for better handling and tire life. I set the tires on the Leaf to 40 pounds when I got it and have not had to add air since. I checked them today cold and they are still at 40...

ggodman said:
I've had my light on for a while now, finally filled them tonight, 1 @ 29 and 3 @ 30, this is strange, i'm not sure if they were not filled correctly or there is a slow leak with these tires, I will check pressure again in a couple weeks and let you know the results.
 
TomT said:
I generally run 4 pounds over the factory pressure on all my vehicles for better handling and tire life. I set the tires on the Leaf to 40 pounds when I got it and have not had to add air since. I checked them today cold and they are still at 40...

Wow, that's unusual. I've never had a car yet that after a month wasn't a pound or two lower. And that just isn't here, but the Midwest as well. How many hours do you wait after driving to check them? I know it takes a long time for them to cool down.
 
Kind of funny I just had the light come on also 4 days ago..All the tires had 30-32 PSI,I filled them up to 35 psi...I see where Leaffan went with 40 psi,I may try that next time..
 
mark13 said:
Kind of funny I just had the light come on also 4 days ago..All the tires had 30-32 PSI,I filled them up to 35 psi...I see where Leaffan went with 40 psi,I may try that next time..

36 is the recommended pressure (on the inside sticker/plate), but it gives you better rolling resistance at higher pressure.
 
I guess this has not been mentioned before.

The tires are rated for 44 PSI, that is the tire manufacturer rated pressure on the sidewall.

When I picked up my Leaf something did not look right with the tires (I worked at Goodyear for a few years and got to know a lot about black donuts). I checked the pressure and all were around 28 PSI.
I pumped them up to 45 and at 44 the horn beeps telling you when you have reached the 44 PSI pressure mark.
Very nice and easy feature, you pressurize to the rated pressure. Look, no hands and no gauge Ma'.

The ride is rougher than 28PSI but the economy is great.
This is nothing compared to my Mini at the same tire pressure, the tooth fillings come off on LA freeways.
 
I agree! I've never had that be the case before either! At first, I thought my gauge was stuck! :lol:

I normally check them in the morning before I drive it that day.

One thought though... It has generally been getting progressively warmer since I bought it which might have masked any actual pressure loss...

LEAFfan said:
TomT said:
I generally run 4 pounds over the factory pressure on all my vehicles for better handling and tire life. I set the tires on the Leaf to 40 pounds when I got it and have not had to add air since. I checked them today cold and they are still at 40...

Wow, that's unusual. I've never had a car yet that after a month wasn't a pound or two lower. And that just isn't here, but the Midwest as well. How many hours do you wait after driving to check them? I know it takes a long time for them to cool down.
 
Actually, it has been discussed before in other threads on here...

I suspect that all you have gained by going to 45 pounds is a slight loss of traction (mostly in braking, somewhat less so in cornering) and a harder ride. Anecdotal evidence indicates that the difference in rolling resistance between 40 and 45 is barely measurable...

What really bother me though, is those people who think it is perfectly acceptable to go way beyond the maximum tire pressure listed on the sidewall. That is simply dangerous.

Vitor said:
The tires are rated for 44 PSI, that is the tire manufacturer rated pressure on the sidewall. When I picked up my Leaf something did not look right with the tires (I worked at Goodyear for a few years and got to know a lot about black donuts). I checked the pressure and all were around 28 PSI. I pumped them up to 45 and at 44 the horn beeps telling you when you have reached the 44 PSI pressure mark.
 
The system was on, my son was setting up the blutooth. I guess you can call it position I or accessory.

Loss of traction on a Leaf? mmmmm, I don't know what that is.
Loss of traction on a Mini Cooper S? = nice youtube video with lots of smoke. I've seen me do it.
I don't think the comment applies to me. 1 PSI over 44 should not be way over the manufacturer rated pressure.
 
wsbca said:
Volusiano said:
TomT said:
Here is what the service manual says about pressures:
...28 psi) [Standard air pressure is 36 psi)
I'm pretty sure none of my tires dropped to 28 psi when my warning light came on. The lowest one was 33 psi.
We checked ours today and all were at 31 (now at 36) - no warning lights.
No warnings on ours. All pressures 31 to 32. Assuming our's were properly services at delivery, a loss of 5psi in 5 weeks seems excessive. Anyone else have the same experience? Thanks!
 
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