well. I kept showing falling tire pressure on the left rear, in spite of checking and finding it was 35 psi. service tech said maybe the sensor needed cleaning out better?

so, I checked all 4 tires this morning, and the low tire is the left FRONT, at 25 psi

then, I tried to use the inflator to pump it up before another trip to the dealer, and that failed. the on/off button is stuck in the down position. luckily, I had a pump in my old car to use. new compressor on order. at least this saves me the $40 on replacing the canister.

when I got the "leaking" tire fixed last week in Hayward, I did not get a chance to talk to the mechanic. I usually look at the nail or parts removed, for my own knowledge, but they had a major power failure that afternoon and the shop and office were dark, so I was just happy to get out before the equipment had been depowered.

I realized that the dealer in Salinas that had rotated the tires must not have reset the sensors, so front/back was swapped. I called their service manager to point that out.

today, there WAS a nail in the front left tire and the guy that worked on the car last week said there was NOT a nail in the left rear.... now, why he didn't mention that to me, I don't know...

conclusions:

I put the goo in the wrong tire... guess I have had a test run for future flats...

better to use a manual gauge (the parts guy gave me one free) and make sure the TPMS is reading from the correct tire

I really have been driving for a couple weeks on a low front left tire.

just more experiences to chalk up to new technology in cars, I suppose.

makes me want to go back to an old bicycle tire pump and a paper calendar some days...

p.s. tires all at 35 psi now.

Sorry to hear about the mixed up tire sensors. How aggravating. It sounds like we should test our air compressors while they are not needed. It would be a nasty surprise to find out it's defective in the field.

I think the procedure to reset the TPMS sensors is often forgoten when tires are rotated. My recent experiance with tire rotation at my local Chevy dealer was not good in that they did not do the procedure and had to go back after talking to my Volt advisor. He called and made arrangements for me to get the TPMS sensors reset. The Chevy dealer charges 24 dollars for the rotation service. The reset was done, no charge, to me, but in fact should have been done so I was in fact already charged for the service. The dealer went as far as to send me a letter to appologize for the error in service. Not happy with the dealer, but happey that GM has put someone on our side to handle these situations. Hope you get your tire situation resolved.

I wonder how long GM will keep the Volt advisor teams available to Volt owners. Cost cutting will occur sometime in the future. Probably in 2013 if not a little sooner.

Very interesting saga with a good lesson. We're going to have to be sure we know which tire is having problems before heading off to fix it. Thanks for sharing.

@N Riley -- You're probably right but it will be a sad day. The Volt Advisor Team is a super benefit.

Very interesting saga with a good lesson. We're going to have to be sure we know which tire is having problems before heading off to fix it. Thanks for sharing.

@N Riley -- You're probably right but it will be a sad day. The Volt Advisor Team is a super benefit.

Actually I think it would be a huge benefit if they could expand it to a GM Advisor Team for all vehicles. With GM dealers being independent this could help to give a more cosistent customer experience without violating franchise laws.

I don't think the service would be all that expensive to maintain.

I thought it was odd that the dealer did not reset the TPMS, since the Volts are not the only vehicles that have them.

they did not mention a $24 charge either, and it surely seems that when we take our Chevy back to them for rotation that it should be included.

as a side note, i did notice the wheel works that could not work on my tire with goo did have a sign saying that they could reset the TPMS... since it just take a big magnet and knowing how to put the car in the correct mode, this seems right.

next time with tires, I'll try my local shop. hopefully without any goo. :)

@N Riley -- You're probably right but it will be a sad day. The Volt Advisor Team is a super benefit.



Thanks for the kind words, we really have enjoyed assisting everyone and certainly hope to continue to do so for a long time!

It's probably not as big of a deal with the Volt since most of the braking is regenerative, but if your dealer is a slacker on reseting the TPMS, you can bet they didn't follow the torque patterns and settings with a proper torque wrench. That is what causes warped rotors, but they know you'll never pin it on them so they don't car.

I always either ask to torque the wheels myself or I re-do the torque in the parking lot with my own torque wrench. It's such a common problem but the regular Joe has no idea of the real reason why their rotors are warped and just blames it on poor manufacturing.

It's probably not as big of a deal with the Volt since most of the braking is regenerative, but if your dealer is a slacker on reseting the TPMS, you can bet they didn't follow the torque patterns and settings with a proper torque wrench. That is what causes warped rotors, but they know you'll never pin it on them so they don't car.

I always either ask to torque the wheels myself or I re-do the torque in the parking lot with my own torque wrench. It's such a common problem but the regular Joe has no idea of the real reason why their rotors are warped and just blames it on poor manufacturing.

Many times (with other cars) I have found a "one-torque-setting-for-all-cars" approach by people mounting the wheels. Other than the manual stating 100 lb-ft for the lugs, do you have any more details voltage692?

Yes.

You need to follow a star pattern and torque in increments.

Torque at 25, 50, 75, and 100 ft/lbs in that star pattern (jumping to the nut across the one you just did). Then after driving it for a 10-20 miles, re-torque to 100 ft/lbs in the star pattern.

Make sure you never put grease on the nuts or threads.

http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/tech/techpage.jsp?techid=107


Many times (with other cars) I have found a "one-torque-setting-for-all-cars" approach by people mounting the wheels. Other than the manual stating 100 lb-ft for the lugs, do you have any more details voltage692?

Thanks for the kind words, we really have enjoyed assisting everyone and certainly hope to continue to do so for a long time!

I really like having this service available, although I think I've only called my Volt advisor once or twice since taking delivery. (I've traded a few emails here at gm-volt.com, if that counts!) My hope is that before access to my Volt advisor ends, I will be offered the opportunity to purchase the service for a reasonable fee.

WVhybrid
Red Volt # 1715
Odometer now at 5900 miles, 41.5 gallons of gasoline burnt
Lifetime fuel efficiency = 1.80 tablespoons / mile (0.70 gal / 100 mile)