Leaking Spare

[jondoe888]

Looking over some of these posts, it seems I am not the only one with a slowly leaking spare that sets the warning light. The dealer has never found a leak, tho it has been alarming since new. When the light first came on, I kept checking the tires, not knowing that the spare had a sensor too.

Now that I have rotated, the tire was down by 5# after the light was on for a few weeks. Those sensors are so sensitive. the dealer gave me a printout on their sensitivity, and I think it said they alarm with a 1.5# drop. I bought a digital tire gauge because my old one wasn't accurate enough to find the culprit.

Has anyone else had this problem? I don't know why the spare would be an issue.

Plus <my rant>, does anyone else hate the spare? I'd rather have a mini. It doesn't mess up the rotation pattern, and isn't a pain to get to every 4 months. Plus, you have one less alloy wheel to pay for (not that that would reduce the cost of the car any...) To me, if a tire goes bad, you put the mini on and drive to the shop to get it fixed or replaced. (unfortunately, the reality is all the crappy cars you see going around a bend at 75 on the highway. The mini will likely be bald, and the car will have kids in it... That doesn't mean a real spare would be in any better shape, but would likely have a much better load bearing capacity!)

Added bonus... The manual states that the 5 tire rotation is front to back, but all tire sites say to cross-rotate, like they did at the dealership I once worked at. In the 70's radials were directionally rotated, but either better manufacturing or better research has changed this to cross-rotation.

(LF to LR, LR-RF, RF-Sp, Sp-RR, RR-LF)

Once you replace your tires, save the best for the spare and do the standard 4 tire cross (LF-LR, LR-RF, RF-RR, RR-LF)

[smooth1]

You can just remove the sensor from the spare and then leave it in the vehicle and go with the 4 tire rotation paatern only from that point and completely ignore the 5th tire and only use it as a spare if you want.

[TundraSC]

You can just remove the sensor from the spare and then leave it in the vehicle and go with the 4 tire rotation paatern only from that point and completely ignore the 5th tire and only use it as a spare if you want.

In response to the initial post, I too have a spare that is reporting a low pressure alarm. We just bought the car with 14K miles (07 RX) and see in the original owner's records that they reported the same problem at the 5K service. We will address it at the 15K service.

Now, in response to the the second post, I would NOT recommend removing a pressure sensor (even in a spare) if it is doing its job. Why carry a spare if it could be deflated when you need it possibly years from now? Find the cause and have it corrected properly. Personally, I think the pressure sensor on the spare is the MOST useful of the bunch, because it's the spare that is neglected and not observed daily. (my $0.02)

[maller009]

i have the same problem. the light is constantly on and off in my car 07rx350. lexus says they "fix" it and increase/decrease the sensitivity but it always comes back on.

it is just really really annoying. i spent $50k on a car, i do not expect to bring it into the dealer once a month to fix a stupid problem!

[rx350guy]

I had to take my RX into the dealer a couple of weeks ago because the tire pressure warning light came on. The dealer said it was the spare and corrected the problem. He also said that he was seeing a bunch of cars lately for the same problem, due to the weather change according to him..

Still kind of annoying though..

[Messerchmidt]

any idea how to reset the tpm light on the rx350?