Tire Pressure

This is a head scratcher. It starts out with my getting my oil change at Valvoline late last week. They do all sorts of other checks and fills, including a tire pressure check. I know the guy did it. I watched him.

Yesterday I started the car and my tire pressure sensor light came on. I got out, ran - OK, walked slowly - around the car to see which tire was low. I could still have Richard change it for me while I took care of Daddy. I used to do those myself, but not these days with my knees. There's a whole lot of kneeling and jumping on the tire iron to loosen or tighten. All of me works better for leverage than anything I can do with my arms. I'm the one who taught the boys how to change tires, so I know they're competent.

But there was nothing to change, not that I could see. So I went on to work.

It was a very busy day yesterday, and periodically I walked around the car at stops to see how the tires were holding up. All day, perfect. Getting home late after 400 miles, I ignored the issue until today, and today they still looked fine. But since I ended my day near the Valvoline which had done the oil change, I decided to drop in on them for a "fill". This may not be exactly what they mean when they talk about their top-off policy, but I decided it fit my bill anyway. I can do this myself, and have, but again this requires more exercise to my knees than I felt like. Plus I wasn't sure where my tire pressure guage is. My glove box is a mess.

It wasn't a long wait. When I pulled in, I asked the guy to please let me know which tire was off so I could continue to keep an eye on it. In answer to his inquiry, I asked for 35 lbs. of pressure in each tire, standard on my vehicle.

The driver front tire was... 45 lbs pressure! He let some out. The passenger front was 28! He added air. The passenger rear was 30, so he added air to that too. The driver rear was 40. He fixed that as well, and I thanked him as I drove off. Neither one of us bothered to comment on the complete incompetence of whoever it was who'd worked on them days before. It was completely unnecessary. Had it been one tire low, I could well believe there might be a slow leak needing attention. But there's no way that air magically jumped into the two over-filled tires, and no excuse I can see for pressures being totally inconsistent. Just because the pressure averages to 33 lbs. per tire doesn't make them right. Besides I doubt that the guy who filled them the first time was math-savvy enough to try for that excuse. Just guessing.

I also did not hear any excuses offered or apologies rendered by the fellow who corrected the situation. Then again, maybe I ought to have the pressures rechecked by somebody else in a day or two. Could be the fix isn't. But it was enough of one that the sensor light went off after about a mile down the road.