2008 Wrangler with broken tire valve stem
01-25-2019, 03:39 PM
#1
JK Enthusiast
Thread Starter
2008 Wrangler with broken tire valve stem
Over the past few months my wife's 08 JKU has had a slow leak in one tire. The low tire pressure light would come on about once a month and I'd fill it up to 38psi and it would be good for another month. It came on yesterday when she was driving it so I took it to a gas station nearby but their air compressor was frozen (-16 degrees here last night - oh fun!) So, I drove it back home and parked it in my garage. Went out to work on it a little bit ago. I have a cigarette adapter air compressor that's cheap and painfully slow but it gets the job done, especially when I can do it inside my garage.
Anyway, as I was attaching the air compressor connector the valve stem on that tire broke in half causing air to shoot out of it. I quickly reinserted the center pin and instead of air blasting out it was only slowly leaking out. So, I jacked up the car and put on the spare. I didn't want the tire to completely deflate with the weight of the car on it. I'm using the spare simply as a placeholder since it is original to the car (08), has never seen the pavement and I'm not comfortable driving with it on. It's simply there in case the jack fails since I'm keeping jacked up very slightly and have no jack stands to use.
So long story short if my wife brings the wheel and tire to a local tire shop down the road from us tomorrow afternoon (I'm going out of town) will they be able to just replace the broken stem or will they want to replace the whole TPMS sensor? I'd like concrete proof if just the valve stem can be replaced. I called the tire shop and the guy said he wasn't sure until they saw the TPMS and the type on it and that Chrysler had some sensors around that year that couldn't be repaired and had to be replaced. I'm just worried that if my wife brings in the tire that they'll automatically say that they need to replace the whole sensor. Unfortunately some shops take advantage of their female clientele.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Anyway, as I was attaching the air compressor connector the valve stem on that tire broke in half causing air to shoot out of it. I quickly reinserted the center pin and instead of air blasting out it was only slowly leaking out. So, I jacked up the car and put on the spare. I didn't want the tire to completely deflate with the weight of the car on it. I'm using the spare simply as a placeholder since it is original to the car (08), has never seen the pavement and I'm not comfortable driving with it on. It's simply there in case the jack fails since I'm keeping jacked up very slightly and have no jack stands to use.
So long story short if my wife brings the wheel and tire to a local tire shop down the road from us tomorrow afternoon (I'm going out of town) will they be able to just replace the broken stem or will they want to replace the whole TPMS sensor? I'd like concrete proof if just the valve stem can be replaced. I called the tire shop and the guy said he wasn't sure until they saw the TPMS and the type on it and that Chrysler had some sensors around that year that couldn't be repaired and had to be replaced. I'm just worried that if my wife brings in the tire that they'll automatically say that they need to replace the whole sensor. Unfortunately some shops take advantage of their female clientele.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
01-26-2019, 10:34 AM
#2
Sorry I don't know the answer but I do understand your question. Some TPMS systems are a complete component with the sensor and valve stem being one unit. Some are separate so that just the valve stem can be replaced, which would obviously be less expensive. My guess with the age of your Jeep, it may be a one piece unit. I'd do some searching online while you're waiting on the other members to chime in.
