Fixing a slow leak in tire help

Scissor jack should work as usual, at the spots on the side rocker panels. Wheel chocks diagonally opposite the flat are good, or at least solidly set the parking brake.

plug repairs are easier (and safer) if you remove the wheel.

 

I just want to clarify, since I'm not sure what you mean by this statement. The floor jack and scissor jacks lift the car in different ways, though that should be obvious, and it really doesn't change what you're doing. The most important difference, though, is the jack point. The floor jack is intended to be used along the midline of the car to lift the left and right sides simultaneously, while the scissor jack is intended to be used at one of four specific jack points -- one near each tire (the rectangles in the following picture):



The top of the scissor jack should be placed between the notches at the respective jack point:

 

Losing 10 PSI overnight is really not a "slow" leak.
But actually finding where it is leaking might require removing the wheel.

As long as you can air it up enough to drive to a "tire shop", many of them will fix a repairable puncture for around $10.
I've had a couple done at Wal Mart just because they are close.

 

No it doesn't; your only jacking up a corner of the car. MAKE sure you chock the tires on the ground!! Your transmission parking paw should activate and lock-down the front tires, but it's a good habit to get into when working on heavy equipment. Burrito has good pictures above; a scissor jack is placed in front of the rear tires or behind the front tires. You'll see those body "crimp points" once you put your head down there.

If I have time; I'll use the car's emergency equipment to do the job. This will let me know where everything is; if I'm missing something; and if I need to add something to the car. So if I have a real flat on the road, I'll be prepared.

Some of the things I've added is 18 inch 2x4, several garbage bags, highway plug kit with tube of rubber cement, gloves, wheel chocks and a reliable tire infiltrator.

Hope this helps..

 

My local Discount Tire store fixes leaks for free, but then I have bought lots of tires from them.

 

I should have one of those. I wonder what those tires get up to when I'm not looking.

 

Looking through the Prime Owner's Manual, I see it (summarily) makes no mention of installing a spare tire. Because, well, you'll never need to do that, 'cus you don't have a spare...

Anyway, here's an excerpt from the 2016 Prius Owner's Manual (US edition), showing the drill.

 

Even if you didn't buy from them, they will demount the tire, examine it from the inside, patch it, remount and balance it for FREE!

That's why I always go to them first to buy tires.

 

Was there no TPMS warning?



Separately, I don't trust the factory scissors jack to be safe to plug the tire while still bolted on the car. Take it off, don't work within the risk zone of a falling or collapsing jack.

 

Driving on a flat tire can definitely damage it, as the metal rim of the car would be squishing the tire against the road (the rims can also be damaged). Driving on an underinflated tire is less worrisome.

If you take it to a tire place to get it fixed, they can also give it a thorough visual inspection to look for signs of excessive wear.

 

If it is repairable and repaired correctly, then there should not be anything to worry about driving it on the highway. But, if it is not a repairable type of puncture as in the sidewall or too close to the side, then you may consider buying two tires. If you do that, then you will have at least one non-punctured used tire you can use for a backup. In fact, I had a similar slow leak puncture on my then less than 1-year-old Gen3. I had gone to a tire shop but they told me they could not repair it since it was too close to the sidewall. Ended up buying two new tires, and had them put a non-punctured used tire on a separate cheap steel wheel to use it as a full-size spare. I still have it and using it for my PP as a full-size spare.

 

If you didn't promptly take an opportunity to stop and check the pressure, then you are considerably more brave than me. But then I've experienced both medium and fast leaks from road debris punctures during a driving segment, which could have destroyed the tire before the next planned stop. (Actually, the fast one did destroy the tire, but thanks to the alert, I was down the first exit ramp, not up on the too-narrow freeway shoulder between exits.)

And I already knew from this forum that when it alerts, the tire is already more than just "slightly" low. Unless you play games with the TPMS reset button to raise the alert threshold closer to normal operating pressure, then it should never alert from cooler weather alone.

If the TPMS alert triggers due to a cooler weather because you haven't checked pressures for too long, without a significant leak (i.e. experiencing just normal seepage and diffusion), then it should initially start this pattern by alerting promptly after a cold start, then the alert will disappear a few miles down the road as the tire warms up and pressure increases. The alert should not be off for the first part of the trip, then turn on after some miles down the road, unless you had it parked in a garage 30+ degrees warmer than outside conditions.

 

A lot of members here drive overinflated as a matter of course. Some not even slightly!

When I first got my Gen 1 I tried out some of the higher pressures I saw suggested here, but after not long I backed down to just a few psi over, which I found a lot more comfortable.

The brief experiment, however, created squeaks and rattles in my dash that I was never again rid of as long as I had that car.

 

All 4 tires will very slowly lose pressure from diffusion and seepage. When you are lucky, they will even remain matched. But when they start giving low pressure alerts from cool weather, it means that you have gone too long without checking and topping up. Don't wait for regular shop service visits.

Another member here recently had his shop setting his tires at 32 psi. That might be right for some other cars, even most of them at some era, but it is too low for a Prius with standard wheel-tire size. (Note that other sizes may call for lower pressures.)

When the seasons change and morning temperatures have dropped substantially, it is time to recheck your tire pressures.

The "max pressure" marked on the tire sidewall is a cold pressure, in the morning before the vehicle drives any distance. It includes sufficient safety margin for operating warmup on hot pavement, heat waves, climbing mountains (lower ambient atmospheric pressure means higher gauge pressure readings), etc.

Yes. Use the door-frame label numbers as a minimum, and remember that as being a morning cold minimum, not an end-of-afternoon-trip reading. As for going higher, that triggers religious wars. Some of us prefer higher for several reasons, while others dispute them, though the harsher ride is indisputable. You may dislike rattling your dental fillings!