Valve stem problem
 

Coming out of a Ruby Tuesdays today I heard a little sssssssssss coming from my car. I tracked it to the passenger rear valve stem, which was leaking air rather harshly. It was fine when I left the car, so about an hour was enough to get the tire low enough to set off the low tire pressure sensor. Come to find out, 3 out of 4 valve stems were cracked, but more severe obviously being the leaking stem. The 4th didn't require replacing because the tire had been replaced months ago due to a nail. I've never had this problem with any tires in the past and i've only had this car for 14 months and 14 days. Anyone else had this issue?

sabotage ?

I had that happen to me. Someone used a valve stem tool on mine took all 4 out.

Your car got vandalized by someone who had a .99 cent valve stem tool from WalMart. It used to be a common prank about 15-20 years ago but haven't heard about it for a while. Cheap insurance would be to pick up valve stem tool and keep it in your glove box.

What I find strange is all 3 original tires had cracks, although one severe. The new tire is perfectly fine.

At 15k my 07 did the same thing. My car was not vandalized, it was just crappy valve stems. For a few months everytime I washed my car I noticed they were cracking worse and worse. I told my self to just hurry up and replace all 4 of them. Well I never got around to it and I got stranded on the side of the highway because my LF decided to let go. I was very disappointed that ford would use a substandard part like that.

Anyways, I went into work the next day and replaced all 4 of them. Good as new and they have been fine since. I have heard of others with this issue. I recommend getting 4 new ones installed ASAP.

;)

Should have asked about the valvestem manufacturer, Dill has a recall right now. There is another manufacturer that had some problems a few years ago as well, but the name escapes me??????

Do you use a light oil like regular Armor all on the tires by any chance? I ask because sometimes it can wash down into the valvestem and cause them to prematurely fail.

Is it really any surprise to anyone? Name an American company who hasn't sold out, outsourced or cheapened their sub-components so much so that the end result product is subpar? My own company has done this and continues to nickel and dime until it has gotten to the point that you lose customers due to cheaply made sub-components, parts or sub-assemblies made in Mexico, China, India or wherever.

And people wonder how our once great country has gotten into the situation it is presently in.

It's called GREED.

Greed would be the incorrect terminology, "bringing value to the shareholder" would be the correct form sir.

Just got a low pressure light the other day. Checked everything out could not find any nails. Put air back in and its been ok for a few days. I'll keep an eye on this. Thanks for the info

Why does everyone always bemoan a company making profit. Do you work for free? If the company thought it could sell that made in USA valve stem for the higher price and sell enough of them to make a profit, it would. But people don't pay more for that made in USA valve stem, so the company sells the cheapest valve stem it can and still make money for its shareholders and pay its employees. WHEN DID MAKING A PROFIT BECOME BAD IN THIS COUNTRY!!! Once again folks if everyone felt the same way you did and bought that USA valve stem then you would have what you want, but everyone goes in and either buys the cheapest they can find or shops around for the cheapest set of tires thewy can find and the stem is the last consideration. I am not complaining to those of you who don't like crappy valve stems. You should be able to get a quality piece that will last its expected lifetime for whatever you pay for it. But dammit people you don't work for free so why should corporate America. Stockholders invest capital into companies and therefore their money is at risk with no guarantee. Boards of Directors know if they don't find some way to make the stockholders money or pay a dividend they'll be ousted. Businesses are in the business of making money if that is greed to some of you then we have already failed.

"WHEN DID MAKING A PROFIT BECOME BAD IN THIS COUNTRY!!!"

It isn't, but corporate greed can take some of the blame for the mortgage lending crisis, as well as the energy situation. We've got CEO's making WAY more money than they deserve. They make a nice, tidy sum when they help sell corporations to overseas interests, while the majority of employees below them lose their jobs. Look, I'm a stockholder myself, but I'd be willing to make a little less with my investments to keep people employed, to keep the integrity of our products, protect my own employment and to keep the USA from dropping to third world status, which is what appears to be happening.

I can careless where it is from or how much it costs. I'm not trying to be political. Ford chose to use it and it should NOT be something that fails in less than a years time on a newly purchased vehicle IMO. Especially such a critical part. It can actually be quite dangerous. Mine lost nearly all the air in less than 20 sec. I barely had time to react and pull off to the the shoulder while doing 65mph on the interstate with my wife and newly born daughter in the car. Fords choice to use the sub par valve stem may come back to haunt if enough people have problems.



:dunno:

Tony I am not disagreeing. Actually you are exactly right. If Ford uses enough crappy parts they won't sell enough cars and the market place will have spoken. Of course that valve stem shoud have lasted the full life of that tire.

And there are a lot of people at blame for mortgage crisis and greed is definitely a factor. And of course greed is wrong and sin for that matter, but I just get a little tired of people painting broad strokes about how bad corporations are in America and how greedy they are. Greedy companies will not survive ultimately, as long as we allow them to fail and not let the govenrment bail them out.

I was at discount tire last weekend to get the tires rotated on my mom's car and they looked up my info. They told me I needed to bring my car in to have faulty valve stems replaced. I replaced the tires last year at D.T. - wonder if they all get the valve stems from the same company in '07.

It's nice to know that you have all-seeing wisdom to determine what someone "deserves" to make. </sarcasm>

Now back to topic: If Ford is using sub-standard valve stems they will quickly learn via lawsuit that they should have paid more attention to quality. you would think they have learned after the Firestone fiasco... but I suspect they haven't.

Ok, those who are panicing, coming to conclusions of cost cutting/greed and the like... calm down:

http://www.dtccares.com/states.shtml

The makers of the valve stems in question:
http://www.dillaircontrols.com/

Who are... well, something, I dunno what, but with the China company below:
http://www.baolong.biz/Eintroduction.htm

The lead distributor, it appears, given the searches:
http://www.techtirerepairs.com/

And check it out... it affects 30 Million cars, not just Mustangs. Anything between 06 and 08, effectively.
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news...83/detail.html

Bottom line... plenty are affected, not just Mustangs or Fords, not any conspiracy or cost issue, just an unfortunate issue that needs to be dealt with if you're affected.

/Off to inspect mine!

Great bit of detective work and chronology of events. So now it's out to the garage and look at my valve stems.
**************

Okay, I went and looked at mine and there aren't any cracks in them. They aren't marked Dill, but 'Topseal', which when I checked are made by the same POS Chinese company that makes the Dill valves. We don 't have to worry about the Chinese military ever defeating us, they're going to defeat us with the poisonous chemicals in our children's toys, with the defective tires that they've been sending here, with the poison in our dog's food and now with these valve stems.

Les Schwab had the same problem too. Our V6 Mustang (Valve stems installed at the end of September 2005) blew out between the rubber casing and the outside of the metal threaded housing. A zip-tie around the tip kept the air in until Les Schwab replaced all four, and advised us that it was indeed a recalled item.