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Tires getting too hot?
I am a new owner with a 2011 Liberty on an H345 Prevost chassis. Last weekend I was driving in stop and go traffic in Chicago. It was 92 degrees in the air and I am sure the asphalt was MUCH hotter. After awhile my tire monitoring system came up flashing something like “Stop – Tire too hot”. I had my passenger inner drive tire raising in temperature. I finally pulled over when it had risen to 192 degrees. (By the way, it was at least 20 -25 degrees hotter than all the other tires.)
I checked the pressure and the tires overall and everything is where it is suppsed to be. (105, 100, 95) It was suggested that maybe a brake was dragging making it get hotter. That was checked and all is fine.
I have seareched for the last several days and I can’t find anything about temperature limits of these tires. I find lots on pressures, but nothing on temperatures. I have talked to different shops and service centers and can’t get a straight answer. Some people say don’t worry about it until they get 250 degrees, others say 185 is worrisome.
What is the real scoop? Should I be worried and at what temperature. Any idea what is causing it? Is this normal?
Thanks
Chuck
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9 Replies
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You are the first with this question.
My reaction would have been exactly the same………verify tire pressues, verify the brakes are not dragging.
192 is hot. The hottest I have every measured with my IR gun has been 145 and that was from interstate driving on a very hot day, with all tire pressures correct based on the weight they were carrying. I did not think anything of it because all my tires were very close to that reading.
I would suggest you swap sensors with one of the other drive tires and see if the unusual temperature spread follows the sensor or is reported again on the same tire. That much of a spread strongly suggests a tire problem issue, dragging brake or a sensor not reading the correct temperature.
This is my opinion, but I cannot understand how a sensor mounted on a tire valve stem can be believed regarding tire temp because it is so far away from the tire, and with no constant flow of the air in the tire flowing past it. If the sensor was one of the internal ones then I understand why it would get more credibility, but I don’t know how to switch it with another tire. Either way I would check pressures and temps the way we Neanderthals do it, with a pressure gauge and an IR gun and compare the results to what the TPMS is saying.
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2011 should have Prevost TPMS with internal sensors. Hard to swap those around.
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On Smart tire sensors banded to the rim mine is set to 185 degrees for heat warning to go off.
Later
bv -
Hey Bernie what happens if the blow back tube gets pinched on the motor does a lot of oil come out a lot of places LOL
just poking fun Driver
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Yep , they learned something that afternoon. You can make one mistake but don’t make two.
It was harder to convince the night lead man who was shitting yellow when they built that motor it
wasn’t a blown turbo seal.Later
bv -
I had this happen to me on the second time we drove our coach. Same situation heavy stop and stop traffic very high the temperatures. In my case I had no where to pull over because it was a construction zone. It was Route 4 Florida as soon as we got moving tire temperatures dropped pretty quickly. The tire pressures were fine and the tire looked fine. I hope the tires are okay!!!
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Thank you for your reply. That is comforting to hear.
Thankfully, my tires are good. I had them checked.
I am beginning to think I don’t really have a problem, but I was jut riding my brakes too much on a VERY hot day.
I am just concerned because I have a trip into Chicago next week and I don’t want ot repeat my problem.
Now off to study the transmission retarder. Can I leave it on all the time? Will it hurt anything?
Chuck
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Using the trans retarder going through Chicago in stop and go traffic shouldn’t be a problem, I’ve done it a number of times. Just watch the trans temp. If it starts to get into the high 200’s (Jon will probably jump in here with his “magic number”) back off on the trans retarder and use the brakes until the temp drops. From what I understand, the way the trans retarder works is what creates the increase in trans temp.
Using the trans retarder in the mountains is a different thing. Using the trans retarder on a long downhill section can bring the temp up pretty quickly. I’ve read on the PC forum the key to keeping speed, trans temp, and brake temps under control is start out at a reasonable speed at the top and keep that speed reasonable.
When I’m in stop and go traffic I try to not ride the brakes on the coach. I use the cruise control as much as possible even down to 25mph to try to keep a steady speed.
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Our coaches are built with engineering knowledge applied based on millions and millions of miles of commercial experience. There are no situations I can imagine in which we can contribute to high tire temps unless we ride the brakes. Stop and go driving in traffic does involve a lot of brake use, but I really doubt if that is going to get the brakes hiot enough to overheat a tire.
My first reaction if I get a reading on anything that is high or low or out of range is to verify it. If I get a high voltage, low voltage, imbalance, high engine temp, or in this case a high tire temp I will get out my measuring device and verify the information I am getting is accurate. Right now my thinking is the TPSM is giving inaccurate information so as soon as possible I would be measuring tire temps and tire pressures.
All my experiences have shown that when things are normal, regardless of ambient temps or type of driving, tire pressures and tire temps are usually somewhat consistent. The temperature spread on a single tire suggests something is wrong and I would want to rule out a high hub temp from a dragging brake which I think would affect both tires, or a low pressure on the other tire which would cause the high temp tire to be carrying excessive weight or if all else is good, I would look to an error in the TPMS.
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