Is everyone's TPMS just a useless pain in the ass?

[Lee456]

When I was first test driving the car they let me drive it home to show my wife who was working that day. When nearly home the TPMS light blinked for a while then came on solid. I thought I was getting a flat, so I checked all the tires. They were fine. When I returned the car I asked about this and they said it was due to "changes in the atmospheric pressure." In the five months since then, it has come on many times. I'll be driving down the road and it will blink for a minute or two then come on solid. Sometimes it goes off next time I start the car, some times it blinks for a couple minutes when I start the car then goes off, sometimes it just stays on.

This thing gives a whole new meaning to the saying about the boy who cried wolf. I understand that it was something mandated by the government and cannot be removed, but what good is it if everyone ignores it?

There was a thread here some time ago where someone was investigating how to disable it, but that just sort of faded away.

Are they all like this or is mine just whacky? I hate to take it into the dealer for fear of what else they might screw up. When I took it in about the strange alarm device they had left in it, they gave it to a lot boy to drive down to the alarm shop. He couldn't figure out how to shift it into reverse and damn near ran into the building before someone went over to help him, but they still let him drive it off the lot!

If it's just mine and it is obviously broken I guess I'll have to take it in, but if thay are all like this I'd like to save the irritation of having them mess with it and I'll just ignore it.

 

[Nliiitend1]

Sounds like you might have a defective sensor.

Mine has never misbehaved this way.

 

[eg6motion]

Sounds like you might have a defective sensor.

Mine has never misbehaved this way.

agreed, likely a defective Tire PMS sensor

 

[CWPspeed3]

I've never seen my TPMS light come on from temps -10* to 100* sounds like they were feeding you BS about atmospheric pressure. They are only gov mandated to be on new cars 08+ you dont have to keep them on the car but you will have that light on constantly then.

 

[GoFast]

if it makes you feel any better, my valve stem actually broke last night. completely cracked in have. bye bye 70 bucks

 

[Rotus8]

Mine did this a few days ago. After driving for a few minutes, started to blink and then came on solid. I did the drill and checked the pressures, all OK. The next time I drove it, it happened again, then it has stopped doing it. I am pretty sure this sequence means the ECU didn't see at least one of the sensors, it times out after a few minutes and complains. This happend to me just after installing some new electronics stuff and running cables around. My guess is that the RF signal from the sensors is somehow disturbed by my new stuff. But it then stopped happening? Maybe the thing learns somehow? Meh.

 

[Lee456]

Thanks for all the replies. I guess mine is broken since it has done it off and on ever since I got the car. At it's worst streak it was on for three days a few months ago with 5 or 6 start/stop cycles of the car. Then it just went off by itself for a couple weeks.

No, hearing your valve stem broke doesn't make me feel a bit better. It makes me feel worse. One more thing to randomly go wrong with this car. The Internet is great because you can get questions like this answered, but on the other hand you find out everything that can go wrong. About 15 years ago I bought a new Mustang 5.0 and within 3 months put on a supercharger, headers, and other stuff. No internet so I didn't read about all the people who put the same supercharger on their car and blew their engines, broke their trannies, or whatever. They were out there, I just didn't read about them. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. I just ran the car for 90,000 miles then sold it. No problems

I'll have to take it in later this month about the TPMS. I'll have to decide if I need to remove my Nano and Turbosmart BOV first. I've never seen so much crap about dealers voiding warrentees. When I put the supercharger on the Mustang I knew I killed my warrenty, but minor mods have never been a problem with other cars I've had.

 

[que]

Your Nano & BOV have nothing to do with your TPMS light. I wouldn't remove it.

 

[bgibb68]

i still would though....some dealerships are asses about that kinda stuff

 

[Lee456]

That's what I'm trying to guess, is whether now is the time to find out if my dealer is an ass or not. Being lazy by nature, I'm tempted to bring it in with the parts on there for a problem like the TMPS that is obviously unrelated just to see if they say anything.

 

[que]

I'm lazy too that's why I don't take anything off. But, then I haven't had any warrantable issues yet. What I do is borrow my friends OBD2 scanner then pull codes so that I have an idea of what's going on. I had one CEL that turned out to be a vacuum line I tapped to install my boost gauge & of course that's not warrantable. Fixed it & I've been golden so far.

 

[jbiird317]

my tpms light is always on in the cold, anything less than 40* on start up and the light is on. dealer has fed me the same BS line over and over again about the change in temperature. I wouldn;t count on them replacing it but it cant hurt to try

 

[xtrememps]

I've had the same problem as you. Where do you live? Where I live and travel I see a lot of elevation changes and thought that might be to blame (due to atmospheric pressure changes). Nevermind I see where you live..that's weird.

 

[que]

once I came out to go home & it was cold as hell. I lost about 5 pounds all the way around. Atmospheric pressure change? I don't see it changing that much that quick. Where's my BS smiley? Here it is. :bs: That one time was the only time I had an issue with TPMS. I understand about air thinning in the higher elavations, but unless your going from 20K above sea level then back down constantly then BS. There's something wrong w/ the sensors.

 

[Lee456]

I'm in Phoenix, and unless you head out of town it's flat. I mean really flat. Also, not much change in temperature during the times it has come on. I'm pretty sure somethings broken, but I'm used to ignoring the light so I'm not in a big hurry to leave the car at the dealer all day on the chance that they can fix it. Being lazy I still take it in for oil changes. The first one was free and after I pay for one I might change my mind about that. I'll have them look at it when I take it in for the second oil change later this month.

I wonder if you can just get up behind the panel and take the light bulb out? I guess if that were possible the people who've written in the thread here about trying to disable it would have thought of that.

 

[CWPspeed3]

It would be really nice if there was just a fuse you could take out to disable the TPMS light in the dash. Since it is just a sensor there should also be a way to change or disable it with an OBDII computer and proper knowledge.

 

[Nliiitend1]

Removing the bulb would only theoretically be difficult if it's an LED that's soldered to the board or something like that. I'm actually rather surprised that I haven't seen anyone that's given it a try...

As far as it being related to "atmospheric pressure" goes, that is TOTAL BS. For something like that to affect the pressure inside the tire you'd have to have some major barometric activity coupled with tire pressures that are right on the cusp of being "too low" by the sensors' readings.

I still vote for a defective sensor.

There is one other thing that I've heard can screw these things up...If you read in the owner's manual in the TPMS section they discuss the possibility of the signal from the sensors being affected by large metallic objects (or something to that effect) in the rear cargo area near the wheel well. Just a thought...

 

[seesko54]

I live in Minnesota. Bought my MS3 in May. The temp has ranged from near 100 to 18 below and the one time the tire light came on the tires did need air. It was right after it started getting real cold. All 4 tires needed air. That's pretty normal when the temp drops so much.
The car seems to be ok in cold weather. The tires suck in snow tho. I'm getting Blizzaks on the car this afternoon.

 

[seesko54]

I've never seen my TPMS light come on from temps -10* to 100* sounds like they were feeding you BS about atmospheric pressure. They are only gov mandated to be on new cars 08+ you dont have to keep them on the car but you will have that light on constantly then.

Does just the light stay on if you leave the sensors off? I'm getting winter tires & wheels for the car and sans the TPMS to save the 250.00 the cost.

 

[CWPspeed3]

Does just the light stay on if you leave the sensors off? I'm getting winter tires & wheels for the car and sans the TPMS to save the 250.00 the cost.

I believe it blinks for a few seconds then stays on all the time. I left my TPMS sensors on my winter setup cause its more of a pain to check pressure in the winter and didnt opt to buy them for my summer setup. I'll just deal with the light always on I guess.