TPMS woes

[leadfart]

If one of the TPMS sensors fails, the system shuts down, and gives a failure warning. If the TPMS sensor that was on the tire you destroyed, was still sending, the rest of the system would work. You will have to do a reset on the TPMS system. You can buy a tool to do your own on Ebay, but it will not tell you which sensor is bad, if you have one. It will just allow you to reset working sensors. HTH

[leadfart]

Oh, and bye the way, I have a brand new OEM spare, you can have, if you come to Texas and get it.

[storm9c1]

Wow, that's an interesting detail to remember. Let me get this straight... if one sensor completely fails or is missing, then whole system shuts down? The spare can be "learned" if I reset the system and that should clear it up?

Sorry to hear about your woes phastlt1. That sucks to hit something so quickly after getting a new car...

[leadfart]

That is what I was told. I had a system failure at 90. All my tires were up. Then, it started working again. It failed again and quit. My GM mechanic scanned it, told me which sensor was bad, I came home, put the spare on, learned it, took the tire with the bad sensor to Discount Tire, and put one of my new sensors in.

It seems the green sensors do fail quite frequently, as soon as a year.

[phastlt1]

Thanks for the insight...I took it to the GM dealer a while ago, and was told pretty much the same thing. They reset the system for me, and tried to sell me a new wheel (a round one, lol). A few days ago, I was driving around a flooded roadway and the dry part of the road had something there, felt like a brick or something. I can't believe it didn't blow out the tire, but did flat-spot the rim....just my luck.

I'd be all over that spare, if I were anywhere near Texas...oh well, thanks for the offer.

[toyguy5538]

I bought a Cub PRO-101 TPMS tool from Tire Rack and received it today. The same tool is listed on eBay for $44 plus $11 shipping, but Tire Rack is closing them out for $19.99. The application says it does GM cars up to 2009 MY, but there are lots of other makes and models listed in the tool. I tried it on my 2011 9C1, and found the Cadillac DTS setting read my sensors and tire pressures and reset my sensor system just fine.

[Navy Lifer]

Says it covers 2008-2009 Pontiac G8, so it will work on PPV (at least 2011, and probably 12 & 13).

http://www.tirerack.com/accessories/det ... ng+Systems" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good tip--worth the $20 to find out IF it works!

[The Tech]

Awesome. I just ordered and it is scheduled to arrive Friday. Thanks for sharing!

[phastlt1]

I learned something new today. I was getting a LF low tire pressure warning, telling me it was down to 30 lbs. I put air in it, and the system still told me I was at 30 lbs. But, I looked at the reading of the LR and it was now reading 55 lbs. When I rotated my tires, the tpms were still reading that they were in their old locations, not their present ones. I would have been so much simpler if I didn't misplace my tire gage, but I did. I ended up finding my low LF tire, located in my trunk. Just love modern technology...

[Navy Lifer]

I'm of the understanding (perhaps incorrectly) that the TPMS relies on wheel rotation to "activate" each sensor by centrifugal force--in other words, the sensors are "on" only when the vehicle is moving, otherwise the battery in each sensor would have a much shorter life. This should leave the spare out of the picture, if true, unless there is a sensor malfunction. With 5 sensors and only 4 display positions on DIC (Driver Information Center - center of IP), were you able to confirm that the spare was the culprit--and how? This would also mean that one of your 4 wheel sensors (on the ground) is not broadcasting.

Not saying it can't be, but something seems a little hinky about what you've reported as the problem.

When adjusting tire pressures, I have not checked to see whether the static readings (last known input to the DIC display) change as a tire is inflated or deflated (with the vehicle stationary). Got some investigating to do.....