TPMS sensors mass suicide..?

Post by **neckarsulm** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 9:28 am

Had a thought..
It seems that cars that have hit 5 years after build date seem to be the most common for TPMS issues (Weenies car is newer but it could be antenna on his, I am sure he'll report back soon, all others I have seen have been 06 saloons)
Is it possible the sensors just all switch off after 5 years on the basis that they can't work effectively when the battery life gets any lower so Beru programmed them to all 'switch off' simultaneously?

Post by **aidanjaye** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 10:07 am

A conspiracy theory!!

Here is unrelated problem I faced.

Bought a set of exhausts for a Ducati 916 that needed a Eprom chip. All bought and fitted by a Ducati dealer. 2 years later, bike started running on one cylinder. My local pipe Shop swapped various components over from another bike (at great time and expense) and eventually noted that the Eprom was at fault. Reckoned there was an internal counter of sorts, that after 24 months, resorted to firing on one cylinder. Providing the bike was serviced (and sortware updated) by Ducati dealer, owner would have never found out.

Could never prove it but, food for thought.

Post by **weenie** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 10:51 am

Ordered my antenna yesterday, pick it up tomorrow, fingers crossed hopefully that is going to sort it. Will post soon as I know

Post by **guffy** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 1:25 pm

I have been touting a similar theory during the recent cold spell, so many people i know have had their TPMS giving off warnings, i was thinking the cold weather may have been reducing sensor/power efficiency?

Post by **neckarsulm** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 1:56 pm

5 years is mentioned again and again, here is one of many..

http://www.rs246.com/index.php?name=PNp ... pms+sensor

Post by **almoRS** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 7:20 pm

I'm about to switch back to my summer wheels so it should tell me if mine is the 5 year fault as it would make sense on the OEM wheels.

Post by **Iain_S4** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 10:50 pm

The TPMS warning came up on the DIS display on my car recently. IThe car is on a second hand set of wheels and winter tyres I bought off ebay. I had just assumed that the battery had gone in one off the wheel sensors as I am not sure how old the wheels are.

I thought the batteries in the wheel sensors had a 4 or 5 year life so a lot of them should be coming up for replacement now and expected to start seeing some posts on here about it.

How do you turn off the TPMS so that I stop getting that annoying beep on start up? I looked in the manual but couldn't find anything. Can it be done by VAGCOM?

Post by **neckarsulm** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 11:13 pm

Can it be done by VAGCOM?

Allegedly but I couldn't work out how, bit like disabling your airbags from a legal perspective so they wont make it easy

Post by **neckarsulm** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 11:18 pm

How do you turn off the TPMS so that I stop getting that annoying beep on start up?

Beep on start up?
Hmm the car I drove yesterday didn't show a warning until around 10 mins worth of driving.
Likewise my car did the same when wheel refurber fitted a sensor off another car in error.
Having a warning on startup is very interesting and if my suspicions are correct, isn't a sensor issue.

Post by **Iain_S4** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 12:08 pm

I get the TPMS warning straight away on start up - looks like I have more of a problem than just a dead battery in one of the wheel sensors.

Post by **adsgreen** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 12:27 pm

Yeah - IIRC the sensors "go to sleep" when there's no movement and it'll take quite a few minutes of driving to wake them up again.

Saying that, the only time Ive had the low pressure warning go off is after a long drive (2 hours) and being parked up for 8 hours. As soon as I got in the car it binged with the yellow warning and one was low. Weird.

Post by **andre3k** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 12:56 pm

Is it a crossed-out red flat tyre symbol? I think that suggests the system hasn't been paired (usually following a wheel change), but could easily be as a result of a number of other problems.

Post by **weenie** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 1:24 pm

Ha haaaaaa! My TPMS is now working, fingers crossed! Big Thank you to Wizard Works for diagnoseing the problem. Changed the antena as vagcom listed that as the faulty part. And the light went straight out. Dint have to pair/reset any tyre pressures on the dash setup.

Before changeing the antena my TPMS fault warning light would come on as soon as I started the car on and stay on.

Thanks for help Andy,

When the weather warms up a little would be good if we could have a look see what is up with my climate control.

One happy Boy!

Post by **Iain_S4** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 1:58 pm

I'm not getting either of the tyre symbols, it just says TPMS in the DIS display.

Post by **almoRS** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 2:10 pm

I've got the same message on mine Iain. I'll take the bumper off at the weekend to see how much aberdeen dirt there is over the sensor.

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TPMS sensors mass suicide..?

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