Hi, I'm experiencing an issue with the TPMS light on, tire pressure is perfect but not getting readings from ANY of the sensors, which is weird -- all 4 of them can't possibly fail at the same time! so I'm trying to figure out what's going on because the only suggestion I've heard is to just replace all of the sensors, which I don't necessarily agree with -- I want an actual diagnosis! I'm a woman and hate taking my car in as I get nervous that someone is just trying to sell me something that I don't really need. Thanks in advance for any advice...
No reading from ANY of the TPMS sensors
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Are you getting zero readings (all dashes) or just a blank screen? Is the low tire pressure warning light on?
It's possible that the receivers are bad, the sensors (transmitters) are bad, or the display is bad. More information as to what you are seeing will help narrow down the diagnosis. Once I know what you have, then I can check the service manual for the appropriate diagnostics.
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Did you recently replace the rims, tires, and/or sensors? If it's a new set of sensors to the car (like swapping summer/winter rim and tire sets, or a new to you set of rims/tires) the car needs a few miles to pick up that they're there. IIRC it was something like x number of miles or a certain speed for a given time, or something like that. Nothing outrageous, just a short drive at normal speeds.
Hi, the guy at Discount Tire said he could not get ANY of the sensors to read, so to me, that would mean that they read dashes or 0s. He suggested replacing all of the sensors, but I was highly skeptical since what are the odds that all 4 sensors died at the same time? What lead to my having them read was when my TPMS light on the dash came on -- after determining that all my tires had good air pressure, took the car to Discount Tire to get a reading on which tire or sensor was the issue, and they said they could not get a reading on any of them. I've had the same tires on the car for a couple of years so nothing was done like putting in the wrong sensors or tampering of any kind. I understand that sensors eventually need to be replaced as the battery dies or the sensor just goes bad -- but how can it be possible for ALL 4 of them to die at the same time? Which is why it seems like something else is going on. I don't know how they test the sensors other than it's with a handheld unit, but I don't know if they are reading at each tire, or at some central "brain" (receiver). If they trying to get a reading at the receiver, then maybe that, being common to each sensor, could be the issue. But I just don't know, and all Discount Tire had to say about it is that "we're not mechanics" yet they would be happy to replace all 4 sensors without an actual diagnosis. :frown2:
Shots - No, nothing has changed on my end. Same tires have been on the car for a couple of years, no one has tampered with the sensors, they are the originals. I get that they need to be replaced eventually, but all 4 bad at the same time? does not seem likely. Drove the car for a week after verifying air pressure was good on all 4 tires before taking to Discount Tire to get the sensors read because the TPMS light never went out. See my response to Ddaddy for more about that. Thanks for your response!
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Tire centers read each tire remotely, not through the car. If their reader isn't picking them up, then they aren't transmitting. Tire Discounters has a good reputation so I doubt they are scamming you.
Since all of the OEM transmitters were put in at the same time, they would all have about the same battery life. It's wouldn't be unreasonable for them to all die at the same time. Unusual maybe, but not unreasonable.
You could ask them to replace just one sensor and see if the system recognized it before you do all 4. That way you would be able to tell where the issue lies.
I'll throw this out there in case it has anything to do with this issue: When my TPMS light came on, it was right after I had driven across town, after having my car serviced. I just had the regular oil change, etc., however they noted that they checked tire pressure (and topped off if needed, I assume), and I also had them inspect my brakes to give me an idea if they were close to needing servicing. It could be just a coincidence that the TPMS light came on within a day of the car being serviced (again, it was the first time I had driven more than a couple miles, immediately following the car being serviced). It did cross my mind that "something" happened during the servicing to damage the TPMS system, but I don't know enough about the system to speculate on what happened.
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Very unlikely. The system doesn't work in such a way that they could have screwed it up that way. Regardless, the wheel sensors would still be transmitting and the remote reader that the Tire shop uses would still read them even if the car didn't.
You will have to approach this one logically and one step at a time. It's how diagnosing issues like this works. First you need a transmitter that you know is good before you can tell what is actually going on.
Your car doesn't read each wheel and give you the pressure of each like some of the other models do. Therefore, you need to remotely read each wheel and know that they are all transmitting before you can tell if it's the car receiving system that is at fault. However, you also want to check your tire pressure and make sure it is above 30 psi in each tire just to make sure.
The Tire Pressure Monitoring (TPM) system uses radio and sensor technology to monitor tire air pressure levels. Sensors, mounted to each road wheel as part of the valve stem, transmit an RF signal indicating their individual pressure to a receiver located in the Wireless Control Module(WCM), commonly referred to as the Sentry Key Remote Entry Module(SKREEM). These transmissions occur approximately once every minute at speeds over 15mph (24 km/h). The Tire Pressure Monitoring system remains active even if no tire pressure related message is displayed.
The sensors lay dormant (Park Mode), then wake and start transmitting (Drive Mode) when the vehicle first reaches speeds over 15 mph (24 km/h). Once the wheels stop rotating for a period of approximately 20 minutes, the sensors shut down until again awaken. Although not transmitting as when in Drive Mode, while in Park Mode, the sensors still transmit approximately once every 13 hours to let the receiver know air pressure status at that time. Sensors will also transmit when a pressure change of one psi (seven kPa) or more is detected during that period.
So the unit that the tire place uses to check the sensor activates the sensor so it will transmit? i.e. they can still get a reading even without the car turned on (and not moving, of course).
Well, given your explanation (and thank you for sharing that), it is starting to sound like all of the sensors could actually be bad!!!! Since each one should be giving off a reading that the tire place was trying to check, and each sensor would transmit independent of anything else in the system.
As you mentioned, it does seem unlikely, yet it is not impossible, for all 4 sensors to actually have failed in the same time period (between the time the TPMS light illuminated, and the time I went to have the sensors read).
Sounds like my choice is to just go ahead and have the sensors replaced (might as well have them all replaced, since the car is 6 years old/70,000 miles) -OR- continue doing what I've been doing, which is to check my tire pressures every few days. Ugh.
Thanks again for your help!
Well, given your explanation (and thank you for sharing that), it is starting to sound like all of the sensors could actually be bad!!!! Since each one should be giving off a reading that the tire place was trying to check, and each sensor would transmit independent of anything else in the system.
As you mentioned, it does seem unlikely, yet it is not impossible, for all 4 sensors to actually have failed in the same time period (between the time the TPMS light illuminated, and the time I went to have the sensors read).
Sounds like my choice is to just go ahead and have the sensors replaced (might as well have them all replaced, since the car is 6 years old/70,000 miles) -OR- continue doing what I've been doing, which is to check my tire pressures every few days. Ugh.
Thanks again for your help!
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Try going to somewhere like Advance Auto and get any trouble codes read. Unless you have your own code reader or a tuner that can read codes. Maybe something else will pop up? They always do it for free and you could post codes up here for further info.
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From the dates it doesn't look like anyone's been here lately but I'm having a similar problem with TPMS on my 03 Deville. I bought it a month ago and from day one it had one of the sensors out. I decided to take it by Firestone to let them put one new sensor so I would have them all working. Three hours later they brought my car around saying they couldn't fix it. When I got in I noticed NONE of my TPMS were reading or had all decided to go bad at the same time even the new one they installed was not working either. I've since bought 4 more new sensors but i'm wondering if it's the sensors or did Firestone screw up something in my car?
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I am experiencing a similar issue, but two of the TPMS sensors in the front are reading just fine, but the two in the rear are not reading at all. Big O Tires, just put in 2 new sensors in the rear and still not reading, I know they'll brand new because the mech. showed me the box it came in and didn't charge for both just one, they were trying to figure out for about 2 hours but they can't fix. So I just decided to leave it the way it is and it's not a big deal, but if anyone has a solution, please let me know. I almost forgot, I called Honda and the guy at the service dept. told me it would cost $150.00 just to "recalibrate", I just laughed at him and hung up!
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