2009 (8/2008 build) MINI JCW Clubman. Had winter tires mounted and had the TPMS sensors changed since they were 10 years old (but still worked). Driving home from the tire place, the yellow speedo tire monitor light came on but my Schwaben scanner couldn't pick up any faults. After a while the flat tire yellow light on the speedo went off but the little ! in the triangle by the trip odometer went on. Using the stalk button to check info on it, only the tire symbol comes up. Reset it again and "Inactive" came up without an option to reset. (usually says active and reset). Went to the tire place and they re-initialized everything by pinging the monitors and through their scan tool to the OBD. Got it to reset which worked for about 5 miles, then the yellow light came back on, soon to be replaced be the ! triangle by the trip odo. Since then this first problem comes back over and over. Reset, light goes out after 3-6 miles, scan tool shows no problems, and light goes on again, followed by light on speedo going out and little triangle ! by trip odometer is back on and only fault on the tach when checking is the tire monitor symbol. All other times I was able to get "Active" and "Reset" on the screen. When I scan, I get plausible values for temp and pressure (except it reads 3.5 Bar when I think it means to say 35 psi) at all 4 tires, and if I let out 10# the red flat tire light comes on as expected and goes out when the tire is refilled. So it seems like the sensors are all working ok, and the system does detect and notify a drop in pressure. Maybe there's some other compatibility glitch or incorrect setup or initialization. I'm going to put my summer tires back on later today to check if they still work fine like they did all summer. If not, then I guess I'll need to suspect the control unit ($280) as a possiblility. BTW, the summer tires were delivered last May mounted on new wheels with aftermarket TPMS sensors from Tire Rack installed, and they gave me no problems. They didn't need any fancy initialization, just 1 quick reset. Anyone have similar problems, and what was the solution?
Could the TPMS devices be set up for the wrong scale ?? 3.5 bar is over 50 psi so maybe that is causing the snafu. This is only a guess on my part as I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
That’s what I thought at first, too , until I realized it was displaying 3.5 at 35 psi at the gauge, 3.9 at 39, and 3.2 at 32. I think it’s a discrepancy in my scan tool’s labeling of the units, rather than at the sensor level. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with my “known to work” summer tires later this afternoon.
Put on the summer tires, pushed reset, and the light went off within a block and stayed off for the 20 miles I rode. Check=OK and nothing wrong on a full scan (which includes the RDC). Put the winter tires on and the light went out after 5 miles, only to come back again With an “inactive” warning. Tried to reset 3 more times with similar results. Looks like they either put on the wrong sensors (U-Pro 422Mhz 21262) or programmed them wrong. Fault codes on scan are now: 604E rdc control 6054 rdc front left 6055 front right. There is no pressure data or sensor numbers for any of the wheels now. Clearing the faults and resetting again didn’t work.
I would think one of the new sensors are bad or they used cheep ones and your mini does not like them. It seems their sensors are causing the problem.
My first thought is you have one or more wrong sensors tuned to the wrong station of a bad sensor. I had a similar thing happen & it turned out to be a bad sensor. Batteries in these are not replaceable, WHY??? If it was me I'd have them replace all the sensors since they can't seem to figure this out. Otherwise you'll be chasing your tail on this. Good luck.
It’s going back to the shop tomorrow afternoon. They’ll have several hours to work on it while my wife and I take our two Wegie* cats in for their annual checkups. I think they’re going to try reconfiguring the sensors first, and then replace them if that doesn’t work. *Norwegian Forest Cats
Yeah, but seeing the low tire light has made the difference between just plugging a nail hole and running too low and trashing the sidewalk (= whole new tire) on several occasions.
I hate TPMS sensors. They only came about because of Good-Years crappy tires on the Ford Explorer 2 door sport that would blow tires and flip over. All TPMS do is cover the tire company and car manufacturers from being liable for people not maintaining the car they own. What happen to the days when you checked you own tires, brakes and oil? Gawd have people got lazy and that’s why we have dashboards covered in idiot lights. OK RANT OVER. Hahahahaha
I recall it was all flavors of Ford Exploder's. Also worse than Goodyear it was Fireboned tyres. I'm not a fan of tire nanny's either. Although since my sweeties car has them so they have to work. Tape would work for me justa fine.
They are in my new bike! With the touch screen I can see my tire as I ride. It’s crazy the stuff it can do.
I agree with a lot of this. Waiting for the pressures to naturally drift down far enough to turn the light on is not an acceptable substitute for checking your tire pressure weekly or at least monthly and with changes in temperature like we always get this time of year. By the time the light is on, the tire(or tires) is at least 10 lb underinflated and has been for a while. For a lot of people, the light IS teaching them not to bother to check their tire pressure. The light IS helpful for more sudden drops in pressure, usually related to a puncture that can be repaired easily if you get to it promptly.
All of this carp TPMS stability control, blind spot monitoring auto braking is dumbing down the driver. Heck they are dumb enough already no need to make them dumber. Heck I don't have to worry about anything now my car will do it. Guess I'll send a text while I drive since I'm so safe now. This morning at the tire shop there was a long line of cars that needed their air checked. Tire nanny for the people who won't bother on their own.
Backup cameras are now required on new cars in the US. As for the nannies, I'm hoping they'll actually protect me from the dumb drivers since they probably don't drive well anyway.
That would be nice. I have said this before but in aviation as pilots have been told to rely heavily on automation safety actually went down. There is a youtube video that addresses some of this, it's called Children of the magenta. What has been found is a well trained pilot that uses the correct level of automation is what produces the highest level of safety. I instruct in Boeing 757/767, in the Sim and aircraft, I teach my students when the $hit hits the fan it's time to take over and fly. The problem with this safety equipment in cars is it is designed to aid in a fully involved drivers situational awareness. In the U.S. we refuse to train drivers properly. The thought of some brain dead driver texting thinking that the safety equipment will save them, because we now they only care about themselves, scars the crap out of me.
Well, the tire shop had the MINI all afternoon and reconfigured the sensors, drove it several miles until the light went out, and pronounced it fixed. I scanned it and found no data on any wheel, drove it 4 miles and got data on the wheels but no acknowlegement of the sensors, drove it 4 more miles and the light came back on. They tried something on it again with two different scan tools that they have and since then, no codes, faults, or lights, but still haven't gotten acknowledgement of the sensors. The light usually doesn't go on until that happens, or if it doesn't acknowledge them for a certain period of time or mileage, then an "inactive" error occurs. I'll have to drive it more to get to that point and see if the problem becomes apparent again, which I'm pretty sure it will. It really shouldn't take so many miles to reset when my summer wheels and the previous factory wheels reset in about a block or two. Meanwhile, they're ordering a different brand of sensor and will swap them in this weekend if they get them in by then, or the next Tuesday or Saturday if not.
And if you get a Tesla it will auto drive so you can sit back and ride along while the car runs over people.