TPMS sensors

[Jobbo]

I’ve never had TPMS on my cars so never had to deal with it before. Went out to put the winter wheels on my wife’s car and I knew it had TPMS but I assumed the only trouble I’d have would be syncing them to the car.

But I got the wheels out of the garage and the last one (of course) seemed to be flat. Pressure gauge showed it wasn’t just flat; it was at atmospheric pressure. I couldn’t see any nails in the tyre and realised the TPMS sensor was slightly loose. Tightened it up with a socket and it seemed to seat and stop being loose, but it will still rotate without getting any tighter which indicates to me it’s buggered. So I elected not to fit 3 of the winter set; that seemed silly.

I’ve left it with about 28psi in it to see if it loses pressure overnight. I’ve phoned our local Porsche dealer but I think the service people knock off on Saturday afternoons so didn’t get an answer. I’ve tried a local tyre place but their experience is that they can’t necessarily reprogramme a new sensor with Merc and Porsche.

Anyone have any direct experience of a loose TPMS sensor? I don’t feel like I want to put it on the car if it is still holding air tomorrow; it would mess up my wife’s day if it goes flat next week. Still, when I speak to Porsche on Monday I’ll suggest they swap the wheels over, save me the job

[Matty]

Can't really help other than to say I hate TPMS sensors with a passion. Expensive, servicable items that seemed to add very little actual 'value' but I couldn't take them out because it would impact resale as people would want them working.

Surely in this case they'll need to pop the tyre off and reseat? I think they last 4-5 years so if they're older than that they may advise a replacement. I tried to go the cheap route on the Evora when mine stopped working, but they would occasionally lose connection and I'd get "TPMS Error!!!" on the dash.

Edit - quick search because I'm nosey, someone was quoted £900 back in 2015 to replace the sensors on his Boxster at an OPC.

[Alex88]

Can't really help other than to say I hate TPMS sensors with a passion.

Yeah, this. The Mustang has a permanent TPMS light on, and the Mini dives me up the wall with tyre pressure warnings. Every other journey it tells me to pull over and check the tyre pressure. Apparently 2.2 bar is too low to continue the journey

[jamcg]

Can't really help other than to say I hate TPMS sensors with a passion. Expensive, servicable items that seemed to add very little actual 'value' but I couldn't take them out because it would impact resale as people would want them working.

I believe a non functional tyre pressure sensor is an MOT failure now, where it is a standard fit item

[Jobbo]

If it can just be re-seated that’s great - guess I’ll find out soon enough.

[Jobbo]

Off to the Porsche dealer at 9.30 with the offending wheel. It has held pressure since Saturday (27psi which is all I put in - should be high-30s) but I don't trust it.

Interestingly the Porsche garage won't fit the wheels to the car even though they're OE Porsche 20" Macan alloys with OE TPMS sensors and OE N-rated Pirelli Scorpions because I bought them from a third party I think they just can't be arsed to help when I didn't pay through the nose for their ugly 19" winter wheel and tyre set. They did ask if I wanted to see the sales chap who we dealt with when buying the Macan. I said I would just drop off the wheel but I might have a chat to him... never know, he may have a GT3 RS allocation available