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T.P.M.S. a P.I.T.A.

4K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  LostInTransit 
#1 ·
My Father's 2013 Transit Connect has experienced two instances of a P.I.T.A. involving the tire pressure monitoring system.

The first time, he had to have a tire replaced. I'll "write this one off" because he only brought the wheel in to have a tire mounted, and Discount Tire installed a new TPMS sensor. After reinstalling the wheel, I could not get the TPMS warning light to turn off - even after following the reset procedure (turn ignition on, press hazards switch on/off three times within 15 seconds until horn sounds.)

So he took the van in and they reset the light at Discount Tire. All was well.

That was about a year ago.

Last week he was driving on the interstate and the light came back on.

None of the tires were low. I again tried the reset procedure. Light would go off, but turned back on after driving for a slight distance.

Went into Ford and they reset it.

I resent this new god awful garbage they install on vehicles these days. Makes do-it-yourself projects impossible, without having to visit the dealer for a fee to "reset" things (thankfully his van is still under warranty.)

But I wonder why the light turned on this second time. Nothing changed, no sensors were replaced, and no tires were low.
 
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#3 ·
It's been my experience that a few things could be causing this.

1) One or more sensors are going bad
2) One or more sensors could be at the wrong frequency
3) Check the sensor in your spare tire
4) Fuse or solenoid could be going bad
5) Clean your battery terminals before installing the new sensors.
 
#5 · (Edited)
In the spare, it could be low or the sensor. you just have the rule all possible options. In fact the spare may not have a sensor in it at all. Take for instance our spare, we converted to a 2005 t-bird balloon spare which doesn't have a sensor. I'm guessing you need to locate a tire shop who can scan your sensors individually. The solenoid is that which is connected to the warning light. if one is not aware mice/rats etc can munch on these wires can cause these type of intermittent issues. The average lifespan of a sensor is 5-10 years, but still I've seen shops install what they claim mas new sensors only to have them fail after a few weeks. Plus when installing tires, the tech could have flipped the sensor upside down which could have got damaged when mounting the tire on the rim. With a handheld portable scanner, they would get close enough to read the single on each time. Hell even a strong magnet can cause a sensor to fail.
 
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