With the cool air of fall coming up here in SW lower Michigan, I noticed my tire pressure light cam on a few weeks back. Grabbed my gauge, went to a local service station and added some air to 3 of the 4 tires. One of the 3 was down about 5 lbs from the recommended 35 psi. Light turned off. I figured the cool weather was the culprit. The other day it came back on so I went back and found no issue with the tire pressure. All tires at or near 35 lbs. Any ideas as to why the light is staying on? Thanks in advance
Tire pressure light stays lit
nlbomber
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With the cool air of fall coming up here in SW lower Michigan, I noticed my tire pressure light cam on a few weeks back. Grabbed my gauge, went to a local service station and added some air to 3 of the 4 tires. One of the 3 was down about 5 lbs from the recommended 35 psi. Light turned off. I figured the cool weather was the culprit. The other day it came back on so I went back and found no issue with the tire pressure. All tires at or near 35 lbs. Any ideas as to why the light is staying on? Thanks in advance
Is it the tire icon, or the letters "TPMS"? If it's the letters you most likely have one or more tire sensors with a low battery. They are non-serviceable, meaning the only solution is to replace it, and if 1 is dead you can bet the rest are pretty close too.
My TPMS light has been on for 12-18 months at least. I assume this is not a DIY-able thing right? (the sensors are inside the tire?) At this point I feel it is silly to pay $500 or whatever crazy amount it will cost for a dealer to replace sensors and reset the system, when I can easily check the pressures myself the old fashioned way. I guess the only benefit of TPMS is really to alert you if you have a nail or something causing a slow to medium leak.
My 2014 Accord has a much nicer system which uses wheel rotation math and thus doesn't need all the sensors and junk. I wish there was a way to retrofit that on my Odyssey.
Its the icon that comes up
Then most likely it is a sensor that has gone bad and is sending the wrong pressure. The dealer or a tire shop should be able to tell you which one, but you are entering the time period where all of them will need to be replaced if you want to maintain the function of the system. My '07 started acting up about 6 months ago, but I'll just wait until the next time I put on new tires. I check my tires regularly anyway so the chances I will ever benefit from the system are low and my other 2 cars don't even have TPMS.
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I just had a bad TPMS sensor replaced for $69 at Discount Tire. It's nowhere near a $500 repair. You likely only have one bad, so you just replace that one. When the next one fails, you replace that one. My 2007 with 135,000 miles has had 2 go bad, costing me $140.
Thanks - that's helpful. For 70 bucks I agree it's worth it to get the system working and get the light out!
I didn't realize that the aftermarket places would do this stuff. I assumed I'd need to drop my pants and go to the dealer where the minimum price of doing ANYTHING begins with their $150 "diagnostic fee" and then the fun starts (sir, you need a new control module, only $1575 plus tax!)
I'm a big Discount Tire fan so I'll check it out. Do they use OEM Honda sensors I assume?
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I very much doubt that Discount Tire stocks OEM branded sensors for every make out there. I also doubt that there's anything magical about Honda branded vs some other brand of sensor.
I didn't know the Honda TPMS system was "open source" and could accept a variety of sensors. But I honestly don't really know much about the particulars of the TPMS system. I'll need to do some learnin'
you dont reprogram the sensors, you reprogram the car to recognize new sensors
there are expensive TPMS tools that can do reprogramming. Some cars have a built in procedure.
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I'll add my own experience here...I have a 2008 Touring. I just put new tires on a month or so ago and replaced all the sensors (incl washer and nut) as a preventative measure. I ordered them from Bernardi parts and Wal-mart installed them when I got my new tires. They are just TRW sensors with a Honda part number stamped on them. The tech at Wal-Mart wondered why I was bothering. From the reading I did on this, I surmised that the batteries are estimated to last 7-8 years, so rather than put new tires on 7 year old sensors I just replaced them rather than having to have each tire dismounted again later to replace them one at a time when, not if, they fail. You might get 10 years, you might get 6 years but it wasn't worth the trouble to me.
I know some models require programming but the Touring doesn't. You simply drive down the road at 35mph or so for a minute and they all pop up and work. The Touring has the system where each individual tire pressure is displayed. I'm fully equipped and capable of checking and inflating my tires but I really like the system and it was worth the couple hundred bucks to have the system reliable with new sensors.
I know some models require programming but the Touring doesn't. You simply drive down the road at 35mph or so for a minute and they all pop up and work. The Touring has the system where each individual tire pressure is displayed. I'm fully equipped and capable of checking and inflating my tires but I really like the system and it was worth the couple hundred bucks to have the system reliable with new sensors.
I ordered 4 sensors for a good price from Ebay. It is claimed they are new, OEM Honda sensors. Hopefully that will indeed be true.
I called Discount Tire and they said it would be $15 per tire to install my own sensors. This was a better price than I found at NTB, Just Tires, and others. I haven't called Costco yet, nor have I tried to negotiate at all with Discount Tire.
I called Discount Tire and they said it would be $15 per tire to install my own sensors. This was a better price than I found at NTB, Just Tires, and others. I haven't called Costco yet, nor have I tried to negotiate at all with Discount Tire.
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Really all that needs done is to break the bead on the sensor side of the wheel, replace the sensor, and then reinflate the tire. I've done that myself before. $15 per tire sounds reasonable to me, though.
Yeah I read earlier in this or another thread that someone got DT to do it for 10 bucks TOTAL for all 4 wheels. That would be great! Sounds a bit low to me though....I mean even what you're talking about is going to take someone at DT at least 15-20 mins by the time they get the wheels off, get all 4 sensors changed, and reprogram the TPMS. I don't see how they would stay in business if they only get 10 bucks total for that block of time. I'll see what Costco wants to charge first, and maybe also call a few Discount Tires just to see if they all have a standard amount that they quote or whether it is just whatever the person answering the phone pulls out of thin air.
While I always love to try to DIY everything, even for $60 labor it is far better for someone at DT to do this job rather than me trying to "break the bead" on 4 tires etc.....plus I don't even have a scanner tool so DIY isn't really even an option.....
Really glad that Honda changed over to an ABS-measurement based system on the newer cars like my Accord so I won't have to do this again with that one in a few years.
Well, I got the light out successfully, but it ended up being a bit of a chore
I found a good deal on 4 new OEM Honda (the TRW make) sensors with the correct part number etc. So I bought all 4, thinking I'd just have 4 installed so I don't have to chase down single failing batteries one at a time next few years.
This was my first questionable mistake
Went to the tire shop and they scanned my existing ones. 1 was bad/didn't respond. Ok, good, so it's not the TPMS module that is broken. Of course the tire guy suggests that I replace all 4. Since I have the sensors I agree. $16 per tire for their labor. Let's go.
They get them all switched out. Then they go to program them. Something is odd with the interaction between their scanner and the new sensors. Except ONE of the sensors seems to work fine as a "2008-2010 Odyssey" sensor yet the other 3 come back as "2011-2015". I dunno. I have a feeling they were doing something wrong with the scanner but at this point I was knee deep in 1.5 hours of total time and I'd already paid 64 bucks for labor. So they decide to reinstall the original 3 OEM ones that were working, and use the 1 new that they were scanning up. In the end, they got it all back together and put the TPMS in learning mode, and after driving around a bit after I left it went off. Great!
But now I need to try to return 3 of 4 sensors that scan positively yet somehow didn't link up as the correct unit in their tool. All 4 that I received were identical makes and part numbers. I am still dubious as to how 1 worked but the others wouldn't.
Whatever, I have my light out now, for total investment of 80 bucks. Unfortunately, I have 1 new and 3 existing sensors, still. Hopefully the existings will last awhile longer. They say that they have some mileage-based drain (they broadcast while the car is driving but sleep otherwise) so maybe I'll be lucky since I only have 50K miles.
FOR THOSE FOLLOWING MY PATH.....I'd suggest it may be easier to just buy 1 sensor at the store where you're having it done and let them install it. It will be 60 bucks total and you'll know that you'll get a working sensor because they use a bunch of universal cloneable ones. Also, there isn't really any economies of scale to getting all 4 replaced at once. So while it would suck to go spend 1.5 hours 4 different times over a few years, unless you really know that all of yours are going to fail in short order, you don't get any $$ discount for doing all of them at once. That said, if you go one by one, then you are sort of stuck doing that because it is hard to know which of the 2 are "new" and which are "old" if you later decide to replace a few at a time. To this end, I'm going to try to mark the new one right now with a sharpie or something so maybe I can keep track through the future three-card monty of tire rotations!
I spoke with the Honda dealer first and asked whether they were covered by HondaCare. THEY ARE! Yay! But only depending on "how" they failed. So if they are "damaged" then they aren't covered. And I would have to sign up to cover their stupid $125 or $150 "diagnostic fee" which would only be covered by HondaCare if the TPMS sensor is. So I decided it felt like too much of a slot machine pull to do it through the dealer. If you don't win their lottery of "how did the sensor fail" then you're in for an expensive part, plus expensive labor. In reality, the failed part looks undamaged so I should have gotten it for free from HondaCare but again, too much risk....
I found a good deal on 4 new OEM Honda (the TRW make) sensors with the correct part number etc. So I bought all 4, thinking I'd just have 4 installed so I don't have to chase down single failing batteries one at a time next few years.
This was my first questionable mistake
Went to the tire shop and they scanned my existing ones. 1 was bad/didn't respond. Ok, good, so it's not the TPMS module that is broken. Of course the tire guy suggests that I replace all 4. Since I have the sensors I agree. $16 per tire for their labor. Let's go.
They get them all switched out. Then they go to program them. Something is odd with the interaction between their scanner and the new sensors. Except ONE of the sensors seems to work fine as a "2008-2010 Odyssey" sensor yet the other 3 come back as "2011-2015". I dunno. I have a feeling they were doing something wrong with the scanner but at this point I was knee deep in 1.5 hours of total time and I'd already paid 64 bucks for labor. So they decide to reinstall the original 3 OEM ones that were working, and use the 1 new that they were scanning up. In the end, they got it all back together and put the TPMS in learning mode, and after driving around a bit after I left it went off. Great!
But now I need to try to return 3 of 4 sensors that scan positively yet somehow didn't link up as the correct unit in their tool. All 4 that I received were identical makes and part numbers. I am still dubious as to how 1 worked but the others wouldn't.
Whatever, I have my light out now, for total investment of 80 bucks. Unfortunately, I have 1 new and 3 existing sensors, still. Hopefully the existings will last awhile longer. They say that they have some mileage-based drain (they broadcast while the car is driving but sleep otherwise) so maybe I'll be lucky since I only have 50K miles.
FOR THOSE FOLLOWING MY PATH.....I'd suggest it may be easier to just buy 1 sensor at the store where you're having it done and let them install it. It will be 60 bucks total and you'll know that you'll get a working sensor because they use a bunch of universal cloneable ones. Also, there isn't really any economies of scale to getting all 4 replaced at once. So while it would suck to go spend 1.5 hours 4 different times over a few years, unless you really know that all of yours are going to fail in short order, you don't get any $$ discount for doing all of them at once. That said, if you go one by one, then you are sort of stuck doing that because it is hard to know which of the 2 are "new" and which are "old" if you later decide to replace a few at a time. To this end, I'm going to try to mark the new one right now with a sharpie or something so maybe I can keep track through the future three-card monty of tire rotations!
I spoke with the Honda dealer first and asked whether they were covered by HondaCare. THEY ARE! Yay! But only depending on "how" they failed. So if they are "damaged" then they aren't covered. And I would have to sign up to cover their stupid $125 or $150 "diagnostic fee" which would only be covered by HondaCare if the TPMS sensor is. So I decided it felt like too much of a slot machine pull to do it through the dealer. If you don't win their lottery of "how did the sensor fail" then you're in for an expensive part, plus expensive labor. In reality, the failed part looks undamaged so I should have gotten it for free from HondaCare but again, too much risk....
There is another option: you can CLONE your existing TPMS sensors, instead of buying the OEM ones and having to reprogram the ECU. I'm doing this 'sensor cloning' to add a set of 4 winter tires: the winter tires will have 4 TPMS sensors that will have the same SendorID's than the ones that came with the Ody (summer tires). Thus, you have two sets of tires, with identical SensorID's. hence, no need to re-program the ECU with new SensorID's. you could use the same principle if any of the sensors fail: you just replace the failed sensor with a new one, programmed with exactly the same SensorID
I ordered a set of 4 sensors from TPMS SENSORS | TPMS CLONE | TPMS CLONING STORE
check their site, they offer to rent you a sensor scanner tool that will obtain the SensorID's (they mail the tool to you, you use it to read the SensorIDs in your existing tires, and then you send it back). with the sensorID's in hand, you send the numbers to the guys at TPMS SENSORS | TPMS CLONE | TPMS CLONING STORE and they mail you the new cloned sensors. you're done!
the nice part about doing it this way, is that you don't have to go the dealer and get fleeced for re-programming your car's ECU
If you're interested on the details, you can check this thread:
http://www.odyclub.com/forums/54-20...rums/54-2011-odyssey/254769-2016-honda-odyssey-ex-l-winter-tires-rims-tpms.html
Interesting
However it seems that option is no cheaper than going to Discount Tire or similar. DT, for example, charges 60 bucks per sensor INSTALLED. Or 16 bucks to install if you bring your own sensor. The TPMS clone store is 58 bucks each for 4 sensors, then you'll pay 74 bucks installed vs 60, And you have to go through the hassle of waiting for the tool to arrive, scanning the code, mailing it back, waiting for the sensor to arrive, etc. You can drive into DT, grab a coffee, wait an hour or whatever and your sensor is done. The guy was showing me the sensors they use and they are universal programmable kinds....I don't know if they clone them too on the spot but certainly could be the case (although if the old sensor is dead, not sure how they can get the code from it)
@ Hogan773: you're right in terms of DT being a good deal at $60 per sensor installed. UnfortuWe don't have a DT locally, so i went to all major tire stores here (Sullivan, TownFair, Sears, BJ's, Firestone) and nobody was able to confirm they would clone the TPMS sensors for me. furthermore, some were looking at me funny when i asked about cloned TPMS sensors...
The major driver for me to go the cloned TPMS route was that i don't want to depend on a dealer visit every time i change winter/summer tires.
One last comment on how to obtain the SensorID from a dead sensor: the SensorID is printed on the sensor's body.
One added benefit of scanning my existing sensors with the rented tool is that now i have all 4 SensorID's; if any of these fail, i just need to clone it and will be good to go. Again, without having to go to the dealership!
The major driver for me to go the cloned TPMS route was that i don't want to depend on a dealer visit every time i change winter/summer tires.
One last comment on how to obtain the SensorID from a dead sensor: the SensorID is printed on the sensor's body.
One added benefit of scanning my existing sensors with the rented tool is that now i have all 4 SensorID's; if any of these fail, i just need to clone it and will be good to go. Again, without having to go to the dealership!
Too bad.....I'm a big fan of Discount Tire (aka as America's Tire in some markets)
Costco would probably do the install too....but I'm not sure if they have all the sensors and cloning capability on hand (and you might not be a Costco member)
Anyway glad you got a working situation. I would have gone your route if I switched to snow tires and back twice a year....DEFINITELY don't want to have to hit a dealer for that!
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