Tire Pressure Monitoring System Problem

[ZBB]

I received this error today... Similar to others, it came on and flashed for a few minutes, then was solid on. It came on about 45 miles into a 70 mile drive. A few miles later we parked to go into a grocery store and the error was gone when we came back. It also did not show up on the return 70 mile drive (we drove up to Congress, AZ to watch the procession of 19 hearses carrying the firefighters killed in the Yarnell fire -- my parents have a house in Yarnell and my stepdad is the chaplain for the Phoenix fire dept and assisted in their recovery and drove in today's procession)...

I haven't checked tire pressures yet -- temp was about 103 when the warning came on, and were up to 112 on the return trip. I'll check pressure in the morning and call this in tomorrow...

 

[gnelson]

The first seems to be the likely one. Porsche and Roadster as Chads mentioned don't have the issue since they have different front/rear tire size. No tire rotation will be performed on them.

Someone reported on Tesla Forum the actual pressure was displayed on the service screen when the technician was trying to fix a TPMS false alarm problem. The onboard computer does seem to have the info.

My 2003 Corvette had different size tires and I didn't need to rotate tires, but when I replaced 10 year old sensors, I needed to have the car learn where the new sensors were located. It was a simple procedure from the dic. I did need a magnet and it took just a few minutes to program each sensor. If a ten year old car with limited input options can reprogram tpms then the state of the art electornics on the Model S could have similar functionality. I don't even care if the pressures get displayed on the 17 in monitor. I would be happy to have them available on my Windows phone app.

 

[Msolomi]

Same thing happened to me on day of delivery; took it right back; they adjusted it and it worked for a day, but now I got the same message this morning; but then it went away again. weird.

 

[mknox]

Got my first TPMS Warning (not low pressure... the "needs service" warning) last night. The only thing a bit unusual is that it was raining fairly hard for the complete 50 minute drive I was on, and I was wondering if the rain/water was interfering with the "signal" from one or more of the wheels to the car. It went off by itself and has not come back today.

 

[Musterion]

Got my first TPMS Warning (not low pressure... the "needs service" warning) last night.

I was getting this on long, not wet, freeway drives. Warning light would then go away within a day. In a service appointment they pulled logs and found front wheel sensors sometimes losing contact with the receiver. They moved the TPMS ECU forward (it is located somewhere near the back seat) and ask me to keep an eye on it. If system warning comes back, they said next step is replace the front TMPS transmitters (maybe with higher power ones??). I think it is a known problem because the service narrative said "relocated TPMS ECU to the updated position." Good luck!

 

[mknox]

I was getting this on long, not wet, freeway drives.

I mostly only do long freeway drives. Last night's was not particularly long. It's on my list to have Service look at. (I do have quite a number of little things like this for them to look at, but nothing "critical").

 

[Cosmacelf]

Mrknox - how is uptake of the car in Canada? Do a lot of people still not know about it, or is word getting out?

 

[mknox]

Mrknox - how is uptake of the car in Canada? Do a lot of people still not know about it, or is word getting out?

Well, it's not California, but I think the brand recognition is as good as in any (non CA) portion of the US. Lots of people are aware of, and quite positive on the brand based on the conversations I've had. I think sales are pretty decent too.

 

[swengl]

I installed 6.2.188 update last night (I've had my S85D for about 3 weeks now, approx 960 miles). On my first drive today about 5 miles into the drive a warning came up telling me to contact Tesla Service about the TPMS sensor. It can't be a coincidence. Tire pressure is fine on all 4, BTW. I've contacted the service center and the engineers are reviewing the logs now.

 

[mknox]

My issues have finally been resolved, but I think I heard the TPMS technology on the newer cars might be different than my 2+ year old Model S.

Over time, they replaced the receiver in the car, added some sort of antenna extension kit in the car and have replaced 6 wheel sensors (4 at one time). The first time they replaced what they thought was the bad sensor, the next time replaced all 4, and finally found and replaced one of the new 4 that was bad.

 

[swengl]

Looks like in my case, it may just be a bad sensor in one of the tires. They are going to replace it on Monday to see if that fixes things.

 

[swengl]

It was, indeed, a bad sensor in the tire. Easy fix!

 

[Andyw2100]

I installed 6.2.188 update last night (I've had my S85D for about 3 weeks now, approx 960 miles). On my first drive today about 5 miles into the drive a warning came up telling me to contact Tesla Service about the TPMS sensor. It can't be a coincidence. Tire pressure is fine on all 4, BTW. I've contacted the service center and the engineers are reviewing the logs now.

It was, indeed, a bad sensor in the tire. Easy fix!

I'm wondering about this, and whether or not your initial assessment that it couldn't be a coincidence may have been correct.

Perhaps version .188 is now collecting additional information from the sensors, but not yet displaying that information, as a lead in to a firmware version that will display the data. If your faulty sensor was incapable of providing this newly required information, that would explain the sudden failure immediately after the firmware update.

Or, of course, it really could have just been a coincidence.

 

[swengl]

Honestly, I don't know. I do hope that they will end up providing a firmware update that will report the individual pressures in all 4 tires. My wife's 2014 Toyota Highlander has that feature and it was nice to be able to isolate which tire needed air this past winter when the pressures dropped during our cold snap. When spring rolled around and we needed new tires on the Toyota, I went with nitrogen in the tires so I wouldn't have the same problem when the temperature drops again.

 

[jerry33]

I went with nitrogen in the tires so I wouldn't have the same problem when the temperature drops again.

Nitrogen still shrinks when cold. No help there.

 

[swengl]

True, but if the water vapor in the tire is eliminated by using nitrogen, the tire pressure will be more stabilized and there will be less potential for corrosion in the long haul.

 

[jerry33]

True, but if the water vapor in the tire is eliminated by using nitrogen, the tire pressure will be more stabilized and there will be less potential for corrosion in the long haul.

If an air dryer is installed the water vapour will also be eliminated. It will help your air power tools as well.