Tire pressure sensor slow/not always working

Ok, so... Not a mechanic. I'm kind of nerd so I understand some technical stuff...

short version is: my tire pressure is not always available in the dash. Sometimes the tire pressure data shows on my dash after driving for a couple minutes, sometimes it never comes through.

Obviously, I can take it into the shop, but like, how can I debug this?

Long version:
I was driving home. The low tire pressure light started blinking for a minute or so. Eventually my tire pressure data was displayed and the light stopped blinking. Since then, my tire pressure data in the dash has been erratic. Sometimes it displays quickly.... sometimes I can drive for a half hour and it never comes through.

I figure there's a "router" or a central place that receives the signals from the TPMS sensors and that's probably the area that's having trouble (since it's all or nothing... I have no tire pressure data, then I have all four tires... there's not a single tire that's the problem).

Anyhow... I really don't know how to debug this, so if anyone's got some pro-tips about how this system works, that would be awesome.

 

Did you get new tires recently they could just be loose but most likely the battery on one ore more is toast your truck is almost 10 years old

 

Get your sensors scanned...probably a low battery

 

From my experience dealing with this same issue is it's a sensor going bad and it was not the battery as I tore it apart and checked the voltage after replacing all the sensors.

I went and bought the Autel TS508 to check my senors and finally found the one senor that started internmently not read. I never carried the reader with me in the truck so it took awhile before the found the one bad sensor.


The truck not only needs to read all 4 senors but needs to know their locations before showing any tire pressures readings. It's all or nothing on the dash.

Start timing your blinking light. Mine came on at 22 minutes. I'm assuming this is the system telling you it can read the senors but can not determine each location so the light blinks for a few minutes then goes solid.

When the light comes on solid when starting the truck then it can't read the sensor at all.

I had my original senors changed with Autels earlier this year when I got new tires and all is fine now. I too was worried it was a central receiver problem in the truck.

I had gone 4 or 5 months with the intermittent blinking light then it just started working for about 6 months before going blinking then finally going solid right at start up.

And the TPMS reset button doesn't help. That's not what the button is for.

 

Tires are old, wheels are old. I haven't changed anything in a long time. If a single TPMS was failing for battery or whatever, it would fail on that wheel, right?... I don't know how the sensors work, but it doesn't make sense that one sensor would take down the others. isn't that contrary to the whole idea of monitoring each tire individually? I dunno I'm just asking!

edit: I'm not really asking you... Just expressing my confusing.. lol

 

I've got a 22 V6 auto SR Access cab. Swapped steelies out for a set of Sport. TPMS don't work, put black tape over dash light. I'm 70 and been using the tire sensors between my ears for 54 years. When they quit working I won't be driving. Nuff said.

 

My truck (2017) has the original sensors, it works fine in the summer.

As soon as the weather turns cooler this problem comes to light you might say.

 

cooler weather issues

 

Same here, once the temps drop there are days when the display won't show any tire pressure.
It doesn't bother me, i know there is air in the tires.

 

I don't drive the truck in the winter so it really isn't an issue for me.
I will replace the sensors with the next set of tires.

 

I had the same problem this morning, though I haven't driven it in about a week. What would cooler weather have to do with it?

 

Batteries struggle in cold weather so a weak battery may be exploited.

 

One sensor doesn't take down the others. Think of the monitoring system with warning light as separate in functionality from the dash display system because effectively they are. The dash display only works if all 4 sensors are properly reporting pressure AND their location is known. Even if the display isn't working the monitoring system still reads and knows all the information. The warning light illuminates if a pressure is low or not reported and it doesn't matter what the display is doing. So an intermittent display issue with an intermittent warning light most likely indicates a bad sensor which is most likely a dying battery. With Techstream you can see all the info reported by the sensors including the state of the battery.

 

My truck just started doing this too.

 

I've been having the same issue since adding air a couple weeks ago (finally got cold here in SC and needed to adjust the pressure). Hooked up TS and found the front right sensor issued a code...assuming weak battery since all sensors are original to the truck (2017). Some days it reads fine, others it blinks then goes solid for awhile, then reads fine. I picked up 4 new sensors, and will have them swapped in when I get the tires rotated at the shop in a few weeks (I'm too old and lazy to do them myslef, and it's free at the place I bought them from, so win/win).