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[Auto Addict]

My front nearside tyre pressure sensor has developed a fault.

Keeps telling me the tyre pressure is about 10psi less than the other 3.

I've done a reset several times to no avail.

Is it an MOT fail as a warning light is showing constantly on the display?

Where's the best place to get it replaced?

Is it a dealer job?

[LC0112G]

Check ALL the tyres.

If your car has Bluetooth type TPMS sensors in the tyre valves, and if you/someone swaps the wheels front/back/left/right to even out tyre wear (or for whatever reason) then the car will get confused. The tyre that used to be on the front-right when the system was setup might now be on the rear-left. The car will still think that rear-left tyre is on the front-right, so will report the wrong tyre as having a problem. 

Happened to me with a hire car in the US. Reported front-left as 22 psi, but checking at a garage gave 65psi. However, rear-left was flat. Obviously previous people had just kept pumping up the reported front-left to 'cure' the fault even though that wasn't the faulty tyre/rim.

[YZ250]

………….
Is it an MOT fail as a warning light is showing constantly on the display?

Where's the best place to get it replaced?

Yes it is an MOT fail if the TPMS light is on, and has been for quite a few years now.  I’d go to a tyre fitting place to see what they suggest.

[TheBoy]

Some tyre places can put on a generic sensor if the car supports it.  If it needs a manufacturer specific sensor, you'll have to get it from dealer, and choose where to get it fitted.  Some marques need to have a chat with diag machine to learn the new sensor, some will self learn after a couple of journeys.

What car?

[Andy B]

My front nearside tyre pressure sensor has developed a fault.

Keeps telling me the tyre pressure is about 10psi less than the other 3.

I've done a reset several times to no avail.

Is it an MOT fail as a warning light is showing constantly on the display?

Where's the best place to get it replaced?

Is it a dealer job?

long time .... no see! 

[Auto Addict]

Problem solved!

There are 3 tyre settings :-

Light

Eco

Max

For some reason it was set to Max where I have always set it to Light.

Don't know how it happened, but setting it to Light has cured the problem.

[STEMO]

Problem solved!

There are 3 tyre settings :-

Light

Eco

Max

For some reason it was set to Max where I have always set it to Light.

Don't know how it happened, but setting it to Light has cured the problem.

Yeah, this happened to me when I was 'fiddling' with the settings on my Astra.

[Auto Addict]

Problem solved!

There are 3 tyre settings :-

Light

Eco

Max

For some reason it was set to Max where I have always set it to Light.

Don't know how it happened, but setting it to Light has cured the problem.

Yeah, this happened to me when I was 'fiddling' with the settings on my Astra.

Ha ha.

[Sir Tigger KC]

If your car has Bluetooth type TPMS sensors in the tyre valves, and if you/someone swaps the wheels front/back/left/right to even out tyre wear (or for whatever reason) then the car will get confused. The tyre that used to be on the front-right when the system was setup might now be on the rear-left. The car will still think that rear-left tyre is on the front-right, so will report the wrong tyre as having a problem. 

Some tyre places can put on a generic sensor if the car supports it.  If it needs a manufacturer specific sensor, you'll have to get it from dealer, and choose where to get it fitted.  Some marques need to have a chat with diag machine to learn the new sensor, some will self learn after a couple of journeys.

Interesting.    I'd better read the manual before I rotate my tyres, to see if the car will realise they have been swapped round.   

[TheBoy]

Interesting.    I'd better read the manual before I rotate my tyres, to see if the car will realise they have been swapped round. 

Certainly both my cars do (same marque though), its a case of driving for a few miles, stopping the car for long enough that all systems power off (about 20 mins for mine), then do another couple of miles.  So most of the time, that will be drive to work, park at work, then it would finish learning during the journey home.

Mine are completely self learning, so if I have to replace a sensor, its the same procedure.  If yours needs diags to replace a sensor, then its likely that it'll need diags to relearn positions as well.

[LC0112G]

AIUI, the system in the rental car I had used a central TPMS controller paired with 4 bluetooth sensors, one in each wheel/rim/valve. The system correctly detected that one of the tyres had a problem, but reported it in the wrong wheel position. This was presumably because someone had swapped wheels around on the car, but not re-paired them with the controller to tell it which bluetooth serial number was in which position on the car. The controller was still 'happy' because it was still talking to the same 4 bluetooth devices, but they weren't in the positions it thought they were in.

I suspect the same will be true for any bluetooth (or similar tech) based system. Which basically means any system that can give you the individual tyre pressures (in psi/kpa) on the dash screen. Once you know this it's not a big problem. The issue is if you don't know it, get a warning, check the wrong tyre, decide it's Ok, decide it must be a duff sensor, will replace it later, and carry on driving with a real flat developing on one of the other 3 tyres, ignoring the warnings because you 'know' its a faulty sensor.

IMV this is an example of over reliance on tech, and my advice would always be to check all 4 tyres in the event of a TPMS warning just in case.

[YZ250]

………..
my advice would always be to check all 4 tyres in the event of a TPMS warning just in case.

On my bmw the display showed what the tyre pressure is on all 4 corners. On my Audi, the display shows ‘Under inflated tyre’, which translates to ‘ You have an under inflated tyre, find out which one yourself’. 
I have no option but to check all 4 tyre pressures. 

[STEMO]

I put a full sized spare on the wife's grandland, with no pressure sensor, obviously. It went mental for a while then, as I kept cancelling the warning, it informed me that I had a spare wheel on and some systems may not work properly.

[TheBoy]

I suspect the same will be true for any bluetooth (or similar tech) based system. Which basically means any system that can give you the individual tyre pressures (in psi/kpa) on the dash screen.

Thats not strictly true.  Certainly our cars learn the position - and its defo not bluetooth as its on the 433MHz licence exempt band.  My car is a bit old so doesn't, as far as I can work out, give the actual readings, only alert you when one tyres is down a bit, and tells you which one.

Her motor uses exactly the same sensors as mine, and does give the pressure readouts on the dash, but is a little newer than mine.

[STEMO]

This is what they use on astra forums

https://ebay.us/m/DVMSML