The night I took home my 04 mcs from the dealer the tire pressure gage began flashing. I immediately called the dealer and they said to reset it. I took it in the next day just to have the pressure checked, everything was fine. Today the light began to flash again so I reset it. The car goes back to the dealer this Friday for bonnet stripes so I can have the pressure checked again. Could there be a problem with the gage? The car is still under warrenty so I'm not too worried but how will I ever know if my tire pressure is really low?

 

It's not really a pressure gauge, it's a calculated differential based on the rate each wheel spins. So if you're losing pressure in all your tires at the same rate it won't respond.

I've had the indicator light up once in a while after I've rotated tires front to back, apparently because of wear differential (?). I suppose it's theoretically possible that if you're making, for example, all right hand turns or something it could fool the calculations, but that's kind of far-fetched.

As far as I know, it's just one of the functions of the central computer, but there must be speed sensors, probably the ABS sensors, that it reads and you could have one of those going south. Be interesting to hear just what the problem is.

 

Get a PSI guage. Also been driving through large amounts of water or over pot holes recently?

The light comes on as a result of uneven rotation not low pressure. So if you have 1 tire go flat it knows almost right way, two slow leaks one on each side and you could have little to no warning.

Pudlles and rain storms can cause the tires to get out of rotation and cause thelight to come on falsely.

The pot hole is a more serious issue, hit one wuth a runflat tire and you may knock the sidewall out of round and produce a slow leak, un beknownst to you you slowly lose air. I hit one in a construction zone and knocked out my 2 rears the drop fo the bump was enough to turn the indicator on, I checked the pressures and called roadside all tires were within 1PSI from spec (as I had set them the night before) they said false alarm but have a dealer check it on Monday (it was Sat. and I was headed to the track) so I figure false alarm and keep going with the indicator reset 30 miles later I lost control on an exit ramp and was saved by a second lane and ample shoulder room I had little air left in the rear tires but because the spun together I never had any warning. I was forced to buy 4 new tires that afternoon (complete switch to non runflat).

Ethier way go by pressures not the light, know what the tire spec is and that MINI spec is 35 PSI figure out which is proper for you and maintain that in your tires and check them regularly, runflats won't look flat until it is too late.

Also your manual states steady light is okay to drive for a little while and flashing means stop driving immediately. Was the light Yellow or Red?

Maybe it was a false alarm (I really hope it was just a puddle or the like), but maybe it was something more serious, so I'd recommend havign a good look with a PSI guage and check all of them everytrip until the dealer looks at it. note any significant drops and check the side walls do they look like they fit right? are there any bubbles? Scuffs or signs of damage? Hows the tread wear? signs of over or under inflation?

 

Thanks for the info! I haven't hit any huge potholes or large amounts of water. The first time this happened I had just bought the car and was driving home, when the dealer checked they said everything was fine. Now I am nervous, think I'll head to the dealer tomorrow on my lunch. One more question. what are run flats? I guess my dealer didn't educate me very well or I was too excited about the car to listen to everything! Thanks again.

 

Run flats are tires that have stiffer sidewalls so you can drive up to 5- miles with zero air in the tires without having to stop, it's supposed to be safer because it is intended to elimiate having to stop on the side of the highway and the need to carry a spare. It is highly likely that your MCS came with runflats from the factory. They're also supposedly unable to suffer a blowout, which I may have been living proof of, in another tire incident (Pear went through a phase with tire difficulty).

Don't mean to scare you it could be something as simple as you have right tire with a few extra pound os pressure and just need a little deflating, which is why a guage with numbers is needed for a full diagnosis.

 

After I had the tires rotated at the dealer and was about to head out into the boonies the light came on. I checked with a gauge and they were just a few psi out of spec. After reset the light went out, but we stuck to the main hgighway and after checking regularly with no change figured it was a rotation issue.

When I talked to the BMW tech on the phone he said sometimes it takes up to 50 miles for the computer to calibrate itself after being reset- although he admitted he wasn't very familiar with the MINI systems n particular.

I've been checking regularly and so far no prob after the reset. My buddy had a malfunction prob right after taking delivery as well. As motor on said, a tire gauge is the only way to really keep an eye on them.

 

Did you have something in the passenger seat? I know that sounds weird, but that was the cause of a tire light just after we adopted Gromit.

My wife had a bottled soda and set it beside her, between the armrest and the seat. The bottle was sitting just right and hit the tire indicator button, causing the light to come on. We were stumped for a little while-until my wife took a drink of the soda, and put the bottle back beside the armrest. BINGO! The light came back on.

Just thought I would toss that idea out and see if it might help.

 

I had all my pressure gauges replaced by the dealer when the car was new. They are very sensitive to changes in pressure, and I have had to reset them a couple of time, but most of the time I just needed to add air to the tires. Taking sharp turns seems to bleed air out of the tires.

 

Thanks again for all the helpful advice. I went to the dealer today and found out I don't have run flats and had one tire that was very low on pressure, had a screw stuck in it and a slow leak. So my gage is working just fine and I'm thrilled to have this gage, without it I wouldn't have been alerted to the problem. I also learned how to check my tire pressure, yes I'm a girl, I know about shopping but not about tire pressure!! I then went to Discount Tire, they fix flats for free. They fixed my tire and I was speeding down the road in no time!! I do plan to drop by the hardware store and buy my first tire pressure gage....YIPEEE more shopping!!!