Hi All,

So I had Run Flat Tires installed on my F56, and never had an issue with the tire pressure indicator going on.

Last week, I decided to get rid of the run flats and installed a new non-run flat set. When installing it, I noticed that the regular rubber valves were installed (not the TPMS valve).

The ride is much smoother now

Yet, the tire pressure light on the dashboard went on. I double checked the tire pressure, and the 4 of them were at the right levels (matching the manufacturer recommended pressure indicated at the drivers door)

So next, I tried reseting the tire pressure using the head unit's setting, but the "perform rest" option was not highlighted for me to select (see the image below)

What might be the problem? do I need a set of TPMS valves so the car can read the pressure? if so, why I did not have that issue before?

 

TPMS sensors were not installed is the obvious answer. Did you personally do the work? If not whoever did it took the sensors? Can't work without sensors.

 

I did not personally do it!

thanks for the quick help

 

Someone walked off with a few hundred dollars in sensors then.

 

Yeah sounds like you no longer have tpms.

 

TPMS does not have rubber valve stems. I would contact the owner/manager of the place that did your work. Either they need to find the originals or buy you a new set. By any chance did you have new wheels installed? If you did, they might not move the TPMS valves to the new wheels unless instructed to. Hard to believe they wouldn't have mentioned it though.

 

What surprises me is that I am 100% sure I never had the metallic valve caps. I had the regular plastic ones, yet I never had an issue with my tire pressure indicator.




My mechanic is a trust worthy one, whom I have been dealing with for the past 6 years... and I am sure the ones that were installed previously in the wheels before while changing my tires were regular valves.




Could it be that my dealer had regular valves installed in the first place? If so, why I never had a problem with the tire pressure indicators for 2 years?

 

Not the cap, but the stem that is metal. Cap can be plastic.

 

TPMS sensors should not be used with metallic caps, mainly due to corrosion potential between the stem and cap. I know my local tire shop (Discount Tire) won't put them back on customers' cars and replace them with plastic when they come in for service...they do give the metal ones back to the customer and explain why they swapped them. I believe most TPMS sensor mfg's also recommend only plastic caps.

As for your car (kattanah), it had to have had TPMS sensors, otherwise your car would always have the error you have now. No sensors, no read.

Personally, I would go back to your shop and ask some questions as to why you don't have your sensors any more. My guess is the guy removing the tires damaged one or multiple and didn't own up to it and swapped them out for normal stems. They go for $50-100 each, so there is certainly some incentive of the tire jockey guy to hide something like that...unfortunately. If the shop is worth its own weight, they should step up and replace them for FREE. Good luck.

 

That sucks, but the shop should fix it for you. BTW I have metal (GB Packers!) valve caps no problem with those.

 

While they do make some pretty cool metal valve caps, it's not worth taking the chance of essentially welding the cap and valve together. TPMS is too expensive, and I would not like to deal with that problem on the side of the road in case of a flat. Just my opinion, but I'm not gonna jeopardize a $75 sensor with a $2 cap that no one notices but you anyway.
We spent a lot of time on Dissimilar Metals and Galvanic Corrosion when I went through the corrosion control course in the USAF.
This explains it pretty well...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_corrosion

 

Thank you for this deliberate explanation. I will take it with the shop and see where it goes

 

for the record, not ALL TPMS sensors have metal stems. The ones a MINI comes with from the factory are metal but not ALL. I have a Ford in the garage as well as the MINIs and the Ford, with TPMS has rubber stems ......

It is possible you got new sensors and they have rubber stems, there are aftermarket sensors that work just fine. AND since there are different frequencies used in different TPMS systems (MINI freq changed 9/2009) you might have new but wrong sensors

it still requires a trip back to whoever did the job but I'd take a look at your invoice for the work. Were you charged for TPMS 'service'? This is common and includes replacing the battery and a couple of o-rings in the sensors. Or where you charged for new sensors ($$)? Or were you simply charged for new valve stems ... not $ but not what you need .... if the invoice lists nothing like this, I'd start looking for a new place to get my tire work done ....

a full set of new MINI sensors is about $270
http://www.outmotoring.com/mini-coop...nitor_set.html

***********
p.s. if I lived near Atlanta had any sort of a MINI issue I'd go visit Way Motor Works (but not this weekend as he's at MOTD)
https://www.waymotorworks.com/

 

Capt_bj, interesting info, thanx. I have never seen a TPMS with a rubber stem, only ones I have ever seen are metal stems and are held in place with a nut...hence the metal stem. Maybe they have come along with technology and made the latest generation light enough not to require a mounting nut?? New search commencing in 3...2...1...

 

I can confirm that I have 3 metal and 1 rubber on our '10 Grand Caravan. The OEM replacement metal have a replaceable stem and run about $80 ea and the rubber ones are single piece and only about $60-65 ea.

 

I can verify from personal experience the dissimilar metals thing. The shop managed to grind the cap off of one stem, keeping it usable. I had earlier twisted another one off.

 

I did thin of a n observation this morning.... A lot of nicer stems I've seen are rubber, but have a thin metal sleeve to dress them up. I'm wondering if a lot of folks have rubber stems w/ metal caps and just don't realize it. I personally have 3 cars sitting on the property like that now.

 

I have disassembled three different sets of TPMS and all had metal stems. My '96 Corvette has standard rubber stems, but the TPMS is mounted with what looks like a big hose clamp on the center line of the wheel. I don't doubt there are some out there with rubber stems, but they're probably not rebuildable.

 

Yeah, they're certainly not rebuildable. On the other hand, The rubber are preferable over the Chrysler OEM metal due to the fact that the OEM Chryslers have a fixed stem that corrodes out owing to the aforementioned electrolytic corrosion.
That said, I would have preferred an OEM replacement rebuildable metal, but the shop that did that didn't ask.
Just for information, here's an O'Reilly search for TPMS units for my Caravan. You can see that they have both types available.

 

If you have a stock extra tire/wheel, with TMPS, as a spare in the cargo area, will it interfere with the sensors or is it far enough away to not read?

 

I bet it would be okay, but I don't know for sure.
I was fooling around with the tpms display yesterday, enabling the temperature readouts.
While it gives individual readings for each tire, so it knows their locations, it states that the car has to be moving to provide readings.
Maybe the wheel has to be turning for the sensor to turn on?

 

For completeness, in Canada, and on some cars in other countries, but not in the USA, we do not have TPMS sensors but we get the same warnings from a different tire monitoring system [FTM] based on the rotation of the tires. If one tire is spinning faster then it is deflated.

 

That's actually how it worked on the first gen MINIs in the US and was part of the ABS system. It switched to actual pressure monitoring with sensors beginning with the second gen cars.

 

If that is indeed the case, it might entirely possible to code it. This would be good for winter tires, where, what the heck-how much money do you want to spend on winter wheels/tires and THEN, TPMS?

I have my setup all fixed. I got a good deal on 15" oem aluminum wheels, barely used Michelin X-Ice tires for cheap, and for the first time ever, tpms sensors purchased from someone on the forum.

I've always, until now, put a piece of black electrical tape over the yellow tpms light. It would be great to code it to the speed sensor arrangement, for the winter anyway.

 

I did a quick search, and found a procedure for a BMW, just as an indicator of what could be involved. Another person said he didn't have to remove the fuse. Not for the faint of heart.

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/att...9&d=1490648735