I am a snow bird again and traveled from Alaska to Florida. Great weather, and my Mini did great on the tow dolly all the way. But now I have noticed that when the temp outside gets over 80 the ABS and Flat Tire lights come on. They go off after the temp drops. Any suggestions as to why this may be happening?

 

I believe the flat tire warning is given when tire pressue + or - 5lbs...highly probable due to temp variations..check tire pressure and reset tpms.

 

Good suggestion, but it seems to me the light would come on when it got cold, and the air pressure would decrease. Not come on when it gets hot and the pressure would increase.

 

Completely incorrect about the +/- 5 lbs

Gen 1 and early 2007 Gen 2 cars worked on a rotational basis of the tires. I.E. if one tire turned slower/faster than the others then you would get a warning. This type of system can at times warn if say three tires are at 33 and one is at 40. So in some cases it can show warning for an over inflated tire. As for the pressure difference it will vary by tire and size as to what the difference will be to set off a warning. I.E. run flat tires will take a much lower pressure to cause a warning to show as they are designed not to crush under weight as much as a non runflat tire would, thus not changing the rotational difference as fast.

Gen 2 cars (except as noted above) have a TMPS sensor in the rim that actually measures the pressure. These are set to warn on approximately 10% low pressure of the setting. But there is no over pressure warning.

To the OP:

From the picture in your post it looks like you car may be a Gen 1 (2002-2006) and if so this is the Gen 2 forums (2007+) and you may be able to get a better answer in the gen 1 forums about the ABS.

As for tire pressure check all the pressures and reset the TPMS.

For the ABS this may be corrected if the pressures are set correctly. if it persists after the pressures are set and working correctly come back an ask us again.

 

Thanks schatzy62,

I will check the tire pressure all the way around.

Jim

 

what year is your car?