I just had new-to-me winter wheels put on my MINI yesterday (17" Crown Spokes in white). The tire dealer said they checked the TPMS sensors and that they were the correct version/frequency for my MINI. At the end of the 13 mile trip back to my house, I got a flashing yellow tire warning in the speedo (I can't remember if anything showed in the tach). I assumed it was actually low pressure because of the cold, but after pulling into my garage, the tires were 44.5 psi (actually 0.5 psi above the max pressure for the Blizzak LM-60s). I let the MINI sit in my 70F garage for a few hours and then set the pressure to 42.5 psi. After sitting in the garage the rest of the evening and overnight, I checked the pressures again this morning, and I set them to 41.5 psi. I set them high to account for the drop to negative temps here in AK. When I got to the SET/INFO display, the TPMS system said INACTIVE. I hit RESET or ACTIVATE (I can't remember option was listed), and the system has said RESETTING ever since. Even after a 5 mile drive to work, it still said RESETTING. After sitting in the parking lot all day, same deal when I started it up. I did notice when I'm stopped, it says RESETTING but has an option to RESET, but nothing seems to change.

I still have the yellow tire warning in the speedo and the SET/INFO in the tach says RESETTING. I've searched the forums and didn't see anyone else having this issue. Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks!

 

a) faulty sensor on 1 or more wheels

b) wrong sensors

scott

 

Thanks, Scott. How can you tell which sensor is faulty without taking the tires off? I'm concerned about going back to the tire shop because they said they couldn't mount the wheels with no or faulty sensors. I guess I'll live with the light for the next few months, which may not be a bad thing in the perpetual state of darkness up here!

 

I have a discount tire shop near me and they are able to test if the sensors are working correctly and can tell me which one is not working.

Are you doing the reset process properly?

The dealer can do the same thing for you.

 

maybe a code reader can see which is bad?

scott

 

I'm doing what I can. Even after the car's been turned off for hours, it still says RESETTING when I start it up and go to the TPMS menu, so it's not like I can do the steps as laid out in the Owner's Manual. I wish it would just go back to INACTIVE (or better yet, just work!)

I know peeple whine about how far away their nearest MINI dealer is, but I have a legitimate whine: the nearest MINI dealer is at least 45 hours (or 2,266 miles) away! I'm not going there for a lame TPMS light...I'll wait until the currently-under-construction MINI dealership opens up here next February or March!

 

Just went through the same problem, jack the car up and release the air in each rim one at a time and refilling them, then take car for a ride and light will go off.

 

I don't think you ate resetting properly. That's what it sounds like to me. There is a specific sequence of events or button pushes that you need to with your car not moving. Once you start the actual reset process then you have to start driving in order for the reset process to work. Both of our cars will reset once we start rolling within a 1/4 mile. Your owners manual has specific Instructions on how to do this. If it still won't reset the I would suspect a sensor is toast. But I have to tell you they don't typically go bad. I have never had a problem in the 3 minis I have owned.

 

Agreed

 

Just double check with tire shop. Your 10 MCS needs the 433mhz breu (?) tpms sensors. It's entirely possible they got the sensors for the early mc's

 

UPDATE:

So after driving around for a while last evening at both city and highway speeds, I heard the audible bing and got the low tire pressure alert in the tach and the yellow symbol in the speedo flashed for a while before finally staying on steady.

I parked the car and shut it off for a bit. After coming back, I started the car and went through the SET/INFO menu to the TPMS page and it was saying INACTIVE with an option to RESET. So following the Owner's Manual procedures EXACTLY, I was on the same loop that brought me to the forums here: a constant sate of RESETTING. Again, after a while, it repeated the audible chime, annunciator in the tach, flashing light in the speedo for a while before finally staying steady.

The tire dealer verified they checked the sensors and that they were correct for my year model and were the proper frequency. I've also done the steps in the Owner's Manual correctly (and I'm not a n00b at it; I regularly reset the system when adjusting/checking my tire pressures on a monthly basis), so we can rule out those two variables.

That leaves bad sensors as the leading option. But I do like pjv1k's suggestion though, especially because my tires were overinflated when I got home (44.5 psi). I also left the tire dealer with no issues, no light, no chime, nothing until I got home about 15 miles later, so it seemed the system was working properly for that time period.

So the next step is letting the air out, re-filling, and seeing if that fixes it...

 

Wonder if the temps have caused the batteries to die...
You said they worked for about 15 miles when you left the dealer.....
Were they new sensors or used...hopefully with new batteries?!
Imo, try the drain and refil idea...couldn't hurt....
But a day in a heated garage might be telling!!

 

I had a similar problem with my 2007 MCS a few years ago-- and dealer went as far as changing the computer module that manages the TPMS thinking the module went bunk, but with no benefit. They ultimately traced the problems to something that was not obvious-- the recently installed clip-on type wheel balancing weights that were installed when switching to snow tires a few days before. We rebalanced the tires using the hidden stick-on type weights and problem was cured and never returned. So if by chance you have rim edge-mounted balancing weights that may be one thing to explore.

 

UPDATE:

Well, I deflated the tires to ~9 psi, re-filled them, did the reset procedures per the book, annnnnnnnd...still the same problem. So I guess it's a bad sensor (or two or more). Nothing wrong with living with the light, especially considering what I paid for the new Crown Spokes!

 

You need to have a tire shop do it that has a tpms machine to reset them while there's no air in tire..I went to my rim shop and that's how they did it not bad sensors not live with it

 

To the OP, did u get the problem solved.

 

No. The tire shop had some tri-corder looking device and after playing "Who's on first?" with it for a while, they ultimately couldn't reset the system. They said something about MINI being "different" than other cars they deal with, and I left there with my system in a state of RESETTING, even though they said it would eventually figure itself out at some point after I drove away (I knew it wouldn't, and it's since gone back to INACTIVE with the constant yellow light illuminated in the speedo).

Not a big deal. I'll just have the new MINI dealer take a look when it opens this Spring...

 

OP, you can probably have BMW of Anchorage help you out as BMW and MINI use the same TPMS systems.

 

True.