I purchased my MCS back in March, I had the two front tires psi offset by 8 psi difference between both front tires. It was then when I had a flat tire warning light up, once both were at the same psi the flat tire warning light went away and I cleared the code. Today I had my front left tires valve stem go bad venting all of the air from my tire, but no flat tire warning light

Could the reprogramming of my ECU after replacing my timing chain components, FRM module and radio be the reason why I didn't get a flat tire warning light?

Thanks,
Systemlord.

 

Your mini is 6+ years old, could be the battery in the TPMS has died..

 

Where is this TPMS located? I know next to nothing about it.

Thanks

 

On a gen2 it is mounted on the rim....inside..attached to the valve stem.
Some tpms have replaceable batteries (Maybe $4 if the tire is already off)...some tpms sensors cannot have the batteries changed, and must be replaced...about $60-90 EACH.
Yes...some of the mini units...like the orange 2013 ones have batteries epoxyied in....

 

False false false and false.

The 07's(or at least some of them) do not have the valve stem sensors, it's a measurement relative to the other tires through I believe the ABS/TC system. As he stated, he had a valve stem go bad, which would indicate, to me at least, rubber valve stem not TPMS stems.

 

If he doesn't have traditional TPMS (the battery kind), and the valve stem goes bad and vents all the air, wouldn't the ABS/TC detect a flat tire? I assume it measures relational tire rotation? Or am I not understanding your post? FYI, wouldn't be the first time I've been confused...

 

All comes down to build date...
Very few cars got the rotation based (indirect) tpms that gen1 cars got....
The op stares he got warnings due to low/hi psi in the op....
Leads me to believe he has sensors....the rotation based system is not accurate enough to report psi...only changes in relative rotation...
A big psi difference (almost flat) will give you a warning IF THE CAR IS DRIVEN....

 

I read it as he had different psi and got the light. Not that the dash specified a psi. My car trips the light when I rotate or check/fill my tires because I run different psi front and rear, so.social t notices that. Then I reset the light and its all good..... very very strangely, I got a flat and it never came on, same as the op. I really don't know why or how that is possible.

 

I do bet you are right...the rubber valve stems indicate an early 2007....
Simply put, with indirect tpms you must DRIVE a distance to determine the tire is flat...works fine with runflats....not do good with regular tires...

 

Tire was losing air the whole drive to work, not sure why it never tripped as it was completely flat fairly shortly after getting to work. Just odd. Not that I care a whole lot about Tpms. I'd disable it if I could.

 

I left brother's house after messing with the psi on both front tires and it took about a few miles to get a warning light, when my valve burst open yesterday it happened very quickly and I drove at least as far as I did when leaving my brother's house. The car was leaning hard to the left, but leaving my bro's house there wasn't any leaning because there was not flat.

I would assume that because Mini's come with run flats that the TPMS or whatever I have is program knowing that there's run flats on the car. My car have been reprogrammed twice since the incident leaving my brother's house and now it doesn't work anymore. It's like I didn't know that there was a flat, I know that feeling as it's unmistakable! The car was telling me that I had a flat because my car was pulling hard left, lol!

 

I think the programming would have to be pretty messed up to completely disable the TPMS--if indeed it is the kind with a pressure sensor inside the tire.

There is a "reset procedure" for the TPMS that you are supposed to do when you change tires--or rotate them if you run different pressures F/R, as InjectedGT does. Perhaps that needed to be done after the "reprogramming" of the car?

If your car does have the 1st-gen style that only detects a difference in rotation speed between tires, you have to drive for some distance in order to trigger it. I'm not sure what the distance is, but it can't be too small or you'd set the warning off every time you went around a corner.

 

9 mile drive to work of slowly but very steadily losing air in a single tire, and my rotational style TPMS never tripped and by the time I got to work, it was dangerously low. But less than half a mile of driving after resetting my pressures front and rear, light pops on and wont leave me alone. Really don't know what the deal is with that.

 

To add detail...

Early cars got the rotational ABS/Traction control style in the USA, then the regulators there decided all cars MUST have a pressure sensor in the wheel (if the car was outfitted with RFTs from the factory).

For the rest of us, BMW/MINI continued to use the ABS/Traction control wheel speed sensors to determin if you have a flat.

From the factory:
If you have rubber valve stems you have the ABS style.
If you have metal valve stems you have the pressure sensor style.
E

 

Well, this is a strange condition! My 2008R55 has stem sensors, and have worked very well on slow leaks from nails etc. Never had a full blown flat, so I will have to watch for this! Even though I run the same pressure F &R (37-38) on 205/45-17s, the TPMS goes off just from rotating tires! Just did it on brand new tires after 3500 miles. That surprised me.