Washburn
08-31-2012, 08:03 AM
The following scenario has taken place for the 4th time, and i think it's time to address it:
1st, the background info:
car has only 33k miles
tires (stock staggered sizes) have about 6-7 k miles. (conti DWS)
no strange ride behavior/noises/shakes, etc.
original battery (because i have read that an old battery can do weird stuff, but i doubt it in this case)
here's what happens:
How often this happens: about every 7th/8th time i drive the car, and this interval seems pretty consistent.
and always within 5-10 min of driving. so pretty much at the exact spot after leaving home.
TPMS light comes on dash RED, and i hit the TPMS reset button (while still moving) and it turns yellow and then goes off.
I check the air pressure: the very 1st time this happened, one tire did look low, and was about 2-3 PSI low, so i thought that must have been it. I brought all 4 tires up to recommended pressures.
Then i re-set the TPMS according to manual.
Everything fine for the next 5-6 times I drive it.
Then the same thing happens - same routine. and then I began to notice the air pressues were all ok when this happens, and i check out the tires: no nails, nothing that could point to a slow leak.
so yesterday I was driving to the Firestone place to get the car inspected (state inspection) and the same thing happened and I again turned the light off by pushing the reset button. during the inspection i told them to check tires well, and they didn't see anything wrong with them or pressure. all was ok.
They did know that this car has the TPMS that uses differences in rotational speeds of the tires rather than actual air pressures to trigger the TPMS light. They said if the light had been on, they could have hooked it up to the computer and it would have told them which tire/wheel triggered the light - or which wheel has a problem that causes it to turn slower/faster than others (is that true? can they really do that? even with this type of system, does each wheel have some speed sensor ???)
What can this be?
something wrong with a wheel? wheel bearing? on this 'young' of a car?
if wheels have individual sensors, a sensor gone south?
what would you guys do next?
Thanks in advance.
1st, the background info:
car has only 33k miles
tires (stock staggered sizes) have about 6-7 k miles. (conti DWS)
no strange ride behavior/noises/shakes, etc.
original battery (because i have read that an old battery can do weird stuff, but i doubt it in this case)
here's what happens:
How often this happens: about every 7th/8th time i drive the car, and this interval seems pretty consistent.
and always within 5-10 min of driving. so pretty much at the exact spot after leaving home.
TPMS light comes on dash RED, and i hit the TPMS reset button (while still moving) and it turns yellow and then goes off.
I check the air pressure: the very 1st time this happened, one tire did look low, and was about 2-3 PSI low, so i thought that must have been it. I brought all 4 tires up to recommended pressures.
Then i re-set the TPMS according to manual.
Everything fine for the next 5-6 times I drive it.
Then the same thing happens - same routine. and then I began to notice the air pressues were all ok when this happens, and i check out the tires: no nails, nothing that could point to a slow leak.
so yesterday I was driving to the Firestone place to get the car inspected (state inspection) and the same thing happened and I again turned the light off by pushing the reset button. during the inspection i told them to check tires well, and they didn't see anything wrong with them or pressure. all was ok.
They did know that this car has the TPMS that uses differences in rotational speeds of the tires rather than actual air pressures to trigger the TPMS light. They said if the light had been on, they could have hooked it up to the computer and it would have told them which tire/wheel triggered the light - or which wheel has a problem that causes it to turn slower/faster than others (is that true? can they really do that? even with this type of system, does each wheel have some speed sensor ???)
What can this be?
something wrong with a wheel? wheel bearing? on this 'young' of a car?
if wheels have individual sensors, a sensor gone south?
what would you guys do next?
Thanks in advance.