TPMS sensor replacement is a new— and sometimes annoying— reality of car ownership in the 21st century. It’s great that your car knows how much air is in your tires, and TPMS has probably saved some lives since it was federally mandated for all new passenger cars by the NHTSA in 2007. But putting sensitive electronic equipment in a hot rubber tube that spends its whole operational life spinning at high speeds and bashing into things has led to some durability issues. So when do you need to replace your TPMS sensors?
Replacing your tire pressure monitoring system
You know that annoying warning light on your dash? The one that looks like a flat-bottomed horseshoe with… teeth? That’s a tire pressure indicator warning light. Usually it means that one of your tires is low. Simply air the tire up to factory specs and it should go away. Sometimes this involves a reset process through the car’s computer, which can be found in your owner’s manual.
But maybe you’ve done all this. The tires are fine, the computer is reset, and still that dash warning light glows in your face whenever you start the car. That means your TPMS sensor needs to be replaced. This is not uncommon.
The first option is to just ignore it. You have a tire pressure gauge. You can check your air pressure yourself. Just let that burning orange light stare at you for the rest of the life of the car, like the baleful eye of a hungry predator. The second option is to rip out your dashboard and remove the actual bulb behind the indicator light. We don’t recommend this. It’s usually a pretty big job, and if you have a digital dash, it won’t work.
The third option, the only real option, is to have that sensor located and replaced. To get to the sensor, you’ll need to have the tire removed. Thankfully, you know a high-tech company that can come straight to your house, pull the tire, replace the sensor, and reinstall the tire. (Hint: It’s us, Zohr.)
Is your tire pressure monitoring system bad? old? broken?
How do we know which sensor is bad? Our techs each carry a wireless transmitting tool to determine which sensors are working and which are not. So we won’t waste any time pulling tires and swapping sensors that work just fine. We can do this as an independent service or combine it with a tire change.
What if all your sensors are working just fine, but you need new tires? You may have heard a rumor that you need to replace your sensors every time you replace your tires. There’s a kernel of truth to that, but it’s not exactly accurate. And it’s a good thing, because TPMS sensor replacement costs can add up. The truth, thankfully, is far less expensive.
There are two types of TPMS sensors: one-piece and two-piece.
• A one-piece includes the valve stem (the part you use to inflate the tire) as an integrated part. When we replace your tires and you have a one-piece TPMS sensor, we’ll use a rebuild kit to replace a few components of the stem: the grommet, retaining nut, core, and cap. If the stem itself is somehow damaged, we’ll need to replace the entire sensor.
• A two-piece sensor has a removable valve stem. For this system, we’ll just replace the whole valve stem and reattach it to the valve core.
If you don’t know which kind you have, don’t worry about it. We can look it up, and we’ll come prepared with everything we need. We don’t need to replace the entire sensor unless it’s dead.
However, complete sensors can give out over time. Sometimes they can be damaged by spray-in tire sealant. They can corrode due to exposure. Or they can simply lose battery power. Their integrated batteries generally last 7-10 years, so if your car is that old, and you see a TPMS warning light, a dead sensor battery could be the cause. Unfortunately, the batteries can’t be replaced, and the whole pressure sensor will need to be swapped out.
Whatever your TPMS problems, Zohr can solve them. So whether your light is off and you just need new tires, your light is on and your tires are fine, or you need some form of TPMS service, whether it be TPMS sensor replacement or repair, we can handle it. Schedule your appointment today.
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