Technical TPMS false alarms

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Technical TPMS false alarms

Powellj3

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I've had a couple of tyres changed recently and since then have been having false tyre pressure alarms every couple of weeks.

Now, my local dealer said there was no TPS and the tyre pressure was estimated by the antilock brakes. But comments here say otherwise and a neighbouring main dealer even gave me the part number for the TPS (they said the Doblo and 500L are unusual for Fiat in that they have sensors). I have no faith in my local dealer after repeated bad advice and inconsistent repairs. So any dealer work will involve a long trek.

That aside, to my question... if I leave the TPMS light on, can a main dealer identify which wheel is throwing out the error? Not knowing which is faulty makes it very difficult to fix. I know that the new sensor will need to be re-learned by the body computer. So, no doubt it will all have to be done by the main dealer.

Tia.
 
The Doblo and 500L use sensors.

Some models use iTPMS (indirect TPMS) which use the ABS wheelspin sensor to detect the air pressure through the number of spins.

However, some variants of the 500L use direct TPMS (just TPMS) which use sensors in the valves of the tyre.

These sensors I believe can be programmed in MultiECUScan if it is the same frequency/type.

My car has been bugging me with TPMS before when I bought it - the sensors were working fine, the tyre had a hole!
 
Mine goes off occasionally. I have the type that runs off the ABS wheelspin sensors. Only once have I actually had a puncture.
I put it down to the temperature difference of the road when the weather at its extremes.
 
Had this on a Vectra a few years ago. Dealer had broken the wheel sensor and removed it and then zero'd the ECU but it kept remembering.... I was not amused at someone breaking my car and not telling me. Even tho it was a company car I got it sorted out. I doubt they pulled that trick again after the blasting they got. These things are not that robust and I understadnthe valve caps had seized on causing the sensor to break when they used pliers to undo them.
 
Had this on a Vectra a few years ago. Dealer had broken the wheel sensor .



I've only had the problem since the main dealer changed a tyre. Actually they turned it around. A local tyre supplier had fitted it rotating in the wrong direction (tyres have a direction of rotation marker on them).
 
As LordMetro wrote, some models use sensors and others don't.

The German user manual of December 2015 for example states that the car may be equipped with iTPMS (indirect type pressure monitoring system) which (quote) 'uses the tire speed sensors to monitor tyre pressure'.

The manual of 2018 explicitly mentions tyre pressure sensors.

Brandy
 
The missus 500L, which is a 2018 model Popstar (produced June '17), shows TPMS in the parts catalogue. However, the car is not fitted with sensors - it simply relies on the ABS (and yes, the system does work, as we have had our first error code).
 
Adding to my above post.. I remember having an Astra rental at one point, with actual TPMS sensors, that showed the pressure in the vehicle. From cold, to end of a 20 minute commute in the outskirts of Birmingham, tyre pressure would go up by 4psi (ambient temps ~15°). So temperature fluctuation, whether being from driving or just a change in weather, affects the pressure more than you'd think.
 
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