Tire Pressure Monitoring

[Chris_in_the_UK]

Hi Allan

I changed them all - logic being that the car age was commensurate with a dead TPMS battery so the sensible thing was to change them all. The unit which sits inside the tyre is not serviceable - everything is sealed in potting gel.

The one's I got from the site I posted had the same Beru part number as my original Porsche items but (obviously) did not have the Porsche part number on them.

[allanjenkins]

Hi Chris,

That seems a reasonable approach to change them all in one go, and it looks like rlauto is the place to source them from.

I must admit though I'm tempted to close the control system down through the gateway software as I find that the pressures registered on the instrument cluster are out by about 2-4psi when I check manually with a few different TP gauges. But I guess it does/will give indication of sudden pressure loss which is important.

You mention a Nitrogen fill, how have you found that?

[garyw]

But I guess it does/will give indication of sudden pressure loss which is important.

This function has saved me twice!
Once in the Peaks where it warned of a puncture which allowed me time put in air and get me home.
I can only imagine what may have happened if I'd carried on driving unaware of a slowly deflating tyre!! I was having quite a bit of fun at the time

[Chris_in_the_UK]

Hi Allan - the nitrogen fill was really to see if it made any difference from normal air.

The car does not feel any different (not that I expected it would!) and the tyres hold pressure consistently.

For £1.25 per wheel (ATS) I thought I would give it a go - probably keep it that way and see how often I have to adjust tyre pressures over summer.

[allanjenkins]

In the end I decided to change only the defective tyre pressure sensor and valve stem. Took the bits along to my local ATS branch who removed the tyre, fitted the assembly and balanced the wheel, all for no charge, yes no charge. I was well pleased. after re-initialising the TPMS it went straight into " learning mode" after a decent run out all was back to normal, glad to say. I went back to ATS for a Nitrogen fill, all for the princely sum of £4 inc VAT, for all four wheels, suffice to say I did make a contribution to their tea/coffee kitty.

Thanks to everyone for your input and support which eventually allowed me to sort this out without paying OPC labour charges. I must add though that Leicester OPC service and spares guys were very helpful and open with me, and as a result I did purchase the bits off them for a small premium over RLAuto.

[Lee 944]

Everyone loves a result.

[allanjenkins]

Just thought I'd update to close this post as its been two years since I changed the first wheel sensor, and recently had to change the other three sensors.
Incidentally the Durametric has the ability to display the remaining battery life in each wheel sensor so you can to some degree plan when to renew.
In my case a new sensor indicates a battery life of 96 months whereas one that's two years old shows 59 months, and of course when failed shows 0 months.
In each case failure occurred when putting the car back into service after its winter lay up, to be expected I guess as its a battery after all.
In retrospect I think that one wheel sensor must have been changed prior to my ownership of this vehicle.
For those that don't have the ability to monitor remaining battery life of the sensors I would recommend changing all in one go when failure occurs.