Dealer switched out wheels from some Champions they had on while the car was in the showroom to just the stock ones. I now have two lights on the dash now - the yellow tire and the red exclamation. I go in, select summer tire (doesn't give me the option anywhere to set size, etc) and it says that it's "learning" for a few minutes. After that, it gives me some message about how the TPMS is "inactive" and says so after every start until I attempt to set it again. What is wrong and how do I fix it?

 

In 2007 and newer 997s TPMS was standard. Perhaps those wheels were from a car without TPMS and there might not be any sensors in the wheels. I would contact your dealer or you can break down ( dismount ) a tire and see if the sensors are located within.

 

Is that the most likely issue, that the wheels are missing the TPMS? Is it possible the system needs to be reset or something of the like?

 

I think you are missing the sensors or some or all of the sensors are malfunctioning. If your valve stem is made out of metal then they are the right valve stem for TPMS. If valve stems are rubber than I think you are missing the sensors. You need metal valve stems to mount the sensors inside the wheels.

 

Checked the wheels and they all have the sensors on them. Wouldn't the system also work even if it was only one wheel working, just displaying the pressure for that one wheel? The manual shows some way to set the "summer" or "winter" tire sizes (18 or 19 inch), which I cannot seem to find. Is there something I'm missing? Perhaps a reset, etc.

 

pm sent

 

Simple . . . Take it back to the dealer!

 

You may not be at the right place in the menu - going from memory here...scroll down past the first screen of tire items and there is one to set tires. Select that and then summer and then the size. Then you need to drive for a while (takes about 5 miles in mine) to let it learn. I may not have that exactly right, but from your first post you may be selecting tire info size and getting back what you last told it was on the car, not getting to the screen to change it.

 

So just an update to my problem. I brought the car to the dealer. They first tried doing something involving a "handoff" to the ECU. They then tried rebooting the ECU. After both of those were unsuccessful, they replaced the TPMS module in the car. I still have the same issue however.

The first ignition after they do something, the car says it's learning for about 5 minutes, and then suddenly beeps and says that the system is inactive. Every subsequent time the car starts up and beeps the system is inactive right away. I am also unable, when setting summer or winter tires, to select tire size. Thoughts anyone?

 

Seems like they should try some different wheels/tires from a known working car - the fact that changing out the wheels caused the problem should be a useful point of info for troubleshooting.

Changing out parts in the car, that originally were fine and only showed a problem with a wheel change, seems like starting at the wrong end of the puzzle to me.

 

Well when the car was hooked up to the computer, it reported no errors with the module, but a failure to read all four tires. They said that the chances of one tire being bad was slim, but that all four of them being faulty was very unlikely - which I have to admit does make sense. However, at this point, I'm not so sure any more.

 

Interesting. My 2008 has TPMS and from the day I picked up my car (with 6,000 miles on it), the TPMS had been working perfectly and seemed to be absolutely accurate. Than all of a sudden, yesterday for the very first time, it gave me a warning upon start-up that my left rear was 4 pounds low. Got out, took TWO tire gauges to all my tires and they read perfect. Got back in the car, started it up, warning was still there. Drove and as the tires heated up and the TPMS read the increased pressure, warning lights still stayed on. Drove home, rechecked with both tire gauges and they read the new warmer pressure as perfect. Oh well. We'll see what happens today if I drive the car.

 

Did they mention what the chances of all four tire's batteries being weak or dead if they have been sitting around a while? I assume these things are little transmitters and have to have a battery.

I'm just saying, good troubleshooting starts at the point of most simple explanation:

1 - TPMS was fine
2 - wheels changed
3 - TPMS not working

if indeed that is the history.

Doesn't seem like rocket science to me.

Or you could also ask, what component that affects TPMS have they not tinkered with yet in repair attempts...? The wheels?

 

Steve, they said the sensors have a shelf life of around 5 years or so, and since they have only been including them for around 3 years, it would be unlikely that they were dead already. They changed the module before the sensors because they said they have had problems in the past with the module going bad.

 

With the non-stock tires on the car previously, could they have prior changed some setting in TPMS to account for the new wheels (different size, disabled TPMS, etc)?

My TPMS system also has no option to select tire size, all I can pick is summer or winter. Go figure.