TPM keeps alerting...

[slag]

2008 tundra, the weather has fluctuated between 60 and 10 the past couple months.. It's winter, it happens.

I normally get the TPMS alert when the temps drop down to freezing and I'll take it up to Discount Tire and they will air them up to spec and that will suffice for the season. However, I've had to do that this year 5 times and each time they say all 5 tires (they check the spare also), are down between 5 and 10 psi which is tripping the sensor.

I don't recall ever having to air up my tires this much in the past, and no one is messing with the truck. Last time I was in, right before Christmas, they rotated the tires for me and checked each one for leakage around the bead, tread, and valve stem and found no leakage on any of the 5 tires. Yesterday I went out and the damn light was on again. These are 18 inch tires which hold a decent amount of air. Is this a problem, or is it just the temperature fluctuations causing issues? I've never had to deal with this that much and its a first world problem for sure. Every time they air up the tires, the light goes off, so I don't think its a low battery in a sensor or anything like that.

 

[ultimatebob]

I usually add an extra 4 psi to my tires during winter to keep the low tire pressure monitors from tripping when it gets really cold. It's interesting how a tire can read 35 psi when it's 65 outside and then drop to 28 psi when it's 10 degrees.

 

[RLGL]

In the winter I need to give the tires attention every 30 days. It doesn't make a difference vehicle or tire wise.

 

[slag]

In the winter I need to give the tires attention every 30 days. It doesn't make a difference vehicle or tire wise.

Never had this happen to the titan for the winter I owned it (same tpms type system) and my wife's explorer with 20 or 21 inch tires never has this alert either. Its always with my truck and is annoying. Oh well, guess I'll just live with it.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

I have found that as tires age they require air more often.

 

[NutBucket]

How old are the tires? Maybe the rubber is deteriorating?

 

[Raizinman]

Tires with normal air (as opposed to nitrogen) will lose about 1 psi for every 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Also keep in mind that the batteries in each wheel of the TPMS system don't last forever. When they wear out they will cause the TPMS light to come on. When they are low, or often when the temperature is low causing a low voltage, you can get erratic readings. Nitrogen will lose about 1 psi for every 20 to 25 degrees.

 

[slag]

How old are the tires? Maybe the rubber is deteriorating?

Tires are around a year or so old. I bought them new and have only had the truck a couple years this May. The sensors are working fine, they report when the air pressure is low, you fill them up, and the light goes off.

 

[tortillasoup]

2008 tundra, the weather has fluctuated between 60 and 10 the past couple months.. It's winter, it happens.

I normally get the TPMS alert when the temps drop down to freezing and I'll take it up to Discount Tire and they will air them up to spec and that will suffice for the season. However, I've had to do that this year 5 times and each time they say all 5 tires (they check the spare also), are down between 5 and 10 psi which is tripping the sensor.

I don't recall ever having to air up my tires this much in the past, and no one is messing with the truck. Last time I was in, right before Christmas, they rotated the tires for me and checked each one for leakage around the bead, tread, and valve stem and found no leakage on any of the 5 tires. Yesterday I went out and the damn light was on again. These are 18 inch tires which hold a decent amount of air. Is this a problem, or is it just the temperature fluctuations causing issues? I've never had to deal with this that much and its a first world problem for sure. Every time they air up the tires, the light goes off, so I don't think its a low battery in a sensor or anything like that.

tires are old/bad or the gasket for the tpms is worn/needs replacement. obviously there is a leak somewhere. What ever pressures you go by, go when they're ice cold, not when hot and been driven on. For the TPMS to trigger it has to be 25% below stated pressure.

Check to see if your spare tire is included in the TPMS monitoring as it might be.

 

[shabby]

There's probably a small leak around the flange of the rim, how old are the tires?
To test for this you need to take the rims off and spray some soapy water around the flange and see if bubbles appear.

 

[slag]

There's probably a small leak around the flange of the rim, how old are the tires?
To test for this you need to take the rims off and spray some soapy water around the flange and see if bubbles appear.

I thought the same, but I was out in the drive bay when they took off all 5 tires, rotated the ones on the truck, and checked the beads and valvestems and found no air leaks. I was standing about maybe 10-15 feet away and watched the entire thing while bullshitting with the employees and everything looked good.

Tires are now a day older than they were a couple posts up.

It has to be just the temp outside and I'm going to overinflate the tires so this hopefully happens less. That is, unless the TPMS sensor kicks on if they are overinflated also..

 

[dlock13]

I'm having a similar problem. Aired a couple of my tires to 36 PSI yesterday morning, and by the middle of the day, at least one of them dropped down to >23 PSI. That's when the light kicks on.

The tires are mostly fine in the summer. I've been thinking about using Slime or something to prevent any more substantial leaks this winter. I need to get new tires this year anyway.

 

[tortillasoup]

I'm having a similar problem. Aired a couple of my tires to 36 PSI yesterday morning, and by the middle of the day, at least one of them dropped down to >23 PSI. That's when the light kicks on.

The tires are mostly fine in the summer. I've been thinking about using Slime or something to prevent any more substantial leaks this winter. I need to get new tires this year anyway.

NEVER USE SLIME WITH TPMS EQUIPPED TIRES!!!! You need to fix those leaks properly. Either rebuilt the TPMS sensor with new gaskets or new tires.

It has to be just the temp outside and I'm going to overinflate the tires so this hopefully happens less. That is, unless the TPMS sensor kicks on if they are overinflated also..

TPMS is only activated for low pressure not high pressure.