New TPMS Sensor Reset Help Needed

[BPopilek]

I had a bad TPMS sensor on my right front tire, and when checking the DIC I would only see "--" for the tire pressure. Since one went bad, I felt the other 3 could go at any time, which would be my luck if I only replaced the bad one. So I bought a set of 4 new TPMS sensors off of eBay. These are genuine GM sensors, and were only $50 for all 4.

I took my truck to Discount Tire and had them installed a few days ago, but the tire pressure indicator on my dash has still remained on. At Discount, they said I needed to drive it a bit to get the computer to recognize them, and that they couldn't program genuine GM sensors with their tool. Additionally, they said both right sensors were stuck at 40lbs and they guaranteed that they were filled up to the right pressure, but the the sensors were reading wrong.

So today, I decided to check all 4 tire pressures manually. And I found both right side tires were indeed close to 40lbs each! Grrr... I lowered the pressure on both, and have all four tires now set to 35lbs each, which is the value listed inside my driver side door. The DIC also shows that they are all reading correctly. However, the light is still not going off. Do I need to take this to the dealer to have it done, or would doing a relearn myself fix this? Doesn't make any sense to me. Thanks!

 

[MichaelSE]

I think I bought my sensors from the same guy on eBay, I paid $53 for 4 of them and they're just sitting in my glovebox waiting to be installed. He says they come off brand new vehicles.

Maybe those sensors came off a Silverado/Sierra 2500, which call for around 55psi in their 10-ply tires. I'm betting that they only linked the sensors to your DIC without resetting the thresholds, so the sensors still think 42 or so is the low threshold, and will trip the light for anything below it.

I think you'll have to take it back to a place that has a Snap-on tool that lets them reprogram the low air threshold. Discount Tire should be able to do this, I think they were just BSing you when they said they couldn't program ACDelco sensors. Otherwise, Wal-marts near me say they do it for $20, and the dealership can too but who knows how much it would be. Anyway, once you find someone, ask them to set it at 26-27 psi (25% lower than the 35psi recommended spec, where they should be programmed). You should be good to go after that.

 

[NathanJax]

It's not a low/high threshold. They don't auto learn. They have to be programmed. 2007-2008 and maybe 2009 can be learned by yourself. All others have to be done with a tool/programmer.

Here's how you do it yourself...

 

[BPopilek]

Thanks for the tips. After leaving Discount Tire, the truck is aware of all 4 new sensors, and they are all in the right spots. However, even with that all done and the correct pressure in each tire, the low pressure light is still on. My question was whether the manual relearn (as shown in this video) would be enough to fix it, or if the dealer would have to reprogram the high/low settings for each sensor. I am more than willing to try the manual relearn tonight and post my results.


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[GM Customer Service]

Thanks for the tips. After leaving Discount Tire, the truck is aware of all 4 new sensors, and they are all in the right spots. However, even with that all done and the correct pressure in each tire, the low pressure light is still on. My question was whether the manual relearn (as shown in this video) would be enough to fix it, or if the dealer would have to reprogram the high/low settings for each sensor. I am more than willing to try the manual relearn tonight and post my results.


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Good Morning BPopilek,

Our team would be more than happy to discuss your concern in further detail. If this is something of interest, please send us a private message so we can begin the process of getting you in touch with a GM Certified dealership. Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you.

Philip J.
GM Customer Care

 

[mizzouguy]

I may be wrong, but normally the threshold is set by the truck computer, not the tpms sensors in each wheel. Im curious to see if the manual relearn fixes it. For what its worth, on my 04 (i know, older) the light seemed to pop on whenever i was at or below the listed pressure on the drivers door. Maybe bump them all up to 38 or 40 and see if it shuts the light off?
Unrelated topic: GM Customer Service? I want that desk job lol. I'd love to get paid to surf this site.

 

[BPopilek]

Well, with the holidays, work, and school, I have had limited to get back to this. So, after pulling all of the outdoor Christmas decorations down today, I decided to take a minute to do the relearn procedure. Long story short, it did not help. At first, it gave me an error, and lost all 4 sensors, showing "--" for each wheel. I had to try twice more before it picked them back up again. I noticed that the driver front took forever before it finally recognized it. I was down to about 17lbs before the horn finally honked. The other 3 were faster, but not by much. Now with all 4 relearned, and re-aired back up, the tire light is still on. I really think that this is something to do with the sensors being set to the wrong pressure range, or the truck's computer reading them wrong. Unfortunately, I don't know much about how the sensors actually communicate, which is why I am here! ;-) I have no idea what vehicle they were taken off of (Yes, MichaelSE, I think we probably bought our sensors from the same eBay seller!). I do know that at 17lbs, the DIC told me that the tires were low. I don't want to over inflate them by too much to see if that fixes it. What would be the safest max I could try? I wonder if I had someone unfamiliar with the programming tool at Discount, or perhaps it really won't program them, but that seems odd to me. I guess I can retry Discount or Walmart, like Michael suggested. Any other thoughts? Thanks for the replies so far!

 

[2011SSVHOE]

I would get up with the guy from GM while he's offering.

 

[BPopilek]

I would get up with the guy from GM while he's offering.

He's offering to get me in touch with a GM dealership. Something I can easily do myself. Trying to avoid the high costs of the dealership if at all possible.


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[mizzouguy]

Safest max is pressure listed on sidewall of tire.