Tires, sensors, door panels, oh my!

[S1nemesis1s]

Hello All!

So I got off work early today and I went and had a new muffler put on my Tahoe, the old one was bad – not super cheap but it sounds nice. Magnaflow!

I have to replace the driver side mirror, and since the cost is low for a pair I am doing both mirrors. I took both door panels off and both mirrors out. I had to drive it back and forth because one side of my garage is full of stuff. I noticed after I pulled the drivers side panel I got a message: “Service Tire Monitor” when I started the car. All my tire pressures were at 35psi – so good.

Could I have caused this by taking off the door panel off, it acted a little weird when I drove it, made some chimes and stuff? Could the muffler shop have caused this?

I called Ken Towery who did my tires and some front suspension stuff about a month ago. They said it would cost 50 bucks to diagnose which sensor was bad, then another 100 to replace the sensor. 150 sounds a little high to me? He was breaking labor down to 10ths of an hour…

If it is the sensor, can I buy all four aftermarket and pay to have them put on elsewhere? Anyone know of a good source? I found a good little mom and pop shop I like.

At this point I am just a little peeved, I have the alternator off and battery disconnected awaiting a new alternator. Mine is working but is original and I don’t want to put my wife in a car I am unsure of.

Also, is this something I can/should just ignore? I would rather fix it - I would like to just buy four sensors and just be done with it.

 

[treehan77]

if only one TPMS sensor is bad, it should read "-" for that wheel. of course, you'd need to be sure the sensors were relearned after rotating though. a little deduction by airing them up and down will help you figure out which one. or buy 4 new ones, like you said. if one is out, the others are sure to follow soon anyway. your owner's manual has the relearn procedure, or search for it on here. or you can have the shop do it. you will need to at least break the bead to replace each sensor, so unless you have access to a tire machine, you're gonna need a shop to install the sensors anyway. call them and ask how much they charge and if you can bring your own. i used the dorman ones for about 45 bucks apiece, but the base has a hobby shop with a tire machine, so i wasn't depending on a shop to do this without selling me the parts.

 

[a4edwin]

The module for the tpms is in the power window switch. May when you unplugged it something went wrong

 

[S1nemesis1s]

The module for the tpms is in the power window switch. May when you unplugged it something went wrong

Exactly this! The whole truck acted weird today until I got both panels hooked up. It would not even lock the doors, and my remote would not work. Acted like it was a security thing - weird. I drove it miles and miles today with no issue whatsoever! It seems to have been the switch. This is great info, thank you!