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I'm scheduling my summer changeover, and this year had to get new tires. I got new wheels while I was at it, with TPMS sensors. I understand from reading AZ for the last few years that the car programs itself after the first few km/miles. My question is this: how does the system know that a particular sensor is on a particular wheel? Put another way, when a tire (say. front driver side) gets low, the sensor will tell the system the tire is low, but how does it tell the system which tire? It sounds like some programming will be required. But then, it would need to be reprogrammed every time one does a rotation (or seasonal changeover, unless orientation is maintained). What am I missing?
The quick explanation is every time you turn on the car, the TPMS Control Unit receives the 4 unique IDs, and it memorizes which ID corresponded to which wheel. That ID is transmitted and received automatically, so you don't have to manually program anything (you could, but it's not necessary).
Longer explanation is that the TPMS Control Unit is hard wired to 4 separate Initiators, and every time you start the car the TPMS Control Unit tells the Initiators to tell the Tire Pressure Sensors to transmit their unique ID (via radio frequency), and the TPMS Control Unit receives those 4 incoming radio signals and memorizes them. Then once every 60 seconds, the Initiators tell their respective Sensors to transmit their pressure readings.
If you want the full system explanation and don't have the service manual (pages 18-68 to 18-70), let me know, and I'll post screenshots.
That is a really good explanation and love the picture...
2012 Acura TSX Wagon. ~60,000 miles. I have been intermittently, over the last 2 years, getting the TPMS System Fault message on my dashboard. The system works fine either for a week or a few days or even a few months.
Recently it has been popping up almost every time I drive the car and usually within the first 20-30 minutes. It will stay up for the rest of the drive The sensors are original build sensors.
When the message pops up I do not see any pressures for any of the 4 tires. When it does not pop I get all 4 pressures and they are correct.
Just now I started the car and the message popped up, but before I could get to the "tire pressure readout".. the message went away and when I did get to the tire pressure readout all was normal.
I am thinking this may be the receiver. They are available. New OEM is Over $300!!! eBay used is under $100.
The TPMS sensors have a 5. year life (or so). There is a battery in it. If you go to dealer, they can either tell you that if the error code is on the car or the TPMS sensors on the wheels. For example, during my winter tire change over, one of the wheels didn't read and I waited and finally, there was a full on error in the MID of the car. When I when to dealer, I told them the tire that was having issue and they replaced it and the error went away.
The quick explanation is every time you turn on the car, the TPMS Control Unit receives the 4 unique IDs, and it memorizes which ID corresponded to which wheel. That ID is transmitted and received automatically, so you don't have to manually program anything (you could, but it's not necessary).
Longer explanation is that the TPMS Control Unit is hard wired to 4 separate Initiators, and every time you start the car the TPMS Control Unit tells the Initiators to tell the Tire Pressure Sensors to transmit their unique ID (via radio frequency), and the TPMS Control Unit receives those 4 incoming radio signals and memorizes them. Then once every 60 seconds, the Initiators tell their respective Sensors to transmit their pressure readings.
If you want the full system explanation and don't have the service manual (pages 18-68 to 18-70), let me know, and I'll post screenshots.
05-04-2018, 04:17 PM
