Cold Weather causing TPMS problems/

[daug1502]

I got into my car this morning, started it up and everything was normal. Start driving and my TPMS begins flashing. Double checked the manual, and realized I have a malfunction in my system somewhere. I drove to the dealer, restarted my car, and drove a little more. Everything was fine, and I have not had the error since. Took my car to wal-mart to have them look at a tire that has been suffering a slow leak. They just reset the bead and didn't charge me, but did see a small bend in my rim that I will fix later.

Now I drove from wal-mart to my grandparents across town with no problems. I leave there house to go back to mine, still in the same town, and my tpms light is telling me I have a low tire. No big deal it's just really cold tires. Get to a red light after a about 10 mins on the road and restarted my car to reset the tpms. Still on. Same when I arrive a couple minutes later.

I have already spoken to the dealer about the malfunction light, and he believes I may have a sensor going out on me. $75 for a new one through them. But they will have trouble diagnosing it until the sensor fails completely. So I'm stuck with this annoying orange light on my dash until I can come up with probably $120 for the total work bill, and the thing fails completely.

Has anyone else had trouble with there TPMS in the cold weather?

[petrified.rabbit]

every car i have had with tpms has this problem in late fall anf early spring when the temperature changes drastically.. and you always freeze going around the car to check it..

i hate tpms. i gives you to small a range of pressure, so when the tires are cold its too low and will light up.. but go out when the tires are warmed up from driving.. but then you get it checked and they fill them up cold, so its off until the tires get up to driving temperature, that trips the light until you stop again.

[daug1502]

Guess this means I will be driving around for about an hour before I get my tire pressure checked lol. Still not happy about the Possible Bad TPMS sensor on my car.

[paulsaveo]

I got into my car this morning, started it up and everything was normal. Start driving and my TPMS begins flashing. Double checked the manual, and realized I have a malfunction in my system somewhere. I drove to the dealer, restarted my car, and drove a little more. Everything was fine, and I have not had the error since. Took my car to wal-mart to have them look at a tire that has been suffering a slow leak. They just reset the bead and didn't charge me, but did see a small bend in my rim that I will fix later.

Now I drove from wal-mart to my grandparents across town with no problems. I leave there house to go back to mine, still in the same town, and my tpms light is telling me I have a low tire. No big deal it's just really cold tires. Get to a red light after a about 10 mins on the road and restarted my car to reset the tpms. Still on. Same when I arrive a couple minutes later.

I have already spoken to the dealer about the malfunction light, and he believes I may have a sensor going out on me. $75 for a new one through them. But they will have trouble diagnosing it until the sensor fails completely. So I'm stuck with this annoying orange light on my dash until I can come up with probably $120 for the total work bill, and the thing fails completely.

Has anyone else had trouble with there TPMS in the cold weather?

TPMS are set with certain thresholds, if factory spec for your tires is 32 psi, when you lose 7 to 10% (roughly 4 or 5psi) of your pressure the light will come on. If you understand the molecular structure of air, when air is warmed up it will expand generating more psi, when air cools, it contracts, dropping tire pressure. a flashing light is an indication of the control unit not communicating with 1 or more sensors. The dealership I work at, we use nitrogen in our tires, the molecular structure of nitrogen does not expand and contract like air with temperature change. In 2 years of my wife driving her 09 corolla, her tire light has only come on once and that was due to her picking up a nail and losing air (nitrogen). I hope this gives you a little more info on your TPMS. if you do have a faulty sensor and you are out of warranty, in addition to the cost of the sensor, once a new sensor is installed, it has to be programmed to the control unit as well

[AveoJunk]

OK, I took a lot of crap from AveoSS for my screen name, but here is another reason why. Like I said before I have had tons of problems with the Aveo and different sensors and CELs etc and hard times from the dealership to fix it. Currently I am living with a CEL. Well now on the way to work my TPMS starts flashing for a minute, then stays lit. OK, get to work and park it. After work, no light, drive for ~25 miles, same thing, light flashes, then stays lit. This has been the same thing for the past four days. So I find myself googling this and low and behold here I am, at this thread. My dash looks like a christmas tree with all of the lights. I am told this is a malfunction in the system and of course it is out of warranty, so this light will stay on too. So basically I am stuck with this car until it dies because I can't sell it or trade it with all the lights, can't pass inspection with a CEL, don't want to pay a dealerships hundreds or even thousands of dollars to fix a car I will never get my money back from.
Thought I would share my experience for others in case they have the same problem.

[daug1502]

I should look into putting nitrogen in my tires for the winter. That would certainly let me rule out the cold air issue.

[petrified.rabbit]

Aveo junk blame the congress for passing a law the requires tpms in all vehicles after 2008.. a feature that is sitll crude in design.. All because americans are stupid and lazy and dont check tire pressures. and <blank> number of people died due to under inflated tires... this is not just an aveo problem, my 08 chrysler t&c does this, my audi did this, and a lot of people have this same problem. its is as paul said air pressure changes with temp, as well as moisture in the air, (nitrogen has no moisture).

i suggest you get nitrogen in your tires if the problem persists, its @ $34 for the swap i believe locally. And might cure this issue for you.

if this was a vag car you could disable it or change the parameters, but i have a light because i wasnt going to shell out another $300 for the aftermarket rims to get tpms.. ill pull the bulb.

[daug1502]

Yeah so just to humor myself a bit, I went to the kwik star (close by and free air) and checked my tire pressure. . . the only one in acceptable range was the one I had looked at. So yeah add cold weather leaks to the list of stock aveo issues. . .

[Ratchet104]

All tires lose air From aveos to mercedes....dont be so lazy and check your pressures like every other week. With the tire cold, set the pressure to 32PSI....problem solved. If you set it with the tire warm, when the air in the tire gets cold, the pressure will drop and the light comes on

[petrified.rabbit]

All tires lose air From aveos to mercedes...

yes, people quit blaming it on the aveo! Haven't you ever heard of letting out the summer air and putting in the winter air? or vise versa? Seriously this is a problem since the model T. It is not just an aveo issue, its not a cheap tire issue, and it is not a rim issue. The only reason your complaining about it is because the fed saw people flipping over because of under inflated tires and now you have a light on your dash.. Adjust your tire pressures that is free.

OF COURSE if you take it to a dealer they are going to want you to buy something.. I just put my winter wheels on my van, its tpms light was on all summer (no sensors in my summer wheels, since its warm out i feel like checking it myself isnt a big deal) i put the stock rims and tpms sensors on, with the winter tires mounted adjusted the pressure and the light went out. Something a dealer will tell you is impossible if the light has been on for 6 months! (they will tell you it needs reprogrammed)