TPMS Problem Help!!!!!!!!!

[tama48]

OK I had new tires installed recently and sold the Continentials. This was done by a Firestone service center. They mounted and balanced my new tires (same exact size as OEM). TMPS light was NOT on. Two days later it comes on? I checked the air pressure in all four and they read about 30-32. How sensitive is this sensor on the wheel? Does something now have to be reset by Nissan? Everytime I use the temporary spare or change out tires or rotate tires do I have to live with this nightmare on this car? What's the magic solution to this TMPS? The light doesn't flash it just comes on at start up and stays on?

Thanks for any feedback :

biggrin

[BBISHOPPCM]

It seems everyone is able to reset the sensors by filling the tires to 40 psi, waiting for the light to go out, and bring them back to the rated pressure (whatever it says in the manual or on the body decal).

[skoobahead]

Chances are it's one of your TPMS sensors. I have had 2 replaced so far under warranty. If the TPMS light is on steady you should have good luck with overinflating and then returning to normal. If it's flashing at you it's definetly a bad sensor.

[proxim2020]

Or BCM from what others are saying.

[tama48]

Thanks all! Inflation up a few pounds fixed the problem. Took a while but light finally went out.

[xmaryteresax]

Went to have oil changed today and to have them 'look' at my TPMS light. They were able to get it to go off, but when they ran their nifty little 12 pt inspection thingie, my BCM came back as bad. Gonna be at least 2 weeks before the parts come in.

Can someone clairfy what the BCM actually does? All they were really able to tell me was that if i don't bring all my keys and remotes in for reset when they replace the BCM - i'm SOL

[Ever Victorious]

The BCM is to the body electronics of the car what the ECU is to the engine and the TCU is to the transmission.

It is the brain that controls all body electronics: wiper timing, on-off states, dash lights, power window timing, window auto-rollup, TPMS system, etc...

All these parts used to be controlled independently by the systems themselves. Some braniac at some point decided that integrating everything onto one computer would be the best way to go. That, in my opinion, is debatable (esp. after owning an RX-7, and seeing what a failing computer can do to your critical driving systems such as wipers and lights)

[Santoro]

First off the BCM stands for body control module as stated above. Most cars do still have many separate computers for several functions all of which are controlled by and communicate through the main computer (sometimes called CPU or PCM). If a shop other then the dealer is telling you that the BCM is bad and needs to be replaced it would be worth wile to get a second opinion from a dealers service department. If the BCM is bad (which is not likely) it is a warrantied item and would be replaced free. Also on the subject of TPMS, the sensors themselves are very delicate and sensitive. Having broken a few in my day from not paying attention when dismounting a tire (happens from time to time when you work in the tire biz). The littlest thing can cause them to malfunction. Often when a shop is changing the tires on a car the installer first removes all the valve cores (the little springy thing inside of the the tire valve itself) then dismounts the old tires and installs the new tires, and replaces the valve cores. The problem is most cars still do not have TPMS and the standard tire valve has a brass core not the same as the alloy cores in TPMS valves, which if the installer is not familiar with pressure sensors he/she may install the wrong ones. Another common thing that happens is the electronic part of the sensor (inside the wheel, also delicate) can be cracked while dismounting the old tires or even over torqued when being installed. So what is more likely, you just had tires installed and suddenly the BCM which is nowhere near your tires "went bad" or one or more of the very delicate plastic and alloy cased sensors inside the wheels that were being worked on were accidentally damaged.Hope this helps.-Chris
Modified by Santoro at 1:48 PM 3/9/2007

[xmaryteresax]

Actually - it was the dealer who told me it was bad. And they're replacing it for free.

I had my tires rotated 3 months ago - not changed - still original tires - but the prob's i've been having started before that occured.

Thanks for the info anyway Chris

[Ever Victorious]

Santoro - While it is possible that a wheel sensor was damaged, Nissan has admitted that some of their BCMs on Versas were either incorrect and faulty, not to mention owners reporting several BCM failures independent of the TSB on the matter. It's not "rare" if the part has a design flaw, which it appears may potentially be the case with the Versa. Dollars to donuts Nissan will have a different part number for next year's BCM on this model, and there will probably be an expansion of the TSB to deal with this issue.

maryteresa - No, I wasn't arguing that the dealership called it a bad part. What I was saying is some design genius at some point thought it was a good idea to control all of the body electronics through one computer as opposed to individual segregated systems. The problem with the consolidated design is that if the computer fails, EVERYTHING has the potential to go wacky all at once. I don't like that, especially after having that actually happen on my RX-7.

[xmaryteresax]

maryteresa - No, I wasn't arguing that the dealership called it a bad part.

I was more responding to Santoro there... sorry if i came across as confrontational!

[Ever Victorious]

Sorry.. it said (Ever Victorious) in the title line because you hit the reply on my portion of the post I guess... so I thought it was directed at me. My bad.