Tire Pressure Sensor Problem

My wife does vinyl decals. She uses what is call a weeding tool like these. I use the one that has the 90 degree bend to remove the small gasket.

vinyl weeding tools

Just thought I would renew this post to let anyone interested know the resolution.

I finally gave up on replacing the valve connector seals in my sensors and called TST. The tech rep was very nice, offering several ways to do the job. Nothing worked, so I gave up and sent all the sensors to them. The service tech called me personally and explained that one sensor was bad and he would replace it under warranty. The suprising thing was that none had a seal. Apparently the factory never installed them! So, it is no wonder that I had problems extracting them!

They are working again, and I had to pay around thirty bucks for the work they did.

I have to say that the reps were great to deal with, and I feel that TST is a good outfit that provides decent support for its customers.

Art Davis wrote:
Well, I gotta' ask: How did you guys get this job done? I can't see any way of getting a needle point past the ring to get any lifting force on it at all. Is there some simple thing I am overlooking?

I use an old stainless steel dental pick, the kind dentists use. Other than that, try slipping a large needle tip in between the inner wall of the sensor and the outer edge of the gasket, lifting slightly as you push it towards the center. Be patient, and I find it easier to do with the security cover removed so the sensor doesn't spin.

Well, I gotta' ask: How did you guys get this job done? I can't see any way of getting a needle point past the ring to get any lifting force on it at all. Is there some simple thing I am overlooking?

Duplicate post removed.

Its a teeny o ring about 3/16 diameter if it's that big....dig it out with a needle or pin as others have said. No need to remove the screw on cover. Better yet remove the cover regardless unless you think theft of sensors is a common occurance...then you can also throw away the stupid wrench.

Thanks a lot, guys. Your comments help a lot, but I wonder if you could help a bit more by referring to this pic? It is not clear to me just how I get the disk out. Do I have to remove the antitheft cap first? Thanks.

Link to Dropbox

Sorry, I am having problems getting the picture to load, so you'll have to click the link.

The metal on the end of the valve stem can be very sharp and cut into the sensor gasket, so with a fine file dress the end a bit.

The sensor has a plastic thing in the center with the gasket surrounding it. That is what they will send you for replacement. Be extremely careful picking out the old one with a straight pin or needle, because that plastic post is easily damaged.

When you get the new seals get an old valve stem and put a SMALL amount of anti-seize on the tip of the stem and thread the new seals on to it so you get a little anti-seize on the seals. When you tighten the senders on with dry seals it cuts the seal and they leak.