F350 TPMS Problem

lbrjet wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:

lbrjet wrote:
Check your spare tire. When my truck was less than a year old my light came on and my tires were fine. The spare was low and that was setting it off. I put air in the spare and light went off after about 20 miles. That was over five years ago and and no problems since.

Ford doesn't put TPMS sensors in the spare tires.

In fact you can not change tire positions (rotate the tires) without "retraining" the TPMS system to the new tire locations. Putting the spare in place of one of the tires will result in the TPMS light staying on until the rim with the TPMS sensor is put back on.

There is one in my spare. I also have no retraining as all my tires say 75lbs on the sticker. My spare is the same 75lbs.

NOPE, NONE in MY 2013 F250 Spare.. EVEN STATES THIS IN THE MANUAL (although not clearly but it does).

Page 275..

"When Your Temporary Spare Tire is
Installed

When one of your road tires needs to be
replaced with the temporary spare, the
system will continue to identify an issue to
remind you that the damaged road wheel
and tire assembly needs to be repaired and
put back on your vehicle.
To restore the full function of the tire
pressure monitoring system, have the
damaged road wheel and tire assembly
repaired and remounted on your vehicle."


Page 279..

"Note: If your vehicle is equipped with the
tire pressure monitoring system, the
indicator light will illuminate when the spare
tire is in use. To restore the full function of
the monitoring system, all road wheels
equipped with tire pressure monitoring
sensors must be mounted on the vehicle."


I see YOU have a 2010, completely different animal.. Ford made a MAJOR redesign for 2011 and up so NOTHING really applies from 2010 or older..

Absolute MIN tire pressure as listed on my door is 65 PSI and I MUST retrain if I move the tires from the position they are trained in.

That IS the "rules" 2011 and up must abide by.

Argue if you like, but I can tell you it would be a real bear to retrain my spare since I would HAVE to "rotate" the entire vehicle in a circle to wake up the sensor in a spare..

Found a 2014 F250 Super Duty manual online HERE.

Per the manual..

Page 277

"How Temperature Affects Your Tire
Pressure

The tire pressure monitoring system
monitors tire pressure in each pneumatic
tire. While driving in a normal manner, a
typical passenger tire inflation pressure
may increase about 2 to 4 psi (14 to 28
kPa) from a cold start situation.

If the
vehicle is stationary overnight with the
outside temperature significantly lower
than the daytime temperature, the tire
pressure may decrease about 3 psi (21
kPa) for a drop of 30°F (17°C) in ambient
temperature.

This lower pressure value
may be detected by the tire pressure
monitoring system as being significantly
lower than the recommended inflation
pressure and activate the system warning
light for low tire pressure.

If the low tire pressure warning light is on,
visually check each tire to verify that no tire
is flat. If one or more tires are flat, repair as
necessary. Check the air pressure in the
road tires. If any tire is under-inflated,
carefully drive the vehicle to the nearest
location where air can be added to the
tires. Inflate all the tires to the
recommended inflation pressure."

So, for EVERY 30F drop in temperature you CAN expect a 3PSI REDUCTION in tire pressure!

So, a tire at 70F with 65 PSI will be only 62 PSI at 40F, that WILL trip the TPMS light.

To counter act, you MUST re-evaluate your tire pressure as the temps drop. So if you know the temps will be 30F, simply check and add some pressure at that temp to make it the 65 PSI you want.

Otherwise simply fill the tires with MORE than 65 PSI at say 70F.. To me that IS the simpler way and so far no ill effects on my tires.

Here is retraining info..
Page 278

"System reset tips:

To reduce the chances of interference
from another vehicle, perform the
system reset procedure at least three
feet (one meter) away from another
Ford Motor Company vehicle
undergoing the system reset procedure
at the same time.

• Do not wait more than two minutes
between resetting each tire sensor or
the system will time-out and the entire
procedure will have to be repeated on
all four wheels.

• A double horn will sound indicating the
need to repeat the procedure.

Performing the System Reset Procedure
Read the entire procedure before
attempting.

1. Drive the vehicle above 20 mph (32
km/h) for at least two minutes, then
park in a safe location where you can
easily get to all four tires and have
access to an air pump.

2. Place the ignition in the off position and
keep the key in the ignition.

3. Cycle the ignition to the on position
with the engine off.

4. Turn the hazard flashers on then off
three times. You must accomplish this
within 10 seconds. If the reset mode
has been entered successfully, the horn
will sound once, the system indicator
will flash and a message is shown in
the information display. If this does not
occur, please try again starting at Step

2. If after repeated attempts to enter
the reset mode, the horn does not
sound, the system indicator does not
flash and no message is shown in the
information display, seek service from
your authorized dealer.

5. Train the tire pressure monitoring
system sensors in the tires using the
following system reset sequence
starting with the left front tire in the
following clockwise order: Left front
(driver's side front tire), Right front
(passenger's side front tire), Right rear
(passenger's side rear tire), Left rear
(driver's side rear tire)

6. Remove the valve cap from the valve
stem on the left front tire. Decrease the
air pressure until the horn sounds.
Note: The single horn chirp confirms
that the sensor identification code has
been learned by the module for this
position. If a double horn is heard, the
reset procedure was unsuccessful, and
you must repeat it.

7. Remove the valve cap from the valve
stem on the right front tire. Decrease
the air pressure until the horn sounds.

8. Remove the valve cap from the valve
stem on the right rear tire. Decrease the
air pressure until the horn sounds.

9. Remove the valve cap from the valve
stem on the left rear tire. Decrease the
air pressure until the horn sounds.
Training is complete after the horn
sounds for the last tire trained (driver's
side rear tire), the system indicator
stops flashing, and a message is shown
in the information display.

10. Turn the ignition off. If two short horn
beeps are heard, the reset procedure
was unsuccessful and you must
repeat it. If after repeating the
procedure and two short beeps are
heard when the ignition is turned to
off, seek assistance from your
authorized dealer.

11. Set all four tires to the recommended
air pressure as indicated on the
Safety Compliance Certification
Label (affixed to either the door hinge
pillar, door-latch post, or the door
edge that meets the door-latch post,
next to the driver's seating position)
or Tire Label located on the B-Pillar
or the edge of the driver's door."

Gdetrailer wrote:

lbrjet wrote:
Check your spare tire. When my truck was less than a year old my light came on and my tires were fine. The spare was low and that was setting it off. I put air in the spare and light went off after about 20 miles. That was over five years ago and and no problems since.

Ford doesn't put TPMS sensors in the spare tires.

In fact you can not change tire positions (rotate the tires) without "retraining" the TPMS system to the new tire locations. Putting the spare in place of one of the tires will result in the TPMS light staying on until the rim with the TPMS sensor is put back on.

There is one in my spare. I also have no retraining as all my tires say 75lbs on the sticker. My spare is the same 75lbs.

BenK wrote:
They are wireless, so radio freq stuff

Reading this, finding that this series of posts has to do with winter, snow
and am think possibility that de-icing salts are interfering with the signal
to the in-wheel-well receiver some how

Just a thought...PS...I do NOT like these things...

Salt won't affect the radio stuff unless it finds a way into the wiring harness, then I think you would have plenty of other issues to be worried about.

Not a "fan" of TPMS as the way the vehicle manufacturers have "interpreted" the mandated rules.

Rotating tires should not result in spending 15-20 minutes extra time in retraining the sensors, but it does.

Ford's lawyers have grabbed a hold of this "law" and have strangled the CONSUMER with really over the top stupid hard to follow retraining..

It should not be this difficult but the gist is driving long enough to wake up the sensors, shut down vehicle, turn key on/off, press a menu button and a few other gyrations (I would have to reread the stupid manual again to get it right) within a set amount of seconds then you get a training horn beep.. Then you have 10 seconds to remove air from the drivers side front to below threshold.. wait for confirmation horn beep, then move to the next, then the next then the next... All within so many seconds..

Make a mistake or take too long anywhere in the process you HAVE to restart the procedure from scratch (refill the tires above set point then key sequence)!

It should be nothing more than a SETUP MENU ITEM to get into the training mode..

It is such a hassle that most tire shops use a special tool that plugs into your diagnostics port.. AND they CHARGE for that service..

My local tire shop USED to do tire rotation for FREE as long as you bought the tires from them.. Now, they CHARGE $30 to rotate EVEN if you bought the tires from them.

To make things worse, my state inspection mechanics WILL flunk any vehicle that they can not get the TPMS light out.. So inspection time it could cost $100-$400 MORE for new sensors if one or more is not working.

lawnspecialties wrote:
My trailer doesn't have TPMS. Its just a landscape trailer.

Basically the light would come on and the instrument panel said something about "low pressure". It did it non-stop from Friday morning until Sunday afternoon. Once the truck was started, it was on right away and stayed on the whole time. It originally started right after locking in the hubs that Friday morning and went out about an hour after unlocking them Sunday afternoon.

When I get the chance, I plan to do the process all over again: lock the hubs in and drive it to work or something. I work only 6 miles away so that should be ample distance to see if it does it again. Just no snow on the ground this time.

Sensors must have enough time to "wake up", they will go into sleep mode after being still for a set amount of time.

It takes TIME AND SPEED to bring them out of sleep, something like 5 minutes AND over 20 MPH of CONSTANT rotation.

Stopping and starting like in stop and go traffic, snow plowing ect may not be long enough or fast enough to get them out of sleep mode.

The warning light WILL always turn back on the very next startup (IE remembers the fault) until the TPMS sees all sensors at proper pressure once they have had enough time to wake up. Once it sees proper pressures from all sensors it will reset and turn off the light.

The INFO IS in your owners manual.

They are wireless, so radio freq stuff

Reading this, finding that this series of posts has to do with winter, snow
and am think possibility that de-icing salts are interfering with the signal
to the in-wheel-well receiver some how

Just a thought...PS...I do NOT like these things...

lbrjet wrote:
Check your spare tire. When my truck was less than a year old my light came on and my tires were fine. The spare was low and that was setting it off. I put air in the spare and light went off after about 20 miles. That was over five years ago and and no problems since.

Ford doesn't put TPMS sensors in the spare tires.

In fact you can not change tire positions (rotate the tires) without "retraining" the TPMS system to the new tire locations. Putting the spare in place of one of the tires will result in the TPMS light staying on until the rim with the TPMS sensor is put back on.

My trailer doesn't have TPMS. Its just a landscape trailer.

Basically the light would come on and the instrument panel said something about "low pressure". It did it non-stop from Friday morning until Sunday afternoon. Once the truck was started, it was on right away and stayed on the whole time. It originally started right after locking in the hubs that Friday morning and went out about an hour after unlocking them Sunday afternoon.

When I get the chance, I plan to do the process all over again: lock the hubs in and drive it to work or something. I work only 6 miles away so that should be ample distance to see if it does it again. Just no snow on the ground this time.

Is it a low pressure warning or TPMS fault message. I get the low pressure warning the first day the temperature drops 40 degrees if I'm running close to the low pressure limit--it usually takes filling tires to the full 80 psi and some driving to get it to go away. I get the fault message when towing one trailer equipped with its own pressure monitoring. I goes away on its own in a few miles and never happens when not towing that particular trailer. I assume it is a conflict between the two systems. 2012 F-350 SRW SBCC.

Check your spare tire. When my truck was less than a year old my light came on and my tires were fine. The spare was low and that was setting it off. I put air in the spare and light went off after about 20 miles. That was over five years ago and and no problems since.