F150 Tire Pressure Sensor Fault
C. E. White
to bumper warranty is all but up). The truck is 15 months old. For at
least the last 10 months, I keep getting a message that says "Tire
Pressure Sensor Fault." When I get this fault, the tire pressure
warning light blink about 18 times and then goes solid. It irritates
the heck out of me. This is not the same as a low tire pressure
warning. This is a warning that indicates there is a problem with a
tire pressure snesor, but provides no indication of which sensor (at
least to me). It is not a consistent problem. I can go weeks without
seeing it. It can come on, stay on for a hundred miles and then go
off. When I first saw the fault indication, I called the dealer. They
told me to bring it in when the fault was indicated. Of course the
fault was never "active" when I went anywhere near the dealer until
yesterday. It finally was on when I arrived at the dealer. Of course
it was Sunday, so the dealer was closed. I abandoned the truck at the
over night drop off in hopes it would still be "bad" today. So far I
have not heard anything. I am not hopeful.
Has anyone else had this sort of problem? My truck has the valve stem
type sensors. I've had one flat fixed, and one tire replaced (with the
OE tire originally mounted on the plain spare tire rim - the spare tie
does not have a sensor). The sensor failure occured randomly before
and after these tire changes.
I have a theory - As a part of typical dealer scamology, my truck had
the tires filled with nitrogen. I actually watched the process. The
hooked all four tires to a machine that sucked the tires flat and then
pumped them up with nitrogen (well ~96% nitrogen instead of the usual
80% - what a SCAM). I think this was a horrible idea. I think there
is a good chance that this stupidity damaged one or more sensors. I
doubt they are designed to be exposed to a vacuum. How likely is it
that the dealer damaged a sensor in an attempt to scam another $30 out
of me for this nitrogen nonsense?
Ed
Jeff Strickland
"C. E. White" <cewh...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:hss0u3$apk$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
YOU PAID $30 FOR NITROGEN?!
Sorry dude, but they see suckers coming for miles.
1.) There is no reason to suck the air out, just remove the valve stems and
let the air drain to atmospheric pressure. The few molecules of air that
remain are not going to affect the $30 worth of nitrogen you bought.
2.) Nitrogen is a scam, almost as bad as the Nigerian lawyer that sent you
details on how to collect your uncle's inheretance from the oil company
after he drove off a cliff last weekend.
3.) There's no way to tell if sucking the air out of the tires did anything
to the sensors, but if they did it at the stealership, it ought to be okay.
Jim Warman
state that the majority are cause by unknowning tirebusters).
A few things... first, as far as I can see, putting nitrogen in tires is a
scam (as has been said). $30 for some pretty green valve caps is a lot of
money and the shit we breath IS 76% nitrogen already. Add that, if you have
a low tire, I doubt that you will drive on it to find somebody with
'nitrogen' - I would think that most anyone is going to opt for plain old
air and continue their journey.
For the sensor concern... you can have the dealer or even a decent tire shop
train the sensors - faulty sensors "usually" don't train. But neither can I
say I have seen one go intermittent.
HTH
C. E. White
"Jim Warman" <mech...@telusplanet.net> wrote in message
news:PJoIn.4147$Z6.1230@edtnps82...
> Ed... we do occasionally see tire pressure sensor failures (but I do
> have to state that the majority are cause by unknowning
> tirebusters).
>
> A few things... first, as far as I can see, putting nitrogen in
> tires is a scam (as has been said). $30 for some pretty green valve
> caps is a lot of money and the shit we breath IS 76% nitrogen
> already. Add that, if you have a low tire, I doubt that you will
> drive on it to find somebody with 'nitrogen' - I would think that
> most anyone is going to opt for plain old air and continue their
> journey.
I kne the nitrogen was a scam. We agreed on a price and the nitrogen
was jsut in their. I told them I didn't care aout it, but got it
anyhow.
> For the sensor concern... you can have the dealer or even a decent
> tire shop train the sensors - faulty sensors "usually" don't train.
> But neither can I say I have seen one go intermittent.
Well the tire pressure sensor fault was active when I dropped the
truck off at the dealership on Sunday afternoon. The service writer
called me yesterday (Monday) and said the light was off (I figured
that was going to happen). And becasue the light was off, they
couldn't figure out which sensor (if any) was bad. I told them to keep
the truck and try some more. Probably they will jsut park it and call
me today and say they couldn't find a problem. The temperature dropped
from the 90's to the 60's between Sunday and Monday. I suspect the
problem is heat related and there is no chance it will fail for them.
BUT, I'll bet Wednesday when I drive the truck 140 miles, it will fail
and I will be so mad I'll be tempted to ram the truck into the Ford
dealership's service department and set it on fire. I am sure at leat
one sensor is bad. Seems to me, they should replace all four sensors
and be done with the problem. I blame Ford (not the dealer) for not
having a better diagnostic strategy for this problem. I've searched on
the internet and I am not the only person that has problems with
intermittent sensor failures on Ford trucks.
Ed
PeterD
<cewh...@mindspring.com> wrote:
>...
>When I first saw the fault indication, I called the dealer. They
>told me to bring it in when the fault was indicated. Of course the
>fault was never "active" when I went anywhere near the dealer until
>yesterday. It finally was on when I arrived at the dealer. Of course
>it was Sunday, so the dealer was closed. I abandoned the truck at the
>over night drop off in hopes it would still be "bad" today. So far I
>have not heard anything. I am not hopeful.
>
Ignoring the nitrogen issues, you should have established a problem
trail with the dealer, long before the warranty was up. Even if the
dealer is unable to repair the problem because of lack of diagnostic
tools, expertise, etc., establishing the problem trail protects your
warranty and requires them (the dealer and Ford) to repair the
problem.
C. E. White
"PeterD" <pet...@hipson.net> wrote in message
news:3l05v59cdee4foib6...@4ax.com...
That is why I finally left it at the dealer -just before the warranty
was up. But do I really have a "warranty trail" if they come back with
a claim of "no trouble found?"
Ed
PeterD
<cewh...@mindspring.com> wrote:
You should report the problem multiple times to establish your case
that the problem existed prior to warranty expiration.
dr_jeff
It's not a total scam. The tire pressure will remain more constant than
if you use air, because of the water vapor in air. Thing is that if you
use nitrogen, the difference between that and air is very little when it
comes to real life performance unless you race the truck and exact tire
pressure is critical, like it is for NASCAr vehicles. For the common
truck and car, it hardly makes a difference.
While it's not a total scam, it is a waste of the energy needed to get
rid of the oxygen and other gases in air (other than, of course, nitrogen).
Jeff
Jeff Strickland
"dr_jeff" <u...@msu.edu> wrote in message news:4BF35BB9...@msu.edu...
Nitrogen is a scam. Period.
The scam is diminished when nitrogen is put in for FREE. Period.
There is NO benefit to private automobiles to have tires filled with
nitrogen. Mostly because 1.) we pay very little attention to our tires, and
2.) because we go to the gas station and fill our tires after we notice they
are low. I suppose your argument is the benefit of nitrogen comes from the
notion that we pay so little attention to our tires. But forstalling the
need to refill tires from time to time is not worth the cost of the
nitrogen, unless it's free.
As for NASCAR, and what they may or may not do -- there is very little
comparison in the way they operate an automobile and how you and I operate
an automobile. They can put solid gold into a tire if htey want, and find a
way to justify it.
As a practical matter, mere mortals like you and I shouldn't care whether
the tires are filled with air or nitrogen, and we CERTAINLY should not PAY
for having nitrogen put in. If the tire company wants ot put in nitrogen and
do it for free, there is certainly no reason to object. But if they come out
and say, "we put in nitrogen, and it's gonna cost an extra dollar," then
refuse the service because it's not worth a dollar. Indeed, at a dollar, it
costs precisely a dollar more than it's worth.
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Jim Warman
no moisture in the air delivered to the end of the hose. If there is any
possible danger of filling a tire with "wet" air, it will likely come from
some of the conveninece store type air dispensers that compress the air "as
you go".
Face it... how many people do you know that want moisture laden air passing
through their expensive air powered tools?
C. E. White
After telling me several times I needed to bring the truck in with the
tire pressure sensor fault light on, it turns out they could resolve
the problem without that being the case. When I dropped the truck off
with 35,963 the light was on. Unfortunately when they checked the
truck the next morning the tire pressure sensor failure light was off.
This time instead of telling me there was nothing they could do, they
did something. They retrained all the sensors and told me to drive the
truck until the light came on again, and then bring it back. The
light came on the next weekend. Of course by the time I dropped the
truck off, the light was off. However, they could now magically tell
which sensor had turned on the light. They claimed they couldn't do
this before becasue I had rotated the tires and they didn't know which
sensor was in which position. I explained to them that the tires had
only been rotated once (front to rear, no cross), but I suppose they
didn't have any faith in getting it right if the tires were not in the
original position. I have concluded several things - 1) the truck does
individually register the tire pressure sensors 2) there is a stored
code when the tire pressure sensor light is illuminated, 3) if the
dealership really wants to determine which sensor is bad, they don't
need for the light to be on when you bring it in, they just have to do
a little more work and have you make two trips to the dealership.
Everyone at the dealership was very professional, I just wish they had
fixed it last year when the light first started coming on, instead of
waiting until the warranty was all but up.
One funny aside - on the way home from the dealership I stopped to buy
gas. As I was leaving the station, I noticed a small box in the
passenger's seat. The technician had left the pressure sensor
training/diagnostic tool in my truck. I returned it to the dealership,
although I considered hanging on to it until the weekend in case the
damn light came on again.
Ed
"C. E. White" <cewh...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:hss0u3$apk$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
Jeff Strickland
I woulda kept the scan tool for a few days. I would have given it back,
eventually, but I'd have held onto it until I was comfortable that the light
was not going to return. Maybe the next service, "Oh, by the way, your guy
left this in my truck the last time I was here. Sorry, I shoulda brought it
back sooner, but here it is."
Jim Warman
sensors.
Shane on whoever for leaving it in the truck... even deeper shame on anyone
that would "hang on" to a device like this for ANY REASON AT ALL... What....
do all your friends check their silver ware chests after you leave?
What is this fucking world coming to?
"You, sir, are inept... I'll be dishonest to make up for it".
Jeff Strickland
1.) I don't have any cars or trucks with air pressure sensors, so I have
absolutely no experience. 2.) if I was told for more than a year that the
light had to be ON for the service guy to fix it, I'd be hesitant when they
finally told me that it did not have to be on if they simply re-educated the
system with the Magic Tool that was left on the front seat. 3.) I'd play
with the tool to understand what it was doing. 4.) I appreciate that these
things are expensive, and the guy that does the service on my car or truck
has to buy this stuff with his own money, so I'd return it. I'd play with it
first.
So, given the circumstances of the OP, I have no trouble sleeping at night
given the comments I've made.
Jim Warman
Point 2 says you believed what you were told by someone you thought was
familiar with the system. The big concern here is that you have no way of
knowing if this person is knowledgable or full of shit... With todays
society I am more comfortable believing that few people will invest their
time learning their craft... This statement is borne of experience - thank
you.
Contrary to public opinion, you can hurt your computer with the keyboard...
ask anyone that has (with older OS's) typed "del *.*" whilst in the root
directory. Your chances of "hurting" your system are somewhere between slim
and nil... but that wont help you when the tech says "wow - I never saw that
before".
This reply is full of codiciles and caveates and disclaimers... The reply
that I commented on was ?????
Now... while you may be frustrated at finding someone knowledgeable to talk
to. I am faced with "techs" (the quote marks are intentional) that do not
treat this as a career... Something happens and one of those guys will be
drywalling, shingling or driving a truck in a heartbeat. It is ever so
frustrating to spend ones time trying to get rid of the people that give
this trade a bad name... and having customers migrate to them because
they'll take whatever money they can get.
"Jeff Strickland" <crwl...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:htm3mt$32g$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
C. E. White
> sensors.
Actually the thing was laedbel traing/diagnosis. I just took a quick look
before taking it back. It was a OTC tool. I don't recal the model number.
I wish I had it for a few minutes two days later when the light came back
on.
Ed
Jeff Strickland
I hate to tell the naysayers, I told you so, but I'm vindicated. Two or
three days and the tool is needed if for nothing else to look into the inner
workings of the system.
I feel strongly that a hige degree of personal integrity and honesty is
paramount in a civil society, but when I am told for months on end that the
problems can only be investigated when the malfunction light is on, then to
find that this isn't entirely accurate AND THEN discover a key to the
mystery is laying on the floor of my car, I'm gonna leverage that key for a
couple of days.
I'm certain that the technician that left his stuff in my car had to buy it
out of his own pocket, and I have no beef with him so I'm not gonna keep his
stuff. But, I am gonna use for a couple of days before I drive across town
to return it.
The issues here do not involve me directly -- I'm not the one with tire
pressure issues. All I said to the OP is that I would have held onto the
tool because I thought the light was gonna return. It did. And, after only
two days. No big loss to the techincian if I kept the scanner for two days
while the dealership was open for servicing, plus the holiday weekend when
the dealership isn't open anyway. I'm thinking the OP will be back to the
dealership on Tuesday or Wednesday to have this looked at again, and the
tool can be returned then.
You can jump in my shit with both feet and start kicking when I suggest
taking stuff and never giving it back. When that happens, I'll take the
criticism.
Jim Warman
"LO BATT" and one that indicates the button is pressed and the vehicles
response. Any diagnostic capability lies in whether the vehicle responds or
not. No response from one sensor will indicate a concern with that sensor...
No response from 4 sensors will deliver a code.
While Mr. Strickland may feel himself vindicated, it remains that he is
counselling people to retain possession of an item that isn't theirs. In the
eys of the law, "I was going to give it back" doesn't mean a whole bunch,
does it?
What is more amazing, when one considers it... does anyone actually know how
to use the fucking thing? Hint... you have to get out of the car...
GTeye
It's not "FREE", EVER... you either pay for it or it's rolled into the price
of what you are buying.
--
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