TPMS Issue.

[Flamethrower]

So Tuesday morning I came out from work and started up the old Civic. It was the first really cold morning of the fall. Well about a minute after turning the car on, a warning light and warning screen appeared. "WARNING : CHECK TIRE PRESSURE." I got out of my car and did a once over to make sure I didn't have a flat. Nothing was wrong. Tires looked fine. Drove home and went to sleep hoping the light and screen would go away when I went back to work this evening. Couldn't be so lucky. Same issue. Now I figiure I am going have to get used to this alarm screen and light since I am switching my tires over to winter tires and rims. I was told that the TPMS was really needed and it wouldn't hurt anything to not have them in the winter tires. I guess my question is why this would happen all of a sudden before I even switched them? Did the cold (24 degrees) trigger it? Has anyone else experienced this issue? Is there a way to clear it so it doesn't just keep popping up?

 

[ethlar]

tpms doesnt indicate flat tires, it indicates a deviation away from factory tire pressure, normally say 32-35psi, dropping to 28 psi in one tire can be enough to trigger tpms

 

[Monk]

ethlar makes a good point, you said you did a walk-around, but have you check your tyre pressure?

 

[brown_bear]

didn't someone say that the weather sometimes mess with the TPMS when its cold out?

 

[KennyGS]

It is said that for each month, a tire loses 1 psi, and for each 10F change, a tire changes 1 psi.

So if your tire pressure in July was 36 psi when it was 90F, it could be 27 psi now at 40F.

 

[Monk]

They've got me on Nitrogen from when I bought my car, and according to all the FU-FA it's suppose to keep the tyres from running as hot as air would, it also is composed of larger atoms(or whatever) that's suppose to take longer to lose pressure.

Well........ since I bought it, I've been checking the pressure every two weeks and I'm still losing about 2 lbs. a month. I was checking every week but checking causes lose of air as well, so I'd recommend everyone check their pressure once a month.

If I didn't have to drive over to the dealer to top off I'd be checking my tyres every week or two and topping them off everytime since I have an air compresser. I'll see how it goes this winter or at least till I have to renew this free Nit' thing. It's a lot easier to just have air in them for me.

But, to reenforce KennyGS post we do need to check our tyres pressure at least once a month.