2015 Chevy Sonic - TPMS

[WyrTwister]

The Tire Pressure symbol appeared on the instrument cluster of the Sonic . Aired up all 4 tires , no change . Figured the TPMS sensor went bad . Kind of disappointed . Wat I have read on the internet pretty much indicates the battery life should be 5 - 10 years .

Far as I know , it has not been damaged , I do not live in the salt / rust belt . But it is what it is .

Asked my wife to take it to the little tire shop , a few blocks from our house . They told her they did not have the TPMS sensor , but to go down the street to the near by O'Reilly Auto Parts , pick one up & bring it & the car back & they would swap it out for the same charge as a flat repair .

I went to the parts store , purchased one , gave it to my wife & she went to the tire shop & they installed it . But they did not have a device to initialize the sensor . They said they thought it would re-learn the sensors , by itself , when she drove it a few miles . That has not happened . Using the re-learn feature / menu on the instrument cluster did not help either .

Watched several videos on youtube , on relearn method w/o the tool / instrument . I also ordered a re-learn tool from Amazon , around $ 10 . It should be here today . Hopefully , it will work . If not , hopefully the " manual " method from youtube will work .

From the first , I figured the whole TPMS system would some day turn into a pain & big expense . A solution in search of a problem .

But if it keeps my Wife from driving around with a low tire , maybe it will pay for itself .

Wish me luck ,
Wyr
God bless

Up Date .

2015 Chevy Sonic - Worked , 1st try . Laded the antenna on the rubber tire , next to the steel rim , next to the TPMS sensor . Only car we have with TPMS , only time I have used it .

1. Set the parking brake.
2. Turn the ignition to the ON/RUN position with the engine off (the second click before the cranking spot but one click after the acc).
3. Press the Remote Keyless Entry (your key Fob) Transmitter's LOCK and UNLOCK simultaneously for about five seconds. The horn will beep twice to signal the receiver is in relearn mode and TIRE LEARNING ACTIVE will be displayed on the DIC.
4. Start with the driver side front tire.
5. Place the relearn tool against the tire sidewall, near the valve stem. Then press the button of your very handy dandy VXDAS EL-50448 (after you install a 9 volt battery of course) to activate the TPMS sensor. A horn beep confirms the sensor ID code has been matched to the tire and wheel position.
6. Proceed to the passenger side front tire and repeat the procedure in step 5.
7. Proceed to the passenger side rear tire and repeat the procedure in step 5.
8. Proceed to the driver side rear tire and repeat the procedure in step 5. The horn will beep two times to indicate the sensor ID code has been matched to the driver side rear tire and the TPMS sensor matching process is no longer active. The TIRE LEARNING ACTIVE message on the DIC goes off.
9. Turn the ignition to LOCK/OFF.
10. Set all four tires to the recommended air pressure levels as indicated on the Tire and Loading Information label.

 

[MrHorspwer]

Originally Posted by WyrTwister
From the first , I figured the whole TPMS system would some day turn into a pain & big expense . A solution in search of a problem .


You took it to a shop that didn't have the proper part, nor did they have the have the tools to correctly install the part, but the pain and expense is the system's fault?

Seriously, what tire shop doesn't have a tool to learn GM TPMS sensors? That's like going to a mechanic that specializes in import cars, but doesn't own any metric tools.

 

[LotI]

Agreed. But OP, having the tool now means you can rotate the tires yourself for free. The price of the tool is less than a shop doing it once. The $13 was well spent.

I bought the same tool when my new car didn't have the TPMS learned. It would have cost me more in fuel to go back to get it done. I wish it were like my last 3 cars that used indirect sensors.

 

[WyrTwister]

Very small , mom & pop type tire shop . I am not dis-satisfied with them . They have done right by us .

I called Discount Tire . Was told it would cost around $ 90 to install a TPMS sensor ( which I do not think it sounded like they had one in stock ) .

I paid close to $ 60 for the sensor at O'Reilly & less than $ 10 at the tire shop .

This is the car my Wife drives . If I drove it , probably would not have done anything to it .

Next time , I will probably order 4 sensors from someone on the internet , for less than I paid for 1 . Since I have the tool , I can activate them .

The car I drive is a 2006 & does not have a TPMS system . I mostly drive a company truck ( Ford F150 ) and the boss pays for repairs .

PS Does a donut spare have a TPMS sensor ?

 

[Rand]

Originally Posted by WyrTwister


PS Does a donut spare have a TPMS sensor ?


no, spares dont usually have tpms.

Im not a huge fan of tpms but the newer systems getting getting less painful.. I esp like the mopar/jeep system.
Just yesterday tpms saved a tire on the 2013 equinox had a very slow leak but the car gets driven once a week and its in a dark garage.

Pulled out of the garage.. boom 24psi in tire... picked up a tiny screw somewhere.... Grabbed the safety seal kit and plugged it.

Its an oem tire from 2012 so the equinox will be getting a new set of 4 pretty soon anyway.