Tyre Pressure Monitoring

[Flyingspanner]

The TPMS light may be on due to something detected on another system and a quick scan with Odis/VCDS etc will help diagnose what is going on.

Basics are check the tyre pressures cold with a decent gauge, a tyre with slightly LESS (indicates puncture or leaking through pinhole in wheel had three wheels on my 14 plate van at 180K due to this ) OR more pressure will flag message BUT it will say tyre pressure rather than system unavailable.

If one has too much air correct it but get the pressure EXACTLY the same left and right on the gauge, doesn’t matter if the gauge is out slightly as long as left to right read the same (obviously front to rear could and sometimes are different use placard on door shut).
Pressures should be done cold unless using nitrogen to inflate.
Reset TPMS and try.
Moving on from this, as you have recently had tyres fitted, make sure the size numbers on the tyre sidewalls are ALL THE SAME. You are looking to see if the aspect ratio is the same as if one has been fitted by mistake with the wrong size it will cause problems. This could also bring on the ABS warnings if it is way out.
Then ask your garage to remove and clean all abs sensor AND magnetic seal faces as dirt/metal particles could interfere with its operation.
Also check for water ingress in the ABS sensor connectors.
I have also seen wires rubbed through by incorrect routing of front sensor looms usually following work on the vehicle.
Just some thoughts to try and help you until your main garage opens.
Replacing all tyres after three months is nuts unless you have more than 5mm difference in tread left to right.
Also if you live on an unmade uneven road the system can trigger where no fault exists.

 

[Stewby]

Can you confirm the following?
1. Are all 4 tyres on your vehicle the same size?
2. Did you check all 4 wheels for correct pressure?
You should have a sticker like this one on your door frame(when drivers door is open).
View attachment 66784

3. Did you perform TPMS reset procedure?

EDIT:

Fitting pressure sensing valves is pointless cause you would be switching from indirect TPMS to Direct TPMS
and there is a little bit more involved.
Have a look here ----> Direct Tpms Retrofit

Hi there.

All four tyres are the same. We bought them all at the same time. They are 255/45 R18 103Y at a pressure of 48 all the way round (we have a conversion in the back) and this is what we were advised.
We did a reset when we changed the tyres back in early February as it flagged up a low pressure alarm at that point. We assumed it was because the tyres had been changed so the sensor had picked up that they had been low.

The TPMS light may be on due to something detected on another system and a quick scan with Odis/VCDS etc will help diagnose what is going on.
Moving on from this, as you have recently had tyres fitted, make sure the size numbers on the tyre sidewalls are ALL THE SAME. You are looking to see if the aspect ratio is the same as if one has been fitted by mistake with the wrong size it will cause problems. This could also bring on the ABS warnings if it is way out.
Then ask your garage to remove and clean all abs sensor AND magnetic seal faces as dirt/metal particles could interfere with its operation.
Also check for water ingress in the ABS sensor connectors.
I have also seen wires rubbed through by incorrect routing of front sensor looms usually following work on the vehicle.
Just some thoughts to try and help you until your main garage opens.
Replacing all tyres after three months is nuts unless you have more than 5mm difference in tread left to right.
Also if you live on an unmade uneven road the system can trigger where no fault exists.

I have shown this to my dad (the more mechanically-minded of us) and he now thinks it may be the ABS sensor. We are going to speak to the garage about the things you have suggested in relation to the ABS sensors. Fingers crossed.

Thanks to everyone for their replies. This forum is amazing.

 

[Flyingspanner]

The TPMS system should be reset every time you either check pressures or rotate wheels on the van or change a wheel.
To confirm to get it in my own head:
You have physically gone out and checked the tyres are all the same size by looking at the size on each tyre.
You have physically checked ALL pressures read the same on the gauge so in your case ALL your tyres are set to 3.3 bar - 48 psi. It is very important to carefully check they all read the same on the pressure gauge not just near enough.
Also the message on your driver info display states loss of pressure NOT system unavailable.
If all the tyre pressures are EXACTLY the same when checking following the message, it will be more than likely metallic dirt obscuring the sensor from the ring built into the bearing seal.
Hope it is sorted soon, if not just reset the TPMS when you arrive at the MOT as it will take a while to register the loss of pressure again until the system can be repaired or coded out.

 

[Stewby]

Also the message on your driver info display states loss of pressure NOT system unavailable.

I thought it did say that it is unavailable though??

Fault: Tyre Pressure Loss Indicat. curr. not available.

Is that not what this means?? Or does it need to say system not available?? I get so confused by this stuff.

 

[Flyingspanner]

Do you have a photo of the message?

 

[Stewby]

Hi.

Yeah, I have a picture. Not sure how helpful it is going to be if I'm honest.... but here it is.

 

[Flyingspanner]

Very helpful, that shows a fault with the tyre pressure system not a loss of pressure.
That’s fine, it will prob be a wheel speed sensor issue but plugging in would be a better option to get some details if you have someone close by with VCDS or similar as that will save time too should it be another system that’s triggered it.
Picture saves 1000 words.

 

[Robert]

Hi.

Yeah, I have a picture. Not sure how helpful it is going to be if I'm honest.... but here it is.

View attachment 66823

This is the screenshot from the video that shows TPMS reseting procedure.


As it can be obviously seen, this warning "fault" indicates pressure loss only and not any other malfunction.
Unless you are getting yellow "ABS" light together with yellow "exclamation/tyre" light in your instrument cluster?

 

[Flyingspanner]

If you look at the TPMS light it is flashing in the video when the message is shown indicating a system FAULT.
Low tyre pressures just illuminate the light and would not say system unavailable.
Look at the other videowhen there is no fault when he resets the system calibration.
Anyway let’s not confuse the person. Either way the info from people above should help you or your garage resolve your problem.

 

[Stewby]

Sorry, not being rude with not replying, I am going to tell you how it gets fixed. My dad and brother are going to check my van out.
However, due to my work, they are leaving Harvey for three days to ensure any trace of bugs has gone.
So you will hear about what the problem was.

 

[Robert]

Sorry, not being rude with not replying, I am going to tell you how it gets fixed. My dad and brother are going to check my van out.
However, due to my work, they are leaving Harvey for three days to ensure any trace of bugs has gone.
So you will hear about what the problem was.

I am quite curious .

 

[Flyingspanner]

Not being rude at all, hope you get it sorted either way.
If you work for the NHS give VW Roadside Assist guys a call, they may come out to save your dad having to go through that.

 

[Flyingspanner]

I am quite curious .

Me too, as they had already set the pressures, reset it and it came back on.

 

[Flyingspanner]

@Stewby STOP DONT GET YOUR DAD OVER.
I’ve just checked and there is a software update for word 03 brake electronics for this issue.
Following the update basic settings required of Long and lat acceleration sensors, brake pressure sensor and steering angle sensor.

 

[Flyingspanner]

If your tyre pressures are correct your system could have a software glitch and taking the sensors out and cleaning will be a waste of time.
Just check your tyres regularly until a retailer can update the software for you when everyone opens up.

 

[Stewby]

@Stewby STOP DONT GET YOUR DAD OVER.
I’ve just checked and there is a software update for word 03 brake electronics for this issue.
Following the update basic settings required of Long and lat acceleration sensors, brake pressure sensor and steering angle sensor.

Don't worry about my Dad. I dumped my van at his house and walked home so the bugs all die before they have a look. Is this for a T5.1 as well??

 

[Flyingspanner]

It is only for T5.1 GP which is your van, Later T6 unaffected.
If it is software, they won’t find anything wrong and will be wasting their time.

 

[Stewby]

Rightio... went to see my local garage about the potential issue and what you guys have said.
They have also decided it could be the ABS fault.

We have cancelled the MOT and will take the 6month extension offered by the government as we can't get it into a VW garage to get it checked out.

Very very concerned as this is their major thought (if nothing shows up at the VW garage): Potentially, the guy who did our conversion has nicked a wire when putting screws in, even just slightly, the wires have possibly then corroded which is why it hasn't shown up until now.
To fix it, we will need to remove the entire back of the van.

Has anyone experienced this?? Is it even possible to cause this fault by catching a wire??

 

[Flyingspanner]

I can tell you 99% sure it is a simple software update of the abs control unit. I can’t go into any more details but if you contact your dealer when they open it should take around 45 mins to update.

 

[Stewby]

I can tell you 99% sure it is a simple software update of the abs control unit. I can’t go into any more details but if you contact your dealer when they open it should take around 45 mins to update.

Thank you so much for this. I only had the conversion finished in December so am freaking out a bit. It cost a lot of money and to have it ripped out would have been devastating.
Thank you.