Dirty Howie

The issue is not being able to get a reprograming of TPMS completed and thus not being able to put the car in Competition Mode. Then the computer activates AH in any turn so you are putting down the throttle and the computer is putting down the brakes. Basically you can't drive at any speed and your brakes wear quickly. The tire icon on dash comes on and DIC message to "service TPMS" illuminates.

I have two sets of stock wheels both comp grey (I think that means they can't be too old). One for track and one for street.

I have the Ateq VT10 sensor programer about 1 year old with brand new battery.

I'm going to explain in detail what happened so I don't miss anything and then I hope someone can advise me what to do.

Last night when re programing track wheels I got to the last wheel (LR) and it would not finish the programing. Tried several new batteries. Then rolled one of the street wheels up next to the (LR) tire and the programing finished properly with two honks.

Unfortunately, the programing doesn't stick and after about 20 minutes the computer falls out of Comp Mode and AH makes life impossible.

So on the way to the track I got the DIC message and dash light. At the track I pulled up close to another C6Z and used his wheel to program the (LR) and all was good for 30 minutes. Next session the after reprograming again computer kicked me out of Comp mode after 10 minutes. Then the next session the (RF) decided to do the same thing so now I needed two cars with me sandwiched between to full the computer and get me reprogramed and into Comp Mode. Then the next session I only needed to use the (RF) but used some else's programer (don't know the name. Then when I got home I had to use two street wheels (LR and RF) with my Ateq to complete program.

So what the hell is going on? Do I have one bad sensor or two? Is this common? Could it be my cars computer or could the programer be partly to blame.

I have no problem with the street wheels.

If I had a spare TPSM (not mounted to wheel) could I use it to fake out the computer for more than one wheel or would I need two different sensors to do it. Want to be prepared for next time or be able to help someone else from going thru this crap.

Thanks,


DH

davidfarmer

could you not shut AH/TC completely off???? I've never had any issues as long as I shut everything down BEFORE leaving the paddock. Once you are moving, you are screwed.

Sounds like you have a bad sensor in one of your wheels.

btw, comp mode is just as useless as normal mode once the computer decides to kick in. It becomes much more intrusive than usual Comp mode, in my opinion making the can undrivable.

I was going to get extra sensors so that my co-drivers can run Comp mode, but the are too expensive IMHO. We just park near the street tires, and once the system gives us issues, we just turn the nannies off.

Dirty Howie

David

It will not let you turn off AH ..... period !!!!

Just traction on or off.

Holding the button down for several seconds will not turn everything off.

It is 1000 times worse than driving with everything ON. Wish I could have ......


DH

gkmccready

I had a sensor fail; you can't turn everything off if the car detects at least one working sensor and at least one reading low tire pressure. You would have been better off programming the computer with your street wheels and then driving to the track with the track wheels on... [I haven't tested this but...] if *all* of the sensors go missing at the same time and you drive for some distance (and never go back near those sensors) the car will stay happy so long as you don't disconnect the battery.

I gave up driving the car when I had the sensor fail. It was a complete danger. My sensor was intermittent for a bit and the car lost the sensor signal going in to T10 at Thunderhill *and slammed on the brakes* -- I was happy to have put some distance on the BMW I'd just passed at T9 otherwise I think I would have had a passenger because nobody in their right mind would have braked that hard, or accelerated that little, at that turn.

I still run them, and carry a programmer, and just hope that I never again have a sensor fail... if I do I'll find another C6 and try to program in his sensors and then be sure to park far, far away so the car doesn't see the sensors again and get confused.

Charley Hoyt

If you are near Huntington Beach you can try my Ateq-V10. It might be worth a try???

Dirty Howie

As you say .... untested.

My street wheels are already programed. So you are saying just put the track wheels on and don't try to program and you will be able to stay in Comp mode unless you disconnect the battery. If that worked the only downside would be not knowing your tire pressure while on track which would have been fine compared to the hell I went thru today.

I don't beleive this works as about 3 weeks ago I put on my track wheels and my programer wasn't working so I drove and borrowed some ones. By the time I got home the warning light was on .......

I was parking right next to one of the cars I used to hijack his sensor reading.


DH

Dirty Howie

I'm not near you Charlie but thanks. Ateq never gave me a problem other that it uses 9 volt batteries up crazy fast.

The other one (forgot its name) that I use today was longer and has only one button on it. It actually seemed to work better, faster and finished the programing with only one wheel sensor signal being hijacked instead of two which really added to the wierdness.

So there must be a test of some kind to determine if a sensor is good, weak or bad ..... what is it??????

dbratten

I've never run sensors in my track wheels and many times I drive to the track on the race rubber. 45 minutes after leaving home without sensors a service warning comes on which I just reset. Several times I've been out for two days with no sensors and without my street wheels.

The trick I found on mine is that I have to hold the console button down prior to hitting start and hold the button through the whole startup sequence until I get the service warning. I then reset that warning (while still holding the console button -- although that may not be necessary) and the DIC displays that AH & TC are all off. Each time you start the car you need to do this to totally disable the system. It's worked for me for autox and HPDE.

--Dan

gkmccready

Untested by me. Pfadt has been documenting this (see the video series), and I believe if you ask the C6 guys running T1 you'll find the identical information.

I was nervous about it when I was buying wheels because there were all sorts of rumors about how the system behaved without the sensors present, but after much watching and listening it sure seems you just reset the warning and so long as you're (a) not near the sensors the car does know about, and (b) don't disconnect the battery, it's all good.

davidfarmer

In 3 years, I only had one event where I had difficulty in getting it to shut down for me, but even then it eventually did. I hope you get it worked out. As above, you should at least get the street tires back working park them around the car between sessions.

FredSM

FWIW, this is also my experience. I have sensors on both my track and street wheels because I want the TPS feedback on the track, but if I forget to program all 4 (or my TPS tool battery dies like 2 weeks ago putting my streets back on), all I eventually get is the "XXX" on the DIC after so many miles, no other nastiness. Screw up programming only 1 and bad things happen. The system can only conclude that something very wrong is happening at one corner. I also have 18" rears for my track wheels. If I forget to turn off AH and TC, my car is undriveable above about 30MPH. System thinks my rears are spinning since, in fact, they are spinning faster than it believes they should. Other coaches and pros drive my car a lot. Occasionally someone forgets to hold the button down.

FM

Dirty Howie

That would be great if it works. Sounds like maybe this is possible only if you have no sensors present. With sensors it might not work. But I would have tried it yesterday.

What year is your car?


DH

Dirty Howie

Well I tried reseting at the track with my street wheels at home ..... no luck.


DH

Dirty Howie

I want to be able to get into Comp mode not EVERYTHING OFF mode.

I drive to the track on track wheels....no trailer. It would be easier to buy 4 sensors, put them in my box, take them to the track and use them with wheels with faulty sensors or wheels with no sensors which might be what makes a difference between some peoples experience. The system might respond differently if it sees a bad sensor instead of no sensors!!!!!


DH

gkmccready

But you said you had programmed *some* of your track wheels in to the car. The car needs *all four* sensors to disappear at the same time for the reset trick to work...

dbratten

Mine's an '06. I never tryed to find a way to go only into Comp mode but perhaps doing the standard "click twice" during startup would work.

Interesting problem. Good luck on finding a cheap, easy solution.

--Dan

Dirty Howie

So how do you deprogram the ones that took (honked)......put all the street wheels back on and program, then take them all off and put the tracks back on .......


DH

Dirty Howie

Okay, this is really wierd........

I was able to program them all this morning !!!!!!!!

Now I don't know what to do.


DH

gkmccready

Yeah, this is the crazy part. There's no "de-program" ... all you can do is program some other set of sensors. Like your street wheels, or your buddys street wheels, and then drive away from them for long enough to get the code, reset the system, and then stay away from those sensors (and not losing battery power to some particular circuit).

bearnest

Have you tried after starting the car to push the button down the first time and hold it down for ten seconds. This is what I do before going on track and it seems to turn all my nannys off, but I don't remember if it works on TPMS. I also have 4 extra tire sensors if you are interested in them.