Well after 106,000 miles the original tire pressure sensors on my '98 coupe finally gave up the ghost. They did not behave quite the way I thought dying sensors would act so I thought I'd share the experience.

On the way back to Tampa Bay from Houston the first one went. I got the "Flat Tire" message on the DIC. I wasn't too worried because I have Goodyear GS D3's on the car which are non runflats. I would have felt a flat at 80 mph long before I got the reading. But just to be sure I stopped and checked the pressure. Sure enough, 33 lbs ( I run 30 lbs cold).

When I started back on the road shortly I got a message telling me I had high pressure in the same tire. The DIC showed it at 50 lbs. The next week it would vary from 50 to 20 to 0 to XXX.

After two weeks I started getting the same performance from another sensor. I also noticed that all of the sensors were now reading lower than the actual pressure, usually in the low 20's.

After much checking I found Tire Rack had the best price on new sensors and ordered them. $260 delivered to my front door. I was a little surprised to see the new sensors had the same body style as the late model ('01-'04) sensors and the late model style gasket. The late model sensors are smaller than the early sensors and weigh less so you must rebalance the wheels when you install these. Having non run flats, they only charged me half price since they did not have to dismount the tire to install the sensors.

The big lesson here, at least for me, is the sensors don't just stop working. I thought once the battery was depleted they just would not transmit. Not so. First they will simply act erratic.

For those of you who ask why I bothered with sensors at all since I have non runflats, I hate getting the messages on the DIC and I was unable to find the TPMS delete kit that use to be available.

I also decided against upgrading the the late model system due to the price of sensors at Tire Rack.

 

I've been running non-run flats for 7 years.
You won't think having TPMS is a good idea if you pickup a nail. With the sensoprs you'll get a low pressure warning that will allow you to get to a gas station and put some air into the tire. If the leak is small enough you can watch the DIC read out and every time the pressur drops you can add air. - until you get to where you can get the tire fixed.
This has happened to me 3 times in 9 years ( I'm about due).
Longest I ever did was 220 miles like this , stopped for air 7 times , never did any damage to the tire and drove the car right into my mechanics shop.

That TireRack price is very impressive.