Originally Posted by Ron Miller

OK, time to do a bit of updating to this thread, been a while . . . . . .

Refresher . . . . . I replaced the original tires and TPMS senders in the wheels of this 2004 Corvette back in September of 2014 with matching new original TPMS senders as were installed at the plant. The tires were replaced with Hankook that were not run-flats, trying to get away from a bit of the tire noise, and all worked well. Until September or October of 2021 when suddenly all four tire readouts in the DIC panel began reading XXX as the tire pressure. All four failed and began this readout simultaneously, which made me a bit suspicious that it was a battery problem in the TPMS senders since I don't expect all four to fail at the same instant in time . . . .

After going through all the information I was able to gain from previous posts, I was still left with the belief that something in the TPMS channel itself in the car was at fault rather than the TPMS sending units. I decided to go along with the failed readout until such time as when I was replacing tires and TPMS sensors again to see if I could at that time figure out the problem . . . . . tires probably have another year or two of life in them based upon my driving mileage.

And then someone on the forum stated he had the same sensors on his car for the past 22 years and they were still working properly. That statement was backed up by at least one or perhaps two other forum members regarding the life of their sensors, in the same range and still working. Got me to thinking . . . .

I still had the originals removed from the car back in 2014 and all were still functioning properly when they were removed. Following are pictures of the four originals showing date codes. Notice that the date codes on these originals range from March or April of 2003 to July of 2004 or so. A good 18 years or so older . . . . . .








So, on a whim I took the four out to the 2004 Corvette that I had tried unsuccessfully at least a half dozen times to reprogram the replaced TPMS sensors still in the wheels. I left those in the wheels, but laid the four 18 year old originals on the convertible top and set the car into the TPMS learning mode. I took my circular magnet in series from the first to the fourth of the originals and each successfully programmed with the vehicle! Much to my surprise!

I don't have a record of manufacture dates for the replacements now in the wheels, but I do remember being aware of being sure that I received newly dated TPMS sending units when I purchased them and am satisfied that they were within a year or two of the 2014 date that they were purchased. Go figure . . . . .

The long and the short of the matter is that I don't believe that the car has a fault in the TPMS system, the problem lies with the sending units, although why all four would simultaneously start transmitting the XXX pressure reading is beyond me. I plan to purchase four new sending units and to install them into the present tires I have on the car. They should still be good for the life of the next set of tires I have to purchase in a year or so, I'd think. And I don't see any logic in reinstalling the original TPMS sensors that I currently have, they'd probably only fail as well within the next year or so. I think part of the reason they're still functioning is because they have been sitting idly "in storage" since removal and haven't been called upon to do any transmitting to speak of.

So, I think my problem is cured, or at least on the way to being cured . . . . . . any thoughts?? Thanks to all who contributed comments and suggestions, just wanted to post this for anyone's future benefit who might have the same or a similar experience.

Ron

Originally Posted by Ron Miller

And it turns out my suspicions were validated. I replaced all four Schrader TPMS sensors with new $24 each Schrader sensors that I purchased from RockAuto and voila!!! After a short 1/2 mile or so drive, they started reporting tire pressures for each individual wheel as they should. I mated them to the car prior to installation in the wheel, easier to do than trying tor run around the car to each wheel to do each individually. Just remember which is bound to which tire location, I marked mine with a magic marker as I went along so as not to lose the correct location.

I still don't understand why my car began reporting Serv Tire Mon Sys and showing XXX as the pressure for each of the tires at the same time, I still don't think that all four suddenly "expired" on the same day, but it really doesn't matter at this point. Replaced all four and all's well with the world . . . . . well, at least some things . . . . . .

BTW, the date on the TPMS boxes is NOT the same date as is cast into the TPMS sensors. At least that was true in my case, a couple 18 months older than the box date, a couple 21 months older. Should still outlast my ownership of the car . . . .

Originally Posted by BAMvette

Hi Ron,
Any chance you can share a part number?

Originally Posted by Ron Miller

Sure! According to my RockAuto invoice the part number and description was "SCHRADER20117 (OE Replacement (Programmed)) Programmed; 20 Degree Large Grommet 315 MHz; Magnet may be required to activate"

These were ordered 242 days ago and totaled $107.15.

Originally Posted by BAMvette

Thank you, Ron.