4SUMERZ

A magnet, even from a salvage yard crane won't work on a C6. You need a TPMS relearn tool.
Other GM vehicles can be done by adjusting the air pressure in the tire to relearn, but not the C6.

pickleseimer

Agree not all franchise shops are the same. Although not Corvette-related, my H3 winter driver had a lazy TPM sensor. A few years back I bought the TPMS exciter tool because I own eight cars and it works on four of them. I do my own tire rotations and it makes it easy to keep the sensor locations correct. One item I don't have is a tire-changing machine so if a bead-break or dismount is needed, I take it somewhere else.

Knowing which wheel was the culprit and concerned I would run into the same thing the OP has experienced, I bought the correct AcDelco sensor and seal kit for this car from Amazon, programmed it to the H3 while holding it in my hand to make sure it would work. A friend recommended Mr. Tire so I thought I would try them. They had no problem with using the sensor I brought, did not perform a re-learn of the sensors at my instruction, and the car was done in an hour and the charge was $23 out the door. Traveled five miles down the road and the TPMS light on the dash turned off. Success.

BTW, the manager gave me a tour of his shop and we talked about tire changers and expensive wheels. This shop had just gotten a new Hunter machine and were pretty proud of it. Manager had just given his old machine away recently (damn!). Although I take the Vette tire work to an independent shop in the area, I might try these guys again if the next time I'm in I still get that warm-fuzzy (and some assurances lol).

PCMusicGuy

Why don't more people just change out the battery in the TPMS? I know it can be done.

rfn026

Is there a way to identify which wheel/battery is bad?

Richard

pickleseimer

There is a youtube video on how one guy completed a TPM battery replacement. I took the old TPM sensor from my H3 back to my shop and proceeded to see what it would take to do this. I'll post a pic next time I'm out there. In a nutshell, you have to dig out the potting material to get the battery exposed. I got that far but not removed - I was concerned about the hazard of rupturing the old battery and the subsequent toxic material which is released. The youtube video guy had that happen to him in the video but he wasn't apparently concerned. I just don't know enough about this material to make a reasoned decision. The removal of my battery looks like it requires some effort, but the electrical terminals on the battery are delicate. Not a great combo.

I used the exciter tool to re-learn the TPM sensors just in case someone before me rotated the tires and did not re-learn the system. Mine would all reset, but a wheel would drop out again within 50 miles or so. I used a code reader to get the fault code. Then to double-confirm it was only one wheel, I swapped the wheel positions, re-learned the system, and confirmed it was the same wheel, again using the code reader when the TPM sensor light on the dash came on again. Interestingly, this wheel would report when the outside temps were above about 70, but start to fail when it got colder - hence the guess was a weak battery.

flatwater

What's the general consensus on replacing the TPMs. Replace them just when they fail, replace with new tires, replace with age?

My 07 still has originals. I'm getting new tires in a couple of weeks and figured I better replace them. Thoughts?

1bdvet

I replaced when I got XXX on the DIC, car is 11 years old so far 1 went bad, your choice.

LS WON

This is where I got my tires replaced with Conti DWS tires on my 2005. Sensors didn't need replacement back then or now. I went to Costco and they did not have the tire size for my car.

LS WON

My 2005 12 years old still has original tire sensors and battery.

pickleseimer

For the poster who asked replacing the TPMS battery itself, I said I would post a picture of what I had found while playing around with a donor sensor, so here it is:




The potting material on the right has been dug out and the top and sides of the battery have been exposed. The negative terminal tab is delicate and was on the top of the battery but it popped off. The battery itself is held down in the case, probably with double-sided tape. There is a positive terminal tab on the bottom the battery as well. It requires more than a proportionate amount of leverage to break it loose - this is where it is easy to rupture the battery case and release some assumedly toxic materials.