Went on a road trip several weeks ago down to Panama City FL with my brother. Cruising down I85 got a message on the DIC about a TPMS malfunction. I checked the pressure display and the left rear was indicating XX. We stopped and checked the pressures and everything was fine. Kept on driving and after awhile both rears were reading XX. Later that evening and the next day all sensors were working fine. On the return trip the problem repeated. First the left rear sensor went on the fritz then both rears. Driving around town since then no problems.

Fast forward to last weekend when I drove up to central PA, an even longer trip. The temperatures were similar and I had a bit more cargo but no passenger. I fully expected a repeat of the TPMS problem but they kept working all the way both ways.

So what caused it to go out twice on one road trip but not repeat on the next road trip? Should I just replace the rear sensors? It's a 2013 so they are not that old. My 2003 350Z sensors were still working fine when I sold the car last year.

 

Hey brother how are you I just replaced my rear left sensor this past weekend. The trick to this is keeping an eye on the problem for a day or two to see if the reading changes (which in your case it did). The two most likely culprits are either bad sensor(s) or the batteries going bad on them. When a sensor goes bad you will see "XX" on the display and it won't change at all which isn't your case. When a battery starts to go out the signal becomes weaker and sometimes doesn't reach the computer just like with any dying battery. If I were you I would try replacing the batteries first as it is a relatively easy DIY project. The battery is the same diameter as the C5 batteries but are thinner in our models. The model number is RENATA CR2450N. It is a 3volt lithium battery. This link SHOULD work: http://www.renata.com/pdf/3vlithium/DBCR2450N.04.pdf. There is also a thread here that shows you how to replace them found here: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-tutorial.html should the batteries now work then (which I doubt) then I'd personally buy the sensors because the price for the dealership to tell you the problem alone will be expensive. You have to be very careful when buying the sensors as changed from early in the C6 production years to the later years. The OEM GM supplied sensors for a 2005-2009 C6 are GM Part# 25758220 and black in color. The OEM GM supplied sensors for a 2010 or newer C6 are GM Part# 15268606 and are green in color. You can Google them and find different brands I personally went with AC Delco. I would post a link to them but I'll leave deciding the brand/price up to you. I will also say that if the signal were interrupted it could cause the same symptoms you saw but that is very unlikely. I do know of cheap car chargers or magnets in the car causing that issue so keep that in mind if those apply to you. I'll also add that Walmart charged me just $10 to replace the sensor. To program it just put the car in accessory mode where the little orange light on the engine start button is on and press the lock and unlock button simultaneously until you hear a honk from there the person programming it should know what to do. Best of luck brother!

 

Thanks for the links. I figured it is a battery problem, just strange that they did it twice on one road trip but didn't repeat on last weekends even longer road trip. Never happens around town or romps through the mountains so I'll probably wait until they either get worse or I have to bust the tires off the rim for some other reason.

I do like having a working TPMS since I don't use run flat tires.

 

Same here I don't have run flats so the tpms is definitely nice to have. Well whatever you decide to do I've pretty much laid all possible options out for you lol hope they keep functioning brother
P.S be a champ and give a guy a "thanks"

 

I'll just add this for consideration.

The TPMS, like the fobs, use RF to communicate with the car. And like the fobs, outside sources can interfere with the signals.

The TPMS communicate with the RCDLR located in the dash behind the radio (this is the only receive antenna in the car, other than AM/FM/XM/OnStar). Perhaps a cell phone/charger, laptop or something in your luggage/trunk was interfering with the rear TPMS.

 

I mentioned that already

 

I suppose that is possible as my brother was running WAZE on his cell on the Florida trip but he was not on the PA trip. On the other hand, it didn't start doing it on the Florida trip until about 3 hours into each leg and it didn't do it last year driving all the way from AZ to SC (with WAZE running).

I suspect weak batteries in the TPMS sensors, just odd that the problem showed up twice in one trip and never in the next trip. I'll replace the sensors when it either starts happening with regularity or i have the tires off for some other reason.

 

Since you had a passenger when you had the issue, I suggest taking a look at the big blue connector under passenger foot well. If your passenger was stretching his legs and putting pressure on the fuse cover panel, that may be your issue. It's a long shot but since it's working now, worth a look see.
Please keep us posted.

 

The RCDLR pings the sensors in the same order they were programmed. If any outside source creates interference during the pinging sequence, the RCDLR sees that as a null for the last sensor (LR). I've never experienced multiple sensor nulls, so can't address that. The system usually resets itself after 3 ignition events or an unknown (to me) number of pinging attempts.
I've had false readings and nulls for the last 60K miles. It's no different than getting the NO FOB DETECTED message on occasion. While full strength batteries may overpower outside interference, It's not worth changing sensors until you get a XX that never goes away.

 

Mine does this EVERY time I drive the car more than 30-45 mins. I was just about to make a post and I saw this one! Mine is also just the rears and they also read XX. They read the pressure just fine before they go on the fritz......

 

Glad the research I did was able to help others now you know what all it could be and where to go from there best of luck to you as well brother! 👍🏻

 

Replace the sensors, was getting the same problem 2 years ago and I replaced 3 of them, the only one I didn't replace, gave me the XX this weekend, then it went away, that is how they start to go. No need to remove tire from wheel, they just break the bead and replace it. About $90 installed here.