More and more of us are having intermittent issues with our TPM sensors. It seems obvious (at least to me) that these issues are being caused by some type of interference between the sensor and computer. This is assuming, of course, that the sensors are good.
I have to wonder if there is a sensor that might be better shielded against this type of signal “pollution”.
What do you guys (and gals) think?

 

It has more to do with RF interference between the TPMS and the RCDLR than anything else. I don't know of any type of TPMS that has RF shielding, and I think it's more on the individual to make sure that any LED products they purchase do not produce the type of RF interference that causes these problems in the first place. In my case I had a pair of fog light bulbs that were a bad production run resulting in interference that blocked the signal on both of my front TPMS, but even though it was no fault of the vendor (JW Motoring) they stepped up and replaced them at no charge. Once I'd swapped out the replacements I haven't had a problem since. I really have to give it to them for their customer service as it had been nearly a year before I did the install and had the issue, but they stood by their product and replaced the bulbs anyway.

 

In my case the interference is being caused (I believe) by the Kenwood receiver recently installed.

 

I've got the same model year as you. It shipped with green sensors and when I changed them out to the later black ones, it seemed to make the problem worse. Not sure how you could have rf shielding on a device that uses rf to communicate. You might also check the Kenwood manual and see what regulation they claim to comply with. Usually what I see is an FCC reg that states a compliant device can't interfere with the operation of other devices. If Kenwood claims compliance and their device isn't, you might want to speak with them about a resolution.

 

If you don't want to bother with them, buy valve stem caps that show your tire pressure and screw them on. Done.

 

This would be great except for the silly warning lights that would blow up the dash.

 

I would strongly disagree with this, but the only way to tell for sure would be to pull the head unit and see if the interference disappears.

 

Actually did. Pulled the unit and put back the OEM receiver. No problem once that was done.
Did call Kenwood - still waiting weeks later for a return call. Will call them again.

I agree that shielding a device that communicates sounds counterintuitive. Was hoping that one available from various manufacturers was “naturally” more resistant to interference than the other.
Not “the end of the world” problem, just would love to find a way to resolve, short of pulling the new unit.

 

I've posted this a few times but at the risk of being repetitive, it's either the power cord plugged into the ciggy lighter or the traffic FM receiver on my Garmin that interferes with the TPMS polling on my vette. The problem never happens if the Garmin is switched off, and is worse the closer the cord is to the RCDLR antenna behind the glove box slot. It only happens after 1 or 2 hours of operation, and the sensor starts reporting again within a minute if you turn off the Garmin. This suggests that proximity to the RCDLR antenna is the problem. Does the Kenwood have a special wiring harness that's close to the antenna? Could that wiring be shielded or moved away? Could some shielding be safely placed between the Kenwood and the antenna as a test? Keeping in mind of course that the antenna needs to communicate with the fob in the car at times.

 

The problem with this solution is that if the TPMS warning is on the car cannot go into competitive driving mode & the computer is more sensitive to activating the active handling on fast turns.

 

Never had an interference issue in my 07.

 

I frequently get inaccurate tire pressure readings and occasionally my dash will explode proclaiming one of my tires is completely flat, Quick visual inspection confirms all 4 tires are just fine. I just assume that the 12-year-old TPMS sensors are failing.

 

Go to Costco, $200 for 4 new sensors installed, system reset, and done.

 

Drove my car for the first time in a couple weeks this morning & for the first 20 min or or so the DIC was displaying 0 for all 4 tires but no warning light was on. Then at about 30 min in as I’m pulling up to my destination the services TPMS warning light came on.

sensors are less than a year old and properly read the pressures according to discount tire’s hand-held device, so something is interfering with their signal in the car. It’s getting pretty annoying.

 

Just a thought, but you've got a number of aftermarket electronics including lots of LED lamps. Maybe there's a tipping point where there's too much total interference from all of it. There was a recent post where a LED lamp that was too close to the antenna seemed to be causing the problem, and that was just from one lamp.

 

Thought about that, however, all components were installed on my ‘12 GS and I simply swapped them over to the Z. In fact, the GS had all interior bulbs switched over to led as well, and I don’t have those in the Z currently.

I didn’t have any issues with the TPMS reading in the GS but have had nothing but issues in the Z since adding new tires and new TPMS (didn’t have any issues prior to installing new tires)

 

Fair enough. One other point that I made previously is that in the 2011 model year, my GS shipped with TPMS Green ACDelco/Schrader (15268606) sensors. Your Z probably shipped with those also. When I replaced the sensors, the Green ones were superceded by Black ACDelco/Schrader (20925924) sensors, which have a different part number. The Black sensors made my problem worse, in my opinion. What sensors did you have in the Z, and what were their replacements?

 

I don’t know about the originals but the current are the black 20925924. My Z has a build date of 5/11. Car actually sat for a year, was shipped to Callaway 5/12 with 2 miles on it & returned to the selling dealer in FL w/15 mi. I’m the second owner, car had 17k on it and original tires when I purchased it. Tires were replaced about 5 weeks after I purchased.

 

Couldn't you try pulling the Kenwood fuse rather than remove the unit?
M....

 

I bought my ‘11 GS October 2019 w/original tires and 12,850 miles. Immediately after purchase, I went to Discount Tire for new Michelins and A/C Delco Black TPMS. The next day after an alignment, I drove the car from Denver back to Dallas area. No issues with TPMS until May/June when I installed Kenwood and Sirius receivers. I removed the factory Sirius receiver and connected the new unit to the factory antenna via connections described in other threads here.

Shortly after, I begin getting the Service TPMS Messages on the DIC. In all but 2 cases it was the left rear tire showing XX. Once it was the right rear and Saturday it was both rears. Also in the last few days I have been getting just the warning light, but no DIC message. The first time pressures seemed out of whack, 35 psi RF and 31 psi LR which probably should have caused a warning. Yesterday I got the warning with both fronts showing 34 psi and the rears at 32 psi.

All tires show 30 psi cold on the DIC and with my hand held gauge.

Not really wanting to pull the Kenwood unit, maybe pulling the fuse would be a good check....