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Had the car for almost 11 months. I am taking a long road trip in July and have been sorting the car. Somewhere on my list is the consideration to get the TPMS working. This car was built with TPMS and occasionally when I start it I get the "press R to reset TPMS" or similar display. A previous owner removed all 4 sensors. At first I thought I can just get sensors but I saw in another thread that the display would say "no sensors" or something if that's all it was. Furthermore, I cannot initiate communications with the TPMS module on my MB-II leading me to wonder if something is wrong with it. Before I rip the trunk apart, any ideas on direction here? I know the module is supposed to be on the left side and I realize that is probably the first step (make sure I have the module and it's plugged in). But is there any way to tell if it's been coded out? Of course if there is an antenna issue (which may have led a previous owner to ditch all the sensors) I won't know until I spend some time and money trying to make it work. My gut and experience tells me that most TPMS issues are resolved by replacing bad sensors so even though that seems simple, people oddly would rather have no TPMS at all.
Anyway I figure I may as well look into this if I have to pull the left trunk liner to access the multi-contour seat pump which is in a similar vicinity.
I don't necessarily trust the scan tool so I tried unplugging it to see if the cluster would present anything different. And it did. It seems that both modules do "something."
Then I tried scrolling in the menu. Never saw this before but only with the module unplugged. Maybe that's normal.
I plugged in the used module again and pressed R to reset. When I selected Yes, I got this for the first time. My old module didn't do this. So I don't know what to make of this. Maybe both work and I just need sensors? Unfortunately without a better scan tool I'd be buying new sensors at risk.
Which message did you see with no sensors? The third pic I posted (display malfunction) appeared only with the TPMS module unplugged. I believe my car also has no sensors, and that's what the previous owner told me.
Also, is anyone able to communicate with their TPMS module with your iCarSoft MB-II?
So it started throwing malfunctions every ignition cycle which I assume is a result of a failed activation (the car still has no sensors). This makes sense to me. Well it decided it had enough trying to activate itself with no sensors and is back to displaying what my original module always did, with that Reactivate message I posted up top. So this is different behavior than my original module which never seemed to do anything with the activation phase (even without sensors). This suggests that....maybe I can just get a set of sensors and it will activate and function. So now it's just a matter of deciding when I want to get new tires because these are pretty worn. I'll wait until then and pick this thread up unless anything exciting happens before that.
Slight update to the behavior of my new (used) module. Upon every new ignition cycle I get that TPMS reactivate message. And, about 10-15 minutes into each drive cycle (it's very consistent), it also throws that TPMS malfunction. This doesn't really give me any new info but I thought I'd post it anyway.
While I'm shoveling money into the car I figured I'd spring for a set of tires so I ordered Michelin Pilot All Season 4 (reviews seem amazing) and also a set of TPMS sensors. I got everything from Discount Tire Direct which beat Tirerack and even their TPMS prices beat Rockauto by a few bucks. I got BH Sens which according to my research are effectively OEM Huf sensors. Their price was $45/ea which is pretty outstanding. So it will be another ~week until the tires come in and I hopefully have a good result with this TPMS project.
EDIT: I got this Rockauto newsletter 2 weeks ago which was well timed, introducing BH Sens.
RockAuto is proud to offer Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) Sensors and Service Kits from BH SENS! BH SENS is a joint venture between the TPMS business units of Huf Group and Baolong Group. Most BH SENS TPMS Sensors are developed and produced in the Huf Baolong Electronics facility, in Bretten, Germany. With more than 20 years of global experience, BH SENS has become one of the of the world's largest suppliers of original equipment (OE) TPMS Sensors; supplying Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and other vehicle manufacturers.
BH SENS direct-fit sensors (listed by Year/Make/Model in the RockAuto.com Catalog under the “Wheel” category) are programmed and ready for installation straight out of the box. To relearn the tire pressure sensors after installation, follow the instructions of your vehicle's manufacturer typically included in the owners manual.
In addition to their direct-fit OE Replacement sensors, BH SENS also makes a universal TPMS Sensor, called IntelliSens (listed under “Tire” in the "Wheel" category of the "Tools & Universal Parts" tab). IntelliSens Universal Sensors fit and function just like their OE Replacement sensors, after they have been programmed using a TPMS Tool (available under "Tool" in the “Wheel” category of the Tools & Universal Parts tab). Universal TPMS Sensors are Clone Capable, which are ideal for drivers who frequently swap wheels/tires, such as during the winter season. A relearn procedure is not required once sensors have been cloned.
All TPMS Sensors offered by BH SENS are supported by the common TPMS Tools; simplifying any needed programming and/or relearning.
The product picture shown on Rockauto for the BH Sens RDE004 appears to be an OEM Huf sensor. Good enough for me!
So those $45 sensors from Discount Tire Direct (BH Sens) were in fact the Huf made in Germany units. Which is OEM. Sweet.
It took some driving around and me frantically pushing reactivate but eventually it worked.
However, when I start the engine now, I get seemingly random types of malfunctions. I've seen a non-red tire pressure warning, then I saw the old Reactivate message and just this time I saw this red warning for RR. In EVERY case, after the engine starts, I scroll to the tire pressure screen and all 4 display perfectly.
So I can deal with this for now, as long as everything still works. Drove the car 4 hours yesterday and there were no issues with the display each time I scrolled to it. The only thing I can really do now is swap in my original TPMS module. Perhaps the used one is coded slightly wrong for my car and is making it do this? Maybe it's looking for a spare sensor and there isn't one? No clue. Anyway, next chance I get I'll try the original module and see if that changes anything. The good news is, it does work again, for the first time in my ownership (1 year).
Put the original module back in and "activated." This module operates a little differently than the used one I got. With the used one, when I select activate, it beeps and comes up with a message that the TPMS is activated. With the stock module, it doesn't beep or display anything except that I need to drive for a few minutes (or press R to reactivate again). After 15+ minutes of driving I got 4 pressures. However, when I shut it off and restart, it comes up and says that I need to reactivate again. Of course like the other module, I just clear that and the pressures are all there. I'll try a few days with the original module and see if anything changes but so far it seems that the behavior is about the same. Kinda odd. Would be nice to have no malfunctions (the holy grail).
Functionality has settled to an extremely consistent "Reactivate TPMS" message on the cluster each ignition cycle. And when I scroll to the tire pressures while driving, all 4 always appear. I have had zero issues with that part (been 2,900 miles since I did the new BH Sens/Huf sensors which replaced no sensors). I can live with this. I am still on the original module.
04-23-2021, 08:23 AM
