LAS VEGAS (Jan. 9, 2013) — Sean MacKinnon and Matthew White, director of automotive training development and director of tire service, respectively, for the Tire Industry Association (TIA), have a message for tire shop owners: Makers of tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) likely will never get on the same page with their designs.
"It's not going to happen," Mr. MacKinnon said during TIA's "TPMS at 10: TPMS Troubleshooting" seminar, which the duo delivered at last fall's 2012 Specialty Equipment Market Association Show.
"Get over it," he added. "Figure it out, get in the system, get a good tool behind you, get a good distributor, get your products in place, start training your people and then guess what happens: You make money."
Having up-to-date tools is important, but Mr. White emphasized that training employees how to work with the tools is key.
"Remember that tool is not a magic wand. That's not what it is—it's part of your diagnostic system," Mr. White told dealers. "Use it for what it is. Don't just think that if you have a problem with a system that you can pick up that tool and it's going to fix it.
"The biggest thing with that tool is it takes you to understand how that tool works, you to understand how that system works and you to understand how that sensor works," he continued. "Therefore, when the tool doesn't operate or pick up what you want it to, you know the different steps."
In large part, Messrs. MacKinnon and White said, fixing TPMS issues is a matter of training and the ability to recognize and diagnose common problems involving existing systems. During their presentation, they touched on several of the frequent TPMS-related issues they've seen in the last year.
One of the most common of these issues comes from low-line Honda systems, "typically the Civics and the non-touring Odyssey," Mr. Mac¬Kinnon said.
"What happens with those is, with those new sensors something has to happen in the roll switch so that as it drives it has to kick in and communicate with the vehicle," he said. "What's happening is during driving it doesn't kick in. You know what you have to do? Pull the valve core on the new sensor.
"Once you've captured all the IDs with your tool and the vehicle's driven, pull the valve core. Let the tire deflate and re-inflate it. It's that simple, but I've had people wrap their heads on those ones for weeks," he said.
Toyota- and Lexus-brand vehicles have been another source of many of the TPMS problems over the last year. Many of these vehicles, Mr. MacKinnon said, have a switch located underneath the glove box, or in some cases inside it, that allows the vehicles to store two sets of sensor IDs—one for summer and one for winter.
"Toyota dealers don't have these nice tools that capture IDs electronically," he said. "They have to do it all by hand. This was made for Toyota dealers so they could do a seasonal swap out just by switching a button…. Whatever position you tell the tool to write it in, guess what you have to do with that button? Make sure it's in the same position, otherwise the car won't pick it up."
In addition, Toyota trucks carrying a full-size spare on the back can cause TPMS tools to pick up duplicate sensors.
"I guarantee you, maybe when you were doing the right rear, guess what you picked up? The spare sensor," Mr. MacKinnon said. "So as you come around and you're going across the rear of that truck again, guess what you're picking up again? That's what that's telling you, you've picked up that sensor twice. You know how to fix that? Aim your tool down a little bit."
Another problem often found with Toyota trucks is that "they have different sensors in them depending on which wheels they have, whether it's steel or alloy," Mr. MacKinnon said.
"Electronically, the sensors are the same, but what's different is the angle," he said. "They are not interchangeable. No, putting them in backwards so they fit in there right will not work. It'll fit, but it won't work."
Mr. White noted this has been such a problem that TIA actually took time to identify the sensors through part numbers. He also stressed that putting the sensors in backwards can cause them to break.
"If they're lucky enough where it doesn't break, what will usually happen is they'll end up with an intermittent MIL (malfunction indicator lamp)," Mr. MacKinnon said. "Sometimes there's no issue, sometime's the light's flashing, because they changed the direction of the signal."
Another source of frustration for technicians has been older Cadillacs with Schrader-brand generation one systems, Mr. MacKinnon noted. These TPMS systems feature magnetic activation, but often getting the system to respond requires using a more powerful magnet than what the dealer has available.
"We've run into this issue where the customer takes the car to the (car) dealership; 'Oh, well the dealership got the horn to honk every time. You guys don't know what you're doing,'" he said.
"Well, what the dealership uses on those is a giant cone magnet. That's going to have no issues pulling that switch open. What we recommend doing is taking two of those little circular magnets, put them together, twist those around and it works every time."
Some older vehicles equipped with TPMS technology can experience problems related to radio frequency interference (RFI).
"We run into this quite a bit, and it's kind of puzzling," Mr. MacKinnon said.
Anything that transmits wirelessly is capable of interfering with the signal from these sensors, he noted, either by blocking it out or mimicking it.
"I've been in a shop and seen it," he continued. "They put the truck in learn mode, they're getting the tool fired up, getting ready to activate the first sensor and the horn chirped while they're standing there messing with their tool. The horn's just chirping by itself…. The worst thing that can happen is you don't pick up on that chirp."
Sensors on some older General Motors Co. models were equipped with air pressure-based activation, which was eliminated in 2012 as a result of this issue, Mr. MacKinnon said.
"Say you've got a Silverado you're relearning and another guy is putting new tires on an Impala right next to you. While he's inflating those tires, guess what he's doing to those sensors? He's activating them, causing them to transmit," he said.
One of the easiest solutions to the problem is to first try pulling the vehicle outside of the shop, getting away from the building and the source of interference, he said. "If that doesn't fix it, maybe something came loose. Some of them have antennas in places that can get knocked off."
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