BMW tire pressure warning
BMWs use one of two systems. The flat tire monitor (on many older BMWs) has no sensors in the wheels: it compares the wheels' speeds, since a tire losing air turns faster. Tire pressure monitoring (TPMS) has a sensor in each wheel that reports its pressure.
Either way, check all the tires' pressures with a gauge first, cold, against the label in the door frame or the fuel door.
Usual causes
- A tire that really is low, or pressures not matching the label.
- With the flat tire monitor: the system not reset after inflating or changing tires.
- With tire pressure sensors: a sensor's battery running out (they last years, not forever), a sensor damaged during a tire change, or wheels without sensors fitted.
- A fault in the tire pressure control module or its antennas.
What to do
- Inflate all tires to the pressure on the label, cold.
- Reset or initialize the system from the car's menu or its reset button, then drive: it learns the new pressures as you drive.
- If the warning stays, read the faults in the tire pressure module: they name the wheel or the sensor.
General guidance from how BMWs work, not a diagnosis of your car: the fault the module stored, with its details, tells you more.
The fault codes behind it
- Tire pressure control fault codes 24 codes · E60, E61, E63, E64, E65, E66, …
- Tire pressure control fault codes 84 codes · E38, E39, E46, E52, E53, E83, …
Reading the fault
AutoLingo for BMW reads the fault behind the light from the module that stored it, in plain English and with its details, and clears it after the repair, with BMW's own diagnostic protocols: a generic OBD2 code reader only reaches the engine's emissions faults. See what it does on your BMW.
Questions
- Why did the tire pressure warning come on when it got cold?
- Tire pressure drops about 1 psi for every 10 °F the temperature falls. Inflate the tires to the label's pressure and reset the system.
- Does my BMW have tire pressure sensors?
- Many BMWs sold in the US from around the 2008 model year have sensors in the wheels; many earlier ones use the flat tire monitor, which has none. The owner's manual, or a sensor's valve stem on the wheel, shows which one yours has.
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