Hi,

I just bought a 2008 H3 with 65,000 miles on it, and the damn TPM light keeps going off even though I put in the right amount of air according to the manual.

I did notice 1 out of the 4 tires has a rubber stem while all the rest are aluminium, could this be the issue? It looks like a sensor style stem just not made of aluminium.


Thanks for any advice, I'm sure I'll be back with questions about upgrades in the future.

 

If it is a rubber stem then it does not have a TPMS sensor. It will only read the 4 on the ground. Check your spare to see if it has a sensor. It could have been switched out. In 2008 the spare did not come with a sensor. Once you get sensors on the 4 rolling tires you will have to do the relearn as outlined in your Owners Manual. Air Pressure has nothing to do with the SvrsTpm message. That is telling you there is likely a problem with a sensor. If all sensors are reading and you have a low tire, the only thing you will see is the low tire icon on your dash and a low tire message on your DIC. Good Luck

 

Thanks, Yeah the spare looks to have the aluminium stem. So I told the dealership tthat the rubber stem may be the cause of the TPM Message, the parts service guy was like oh no thats the updated version, I was like I don't believe it is.

So is there anyway I can verify that only 3 tire sensors are on the ground?
I want to make these guys fix this before the whole 30 day thing runs up, don't want have to sling paper work at them but I will if need be. Thanks again for taking the time to help me out.

 

Unless there is a new rubber stemmed TPMS sensor that I haven't heard about then you are correct. I would just offhand run by a tire shop and have them verify that there is no sensor in that tire. They will likely not charge you just to look. Good Luck

 

Put the same amount in the spare and the others (cold), use it on the ground in place of the one with the rubber stem. To save battery life, the sensors turn off until the tires start spinning (so your spare is out of the loop). Read the owner's manual on how to set which are monitored if you have to. It also cannot tell which tire is where so it is irrelevant where you put it.

The stock TPMS all have an aluminum stem. I cannot tell you it is impossible that there may be some aftermarket TPMS that the dealer or prior owner might have installed, but I highly doubt it. In mid 2007, GM went with four sensors only, the vehicle delivered spare had no sensor. That is most likely what you are looking at, somebody rotated the spare in. Return it to the dedicated spare.