I have a 2007 Nissan Pathfinder that has its tpms light on. I have taken it to discount tire and they checked it and said it was fine. The tires were a little low and they adjusted my tire pressure. After driving home the light is still on, what it does it blink for about a minute then stays on.

Any help on how to clear this or what is happening would be appreciated.


Thanks in advance,

Rchjr

The blinking and going to steady "on" is an indication that there is a problem with the TPMS system. A scantool capable of reading BCM codes is needed to get the TPMS codes to help find out what the problem is. That said, most TPMS sensors tend to last 6-7 years before the batteries start to weaken or fail. The batteries in the sensors can not be replaced; you have to replace the entire sensor, which then means it has to be ID registered to the Keyless Entry/TPMS control unit. Note: if the TPMS sensors weren't re-registered at every tire rotation, the stored trouble code may indicate the wrong location. For example, let's assume we have a vehicle with TPMS sensors that are registered in their proper location. The tires are rotated front to back, but the sensors are not re-registered. The sensor at the left rear tire fails; the code stored will be for the left front sensor, the last registered location for that sensor. Most people don't have their TPMS sensors re-registered at every tire rotation, so if this is your case, you would have to re-register all the sensors, erase the codes, drive the vehicle about 20-25 miles to get the code to trigger and then address the code. Keep in mind that when one sensor fails, the others are usually not far behind. My advice is that if you have a code for one or more weak batteries, replace all 4 sensors with a set of Dorman TPMS sensors. You can get them from Rockauto.com for about $42 each, or half the price of Nissan sensors, and they come with a lifetime warranty. You will then still need to get the sensors installed and ID registered, something that requires a trigger tool and a capable scantool. Dealers can do this, of course, but many tire shops and some independent shops can do this, as well.

smj999smj:

Thanks for the response, I called Discount Tire and told them what was happening and they said to bring it back and they would re set the tpms. I drove back down 5 minutes later all was good! They brought out some machine that interfaced with the cpu of the vehicle and it reset the system.

Again thanks!

Rchjr

Back in the day, right after I got my (used) Pathfinder, this happened to me. I took it to a local garage and they traced it to a dead sensor in one of the wheels, so resetting won't last long if the sensor is dead.

The sensors are I believe $60 each and you have to unmount the tire to get to them, so I did what many people do and put a square piece of black electrical tape over the TPMS light. Next time I need new tires I will also order four new sensors since if one is failing the rest aren't far behind. In the mean time, I know how to check tire pressure so I just ignore it.

Same thing with mine, light kept coming on, filled the tire up. finally brought it in, the thread on the TPS sensor / valve stem was shot, replaced it from work with a VDO and all is good