# Tire pressue light comes on, blinks. Tire pressure is fine



## trbochrg (Dec 1, 2004)

So, as the title states my wife's 2016 Touareg has been displaying the low tire pressure warning light. Sometimes it is solid, other times it is flashing.

There is no audible tone which in my experience usually happens when a tire is truly low.

In the MFD where you can see the individual PSI of each tire they are now all usually blank. Occasionally they will register the "correct" PSI but they will go back to being blank within seconds.

I searched online to see if there was any quick fix or reset and all i could find was to drop the PSI in one tire to under 20PSI while the car was running and then fill the tire back up again. Within 2 key cycles it seemed to be working fine. Drove 3 1/2 hours on a road trip and got to my hotel and as soon as i restarted the light came back on.

I have checked all four tires and the PSI are all within range (35PSI in fronts, 38 in the rears)

I imagine it is some sensor that is causing this issue yet i don't believe we have TPMS in each tire (i could be wrong). Anyone have any experience with this? I do have an appointment with the dealer next week but i just wanted to run it by you experts here.

Thanks!

Joe


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## rcprato (Sep 14, 2007)

My first guess would be batteries in the individual sensors in each rim are going bad.

Dealership should be able to test them for low batteries.


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## trbochrg (Dec 1, 2004)

rcprato said:


> My first guess would be batteries in the individual sensors in each rim are going bad.
> 
> Dealership should be able to test them for low batteries.


Thanks, for some reason i didn't think they had TPMS sensors in the wheels anymore. Maybe that is just on 2017 VW's (Pretty sure my R doesn't have TPMS sensors in the wheels).

So maybe a stupid question, can the batteries in these be changed or do they sell you an entirely new unit?


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## ribbit (Jun 4, 2012)

If the car is under warranty they are covered,in any case the units have to be replaced if faulty. My 2012 was 6yrs old and didn't have an issue,so maybe they will be replace as a courtesy. If you don't have the TMPS system the dealer will have to diagnose issue.


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## rcprato (Sep 14, 2007)

trbochrg said:


> Thanks, for some reason i didn't think they had TPMS sensors in the wheels anymore. Maybe that is just on 2017 VW's (Pretty sure my R doesn't have TPMS sensors in the wheels).
> 
> So maybe a stupid question, can the batteries in these be changed or do they sell you an entirely new unit?


I know on my brother's 2015 Jetta GLI the TPMS systems goes off the ABS system sensors and no sensors in the rims, if a tire is low the ABS can sense that wheel is not turning the same # of rotations per some predetermined distance as the other wheels.

I think the Touareg has TPMS sensors in the rims all the way to end of availablty in the US


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## trbochrg (Dec 1, 2004)

Update:

Took it to the dealer today and they said it needs a new module. They weren't able to communicate at all with the one that was in the car.

$440 parts and labor but I have to go back as they didn't have it in stock today.

Hopefully that's the issue.


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## trbochrg (Dec 1, 2004)

Well, took two more visits but it has finally been fixed.

They replaced the module but the light kept coming on and they could not get their computer to communicate with the new module.

I had to bring it back for the senior tech to look at it. He found a chafed wire in the trunk. Replaced the wire and he was able to communicate with the new module and all is well.

Of course now I'm left wondering if the chafed wire was all that was wrong to begin with.










Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk


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## ribbit (Jun 4, 2012)

I bet it was the chaffed wire that was the issue. Did the car still have a warranty on it? I have read more and more threads on VW cars that had issues with poor wiring that caused issues with different parts of the car. The last one was a Golf that had a bad wire in the trunk that prevented the unlocking mechanism from working.


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## trbochrg (Dec 1, 2004)

ribbit said:


> I bet it was the chaffed wire that was the issue. Did the car still have a warranty on it? I have read more and more threads on VW cars that had issues with poor wiring that caused issues with different parts of the car. The last one was a Golf that had a bad wire in the trunk that prevented the unlocking mechanism from working.


I still have the Powertrain warranty (10 years/100k i believe) but the "bumper to bumper" 3 year 36K miles is over so i had to foot the bill. We're at ~49,000 miles

Funny, they didn't charge me at all for replacing and diagnosing the chafed wire. that's what led me to believe that may have been the root cause. Sort of a "oops, we goofed" sort of thing. Oh well...

This same dealership once replaced the brakes and rotors on my wife's Routan free of charge (rears went bad at 20k miles) without me even asking for anything so I'll just call it even.


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