TPMS failure light while driving...

[PltFX4]

Question: Is there any history of or known tech issue with the TPMS on the Ranger??

Why I ask: Got a TPMS on the right front wheel of my 2019 Ranger (with 8200 miles on it) while driving in the rain (if that matters). Have not seen this before. The TPMS units on my summer wheels (and thus after market sensors) are 4 years old. Checked with my tire shop and they say the typical battery life is 7 years... so battery failure could be a option here but not high on the list.

Turned Ranger off and it sat for 10 minutes, start it up and still on... so no "reset" with a start/stop cycle. Headed home and the warning light just turned off and the screen reported the correct tire pressure. Ok, all is good. 5 miles it's back on. The screen shows a blank for the reading in right front, as before. Get home and shut it down. Few hours later, after the rain has stopped and sun out, I run an errand, no warning light.

Any insights appreciated.

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[Dsc]

I would disagree with the tire shop and say a battery failure is high on the list.

 

[got3fords]

Shouldn't you be on about a 16G Ranger forum with your 2109 Ranger?

 

[PltFX4]

Shouldn't you be on about a 16G Ranger forum with your 2109 Ranger?

????????? Read again... I said 2019

 

[PltFX4]

I would disagree with the tire shop and say a battery failure is high on the list.

If I get more intermittent messages the bad battery will definitely move way up the list

 

[got3fords]

????????? Read again... I said 2019

Read your profile information.

 

[PltFX4]

Read your profile information.

LOL... never noticed that... Thanks!

PS: Fixed

 

[Racket]

I bought a OEM rim and fifth tire to maximize the life of the Michelens with a five tire rotation schedule. Plus if I'm on a trip I won't be hobbled using the temp spare.

I had the new spare put on in rotation and was getting the TPMS failure message for about 1000 miles. Ordered a $12 sensor reset device to fix it when I got home but the message hasn't come back. Using Ford sensors.

 

[EJH]

The wasy way to see if it is the TPMS battery or a bad TMPS, or the signal receiver in the Ranger is to swap the suspect wheel with another location on the truck. See if the intermittent TMPS reading blank follows the tire to the new location. If it does, bad TMPS or battery. If it stays with the original location, something with the Ranger is wrong.

 

[RangerBill]

The wasy way to see if it is the TPMS battery or a bad TMPS, or the signal receiver in the Ranger is to swap the suspect wheel with another location on the truck. See if the intermittent TMPS reading blank follows the tire to the new location. If it does, bad TMPS or battery. If it stays with the original location, something with the Ranger is wrong.

According to the owner's manual (at least for a 2019) the truck doesn't know the location of a particular wheel sensor except when it is first trained by following the procedure in the owner's manual. Once the 4 tire sensor positions are learned, the truck doesn't know the new location of a switched tire unless the learning procedure is performed again. There is one receiver for all 4 TPMS sensors, and tire location is learned from a sensor identification code in each TPMS sensor during the training process.

Tire TPMS locations are based on the learned sensor identification code in each sensor, so if tires are rotated, the same tire location pressure will be reported in the old, learned location.

 

[EJH]

According to the owner's manual (at least for a 2019) the truck doesn't know the location of a particular wheel sensor except when it is first trained by following the procedure in the owner's manual. Once the 4 tire sensor positions are learned, the truck doesn't know the new location of a switched tire unless the learning procedure is performed again. There is one receiver for all 4 TPMS sensors, and tire location is learned from a sensor identification code in each TPMS sensor during the training process.

Tire TPMS locations are based on the learned sensor identification code in each sensor, so if tires are rotated, the same tire location pressure will be reported in the old, learned location.

I believe that's incorrect. You can search for some other threads here on TMPS relearning. It is possible the 2019s were different than newer models though.

My 2021 will automatically relearn new positions.

 

[RangerBill]

I believe that's incorrect. You can search for some other threads here on TMPS relearning. It is possible the 2019s were different than newer models though.

My 2021 will automatically relearn new positions.

In my owner's manual, it states that the TPMS retraining is necessary after a tire rotation.

 

[airline tech]

Yes, the manuals are confusing for this operation, and the wording of the operation is misleading.
I did a test with mine at the last rotation, I did a before and after (sensor ID) check.
My first rotation (i had the shop do the relearn)
My second rotation, I did a sensor ID (location) with my scan tool and had the shop just leave them as is.
Drove home and hooked up scanner, the sensor IDs moved to the new mounted positions.
So, YES, the location relearns itself - each sensor transmits a RF, the RTM reads that sensor ID and depending on (signal strength) (distance - from the RTM) determines the sensor location on the truck.

This is what the manuals FAIL to describe, they only touch on the fact that the RF will still be producing a signal and will read pressure, where they FAIL in the description is the ability of the RTM to locate the position of the new sensor location.

So, we know that the sensors will go to sleep after a period of inactivity (Not Rotating) to conserve sensor battery life.
The sensors wake up and transmit again when they start rotating.

So, I have determined that a Sensor Relearn / Calibration would only be needed if you have a failing sensor (dead battery) or (internal fault - not sending the RF) or the RTM (Radio Transceiver Module) has lost its ability to see that specific (sensor)

What is unclear (for those that swap wheels (Summer / Winter) if you just mount a set of rims and do nothing - Will the new TPMS sensors transmit a valid signal that the RTM can read without any relearn / calibration. Is it only looking for valid (RF) range?

From what I understand the answer is yes, and the only issue would be the sensor is not waking up (dead battery) or (internally failed)

Either way, I think the manuals are misleading on this and the only reason to do a relearn / calibration is only if something is wrong in the communication between the Sensor and the RTM

This is where a scanner would help as you can view the (RF) data PID from each sensor and location.

 

[micl9]

When I swapped wheels on my 2019 the transition was automatic. Can't recall if system freaked out while driving home with 8 tires and 8 TPMS sensors.

 

[airline tech]

When I swapped wheels on my 2019 the transition was automatic. Can't recall if system freaked out while driving home with 8 tires and 8 TPMS sensors.

I believe that for this scenario, being that the sensors go to sleep, unless rotating this should not be an issue - The RTM only has the programming to read 4 ea sensors and they update pressure information as they wake-up by rotation.
So, for a new wheel install (introduced) in the system, it may take a short amount of time for the RTM to see the (newly introduced) sensors and update the current new sensor ID's and pressure information.
This also allows us - to have a spare mounted under the truck with a sensor installed (if we choose to include) a 5-Tire rotation, with the spare not rotating - the RTM does not see the sensor transmitting data (RF)

From the service manual: Statement

It is not necessary to train the sensors after a tire rotation on vehicles with the same front and rear tire pressures however, the BCM cannot recognize the sensor identifiers have been moved to different positions and retains the original position information for each sensor.

I have PROOVED this statement to be FALSE

Here is another statement - PROOVED - FALSE

BCM

The BCM is a multifunction module that monitors all sensor inputs and all CAN messages that relate to the TPMS . The BCM records and retains the unique sensor identifier of each TPMS sensor.

The BCM retains the previous sensor location information following a tire rotation. For the BCM to learn the new sensor location, the sensors must be trained (calibrated) to the BCM .
Refer to: Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) Sensor Location Calibration (204-04 Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS)) .
Additionally, the sensors must be trained when a new BCM is installed.

Note of operation the manuals fail to clarify in this statement

Note: The RTM receives the sensor data and reports this information to the BCM




Here is another statement:

NOTE: When directed to train any TPMS sensors, use only the sensor training procedure outlined in this manual. Do not use the TPMS reset procedure outlined in the Owner's Literature as this procedure does not program new sensors to the module.

This is using the scan tool - procedure


And then these statements of operation.

If the vehicle has been stationary for more than 30 minutes, the sensors go into a "sleep mode" to conserve battery power and need to be "woken up" so they transmit the latest tire pressure information to the RTM .

Each of the 4 TPMS sensors contain a battery, a tire pressure sensor and a radio transmitter. The TPMS sensor radio transmissions are sent approximately once every 60 seconds when the vehicle speed exceeds 32.2 km/h (20 mph).

Basically, you have 3 sources of data transmission:
The TPMS sensor - Transmitting Data
The RTM - Receiving That Data
The RTM communicating (sending) that data information to the BCM via (K-Line) communication

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