Quick TPS question!

[milleplod]

Afternoon all.

My '09 C5 will be having its winter tyres fitted in a few weeks. I've already asked on here if I'll be able to replace the TPS valves with ordinary ones, and then get the TPS system disabled - I can, apparently, do both, which is nice.

Pending finding someone local-ish with Lexia to do the disabling for me, what warnings will I get on the car's dash? Will there be continuous sirens going off, together with an 'iminent death' thing flashing in my face? Or will the system calmly tell me its failed every now and then, and give me a more gentle heads-up?

Pete

[Paul-R]

If it is the same as when I did my 2003 C5, then once you have disabled (or more correctly told the ECU that it isn't fitted) then there is no error message.

It's easy enough to disable the TPMS, you only need Lexia/Diagbox for that. Re-enabling them is a touch more difficult as you will then also need a device to excite the valves into sending information. On the Mk1 this is a called a Protoctair Mini (there are other makes I'm sure) and I am not sure if this is still suitable for the Mk3.

I'll be doing the same as you next year as I have a spare set of wheels onto which I intend to put winter tyres. As mine is a 2013 vehicle I think they are mandatory and so I'll have to put the proper valves on the wheels and then pair them up to stay legal.

Frankly, as you are using the same wheels, and assuming all are working properly, I would leave them enabled.

[GiveMeABreak]

IIRC Paul, there is an option to allow for changing wheels for winter, so if I'm not mistaken you can programme the TPMS for all 8 wheels in Diagbox (assuming you have TPMS fitted on the winter wheel set too), then it's just a matter of swapping them over without an issue. I think you are correct though, if the TPMS is actually disabled, then on refitting wheels with TPMS installed, you will need to have them all activated again. Also, as I recently found out at the dealership, each wheel had to be activated at the same session - doing one wheel only (as I had an issue with over / under inflation out of bounds on one wheel) did not work, resulting in them reprogramming the set together and all is now well.