Tire pressure sensor problem

[Bill Faulder]

If I drive my 07 Trac for several miles without stopping this message comes on in dash in orange letters "Tire pressure sensor fault" and signal sounds. Keep going and message changes to "Tire pressure monitor fault". Stop and warning goes off. Does not happen around town. Just at highway speed for several minutes at steady speed. Dealer cannot find problem. Does not set code to tell what tire is causing problem. Mechanic at last visit thought the tire sensor which is on right front rim had slipped out of position. He said it is a stainless steel band, with sensor attached,around rim on inside of tire. I said, GREAT, get one in stock and you can install it next visit. Next visit arrived , mechanic broke tire down and sensor and ring had not slipped so he said that one was not the problem. Is my only option to tell them to install four new sensors and hope that cures problem ?

 

[scott degroot]

Yours is a 2007. Chances are that the batteries in the sensors are going bad, unfortunately you can not replace the batteries you must replace the whole sensor. Might as well do them all now or you are just going to end up chasing sensor problems.

 

[Bill Faulder]

Thanks L1, Should have told them to go ahead and replace that sensor while tire was off. Then if that didn't fix it , replace another at next oil change. Maybe get lucky and find the bad sensor before I have to replace all 4. Even if I end up changing all 4 by doing it one at a time it will spread the cost out. 4 easy payments over about a year. (grin). Oh well I am in it for the long haul on this Trac. 108,000 miles, looks good, just the vehicle I need, so at this point it is a keeper ! At least wait until Ford gets back in this market. Love the F-150. Just too big for garage and the Trac is perfect size for my lifestyle.



Bill

 

[Allan Reed]

My 2008 started do exactly the same at about 2 years old (60,000 Km - 37500 miles ). It has been to several dealers, I do not think any of them know as much as I do and I know nothing. Internet research has told me there is a special tool for diagnosing this system but no one here has one. My come on after about 20 minutes of highway driving and quite often goes out if I slow down for a non highway speed zone.

Annoying but I have learned to live with it and it did still warn of a low tire when I had one.