I'm having a weird problem on my '05 E60:

Every 900-1K miles the tire pressure monitor pops up a warning on the display that I have a flat tire.

I check and no flats, so I reset the monitor and keep driving. But this has happened some 7 times or so in the last 6 mos or so.

I don't know what's involved with this monitor: sensors in all 4 tires, can't tell which tire it is.

I'm wondering what to do: take it to the dealership, private mechanic or what? Not too sure of what to tell a private mechanic. I'm sure the dealership will replace the whole tire monitoring sensor, or whatever gadget it is, and will charge a big whopping bill.

Any suggestions, or has anybody else experienced this weird problem?

Thx.

 

tires lose pressure as u drive

so it may not be faulting at all but just telling u of these small changes ever so often as asking u to reset

:l

ftm uses abs to sense when a tire is low so it wont tell u specifically which wheel it is

just carry a tire pressure gauge and measure them every so often to know where they r at

if no changes between now and the next fews times it pops up then u may want to consider mechanical or electronical help

also... slow release of air is most commonly due to bad valve stems, might want to consider replacing them

 

Thanks for the advice, I'll pick up a tire gauge and check the tire pressure over the next few weeks.

 

Are we to assume you did not check the tire pressure before resetting FTM? A visual inspection is no use at all with RFTs. The FTM will alarm if pressure difference is 7-8 psi, so you may just have a slow leak and resetting will clear the alarm until your tire loses another 7-8 psi. I'd be curious what your end state tire pressure was...

 

My FTM or TPM system dings at me every so often. I asked the dealer during my last service and they said that drastic temperature changes also sets of this warnings. Just ck your tire pressure like the other suggested and reset the FTM and you'll be fine. Be prepared to do this every so often without a care.

 

First of all, since you have an '05 you do not have the active TPMS system with sensors in each wheel. This was introduced in '07 models. The system you have is called FTM, and is based off the ABS sensors and attempts to detect a flat tire through differences in the relative wheel speeds of the four tires.

As for the problem you're having, your best bet is to: a) set all the tires to correct cold temp pressures (ie. not after driving around, but when the tires are cold); b) reset the system immediately after doing this. It is really important to reset the system after changing the tire pressure, as this sets the "baseline" of relative wheel speeds the system will compare against. You also need to reset the system if you rotate tires, etc.

If the warning comes back without a big change in temp and if all 4 tires still show correct inflation, then you have a problem - and yes, it could be expensive (you're not dealing with $100 sensors in each tire, but with the ABS and wheel speed sensors). My X3 has this system and I occasionally (over 4 years) have seen warnings due to temperature changes, but typically this only occurs when the temps swing drastically (like +/- 20c in a day).

 

had the same problem today. Worse thing is things like these always happen when i am not driving the car but someone in my family is so it gets more scarier.


i have a 06 530I, i watched a youtube video which showed tht you have to press the idrive twice to get the TMS, but everytime i do it turns off my screen.

Anyone knows if its different on 06 cars. also planning on making a how to when i try to do it so i could share it among peers on this forum who might have this issue later on



PS: how much are the ABS sensors you mentioned above?

 

if you have runflat tires, you cant tell if they are flat just by looking at them. get a pressure gauge.