So I went to Mac Haik 5-star Dodge Chrysler Jeep Dealership in Georgetown, Texas last Thursday, because my Low Tire Pressure light was on. I told them that it was on even though the tire pressures were correct. They supposedly reset my TPMS system and charged me $90 for their time and claimed that one of my tires was at 26 psi. I'm positive it was not and I have two digital tire meters. Anyways, the light went out for about an hour and then came back on. I called them back and told them that I still had the problem and they were too busy to see me until Monday. So today rolls around and I bring in my car and they have it for about 4 hours and call me up and tell me it's gonna be another $175 ($89 for the part and the rest on labor) to fix everything because the sensor in my right rear tire is out. So that brings it the total to $265 if I went with them for a freaking TPM sensor plus installation. I ended up declining to replace the sensor and they claimed the $90 was the diagnostic charge to figure out what the problem was. I called up another dealer and they want $74.25 for the sensor and $45 in labor to replace it and reset the TPMS system. I'm going with this option, but I rather prefer them to turn the whole system off (which Mac Haik said they would not do because it's against federal regulations).

What are your guys experiences on TPMS issues? I think I'm getting ripped off still for a sensor that shouldn't have failed in the first place. Somebody should come up with a tool that plugs into the OBDII port so we can reset the sensors ourselves, rather than spend ridiculous amounts of cash for service or $10,000 for a DRB-III scan tool.

 

If your car is still under warranty they should have fixed it for free. Here in Central Virginia there are some climate changes that at times will set my TPMS off.
I have found that since I now have "Nitrogen" filled tires that the TPMS no longer goes off. Also I find that a good analog tire pressure gauge works better than the digital type.

 

Daniel, if you can, let me know what the last 8 of your VIN is. I'll check to see what's remaining on your factory warranty. As it was stated before, that is a warranty related issue.

 

Hi Tod,

I believe the warranty was up in June. I'm the second owner of the car and found out that it had an extended warranty but the dealer that I bought it from neglected to tell me this and I never transferred it into my name because I didn't know until I contacted the original owner for the second set of keys and by that time it was too late. The VIN is xxxxxxxx.

Thanks,
Daniel

 

Your in-service date was June 17th 2004, warranty was up June 17th 2007. If you bought this from a dealer, I would advise taking it back to where you got it from and asking for a little help. I'm not going to put my head on a chopping block, but there is always a little room. You may also want to try to get in touch with Chrysler if your dealer isn't that helpful.

 

Crossfire LTD - How much is it to fill them with Nitrogen? What happens if one goes low and there is no nitrogen? Is it safe to use air?
I have the same issues with hot and cold weather here in Md. Seems like in the early fall, winter and spring the light will come on.

Pat

 

My Dealer offers the service at a cost of $39.99 with free lifetime refills and top offs. There are many arguments about nitro filled tires, and many will say there is no difference between regular air and Nitrogen. There is a lot of nitrogen in regular air, but i believe there is less moisture in Nitrogen. If in an emergency situation you could fill your problem tire(s) with regular air, and then later get the tire(s) drained and refilled with nitrogen depending on the cost. Nascar, airlines and the military use Nitrogen in their vehicles because it is more stable to climatic changes than regular air. All I know since I have had my tires filled with Nitrogen I have not seen my TPMS light in about a year and I check my tires on a regular basis. Use the link below for more info.

http://www.nitrofill.com/

 

They won't budge on the warranty. Thanks for your help. I might get in touch with Chrysler to complain about the other dealer charging wanting to charge me $265 total to replace a tire sensor.

 

Especially after they charged you $90 bucks and mis-diagnosed the problem in the first place!

On a molecular level...nitrogen is a larger molecule than air...therefore it's less likely to seep through the tire or rim imperfections. It also has a slight compressibility difference than air.

 

Sorry, but I have to call it:


I'd never go back to that dealer again based just on that statement. He doesn't want your business with that attitude!

 

So the nightmare continues...

I took it to the other dealer and paid $80 for the part and $45 for the labor, which over the phone they told me $35. They installed the new part into the tire and called me and said they were done. Well guess what? They didn't program the sensor to the car. That's extra... even though on the phone they told me that it was included. I'm so livid. They want me to take it back tomorrow and they will program it for an additional fee. I'm so livid at the TPMS system especially out of warranty. The cost to diagnosis the system outside of warranty is $90 even though it's obvious, hmm one of the sensors is bad. Then $80 for the part and then $45 for installing the sensor and then additional fee for reprogramming. All, I can say is "Argh!!!". I will be spending close to $300, if not $300 to get this problem fixed which could have been a payment towards a DRB-III scan tool off of ebay for $2,500.

And one would think, if you install a new sensor, of course you're gonna have to program it to the car!!! Otherwise, what's the freaking point???

I would have rather taken apart my dash and removed the bulb for this warning light rather than spend the freaking $300 to truly fix it. And the worst part is that this is not a major mechanical malfunction and it's costing this much to fix it. I would say it's easier than an oil change and if I had the right tools, I would have done it all myself. A DRB-III scan tool to interface with the TPMS is the hardest thing to get access to.

 

DON'T DO IT!! Go find yourself a good independent MB shop and have them do it instead. They're milking you because they think you have nowhere else to go!

 

So here's the conclusion of the story on this issue (I hope)...

The out-of-warranty experience for servicing the TPM system really left me in utter disgust. They ended up charging me another $45 for programming the TPM system even after I told them it should have been part of the installation of the sensor and how easy it was to do.

Here's the cost break down:
$99.74 [$90 for Supposed Diagnostics (I already knew that the TPM wasn't working), reset of the TPM system with the DRB-III, $9 shop usage fee plus $0.74 cent tax]
$80.38 [$74.25 for the part 5096808-AA TPM sensor, $6.13 tax]
$49.87 [$45 for the labor to install the sensor into the tire, $4.50 shop usage fee, $0.37 cent tax]
$45.00 [$45 to program the one TPM sensor to the TPM system]

TOTAL: $274.99
+ four days to resolve this problem

Just to resolve an issue with the TPM system and the dash light coming on. This is the most expensive car repair that I've ever had for such a small stupid problem. I could have bought a Nintento Wii or something for that much.

The moral of the story: If you are out of warranty and your TPMS light is on, I don't recommend getting it fixed by any Chrysler dealer. Pull the dash panel and remove the light bulb for the system. It's really not worth almost $300 to get one TPM sensor replaced. I really wish that the car didn't have the TPM system at all.

I have the old sensor and I'll be taking it apart to see what type of battery it is. The service advisor told me that the sensors batteries are only good between 2 and 3 years and that why that one failed and my other 3 are due to fail pretty soon. I'm not gonna go through the trouble if that's the case. I would have expected to replace one tire sensor to cost around $99 total, but I'm very bitter from my whole experience. Like I stated in my post above, if I had access to a DRB-III scan tool I would have done everything myself.

 

So it's been a day... no TPMS light. So I want to contact Chrysler about my service experience where/how do I go about doing that?

 

not to nit-pick or start a fight, but i just want to clarify your statement.

air is already 78% nitrogen; its also 21% oxygen, and 1% other (CO2, etc.). using pure nitrogen in your tires just takes out the other factors and make the pressure more 'stable' and 'predictable' - adding air later on if you're in a bind is perfectly fine.

and FWIW, nitrogen is a smaller atom than oxygen - and air is not a molecule.

 

I was trying to convey a simple point and keep it just that...simple...

If you really want to get **** I suppose you could point out the fact that oxygen has a higher atomic mass (15.9994 amu) than nitrogen (14.00674 amu). It also has a higher melting point (361.12 °F) than nitrogen (345.81998 °F), and boiling points are higher for oxygen as well (297.4 °F) to nitrogen's (320.44 °F).

But why stop there how about the crystalline structure of each, Hexagonal for nitrogen to Cubic for oxygen. Thus the larger "size", which helps keep the Tire inflated longer.

All this and I didn't even touch on the ways that nitrogen severely reduces the amount of oxidation to metal...ie. your wheels!

I suppose to go any further would be overkill...

 

My TPMS light came on this morning so I went out to check them and they all seem to have the right pressure. After driving for about 5 min. the TPMS light went off. ??

 

Maybe signal interference or a bad battery in the sensor.

 

Actually the light went off when I went around a corner. Hmmm??

 

mine was doing that but now is on all the time.