My TPMS has PTSD

wdfifteen · wdfifteen's Garage

One of the tire sensors went bad on my Volt a few months ago. The car needs tires, and I’ve been waiting to have the sensor changed while the tires are being changed. The car is 9 years old and has 70k miles on it. What is the expected life of a tire sensor? Should I have all four of them replaced when I have the tires changed?

masraum · 06-27-2026, 01:11 PM

I'd get them all replaced. It would suck to get new tires and have one or more go out in a month or 3 or 6.

What I hear most often is 8-10 years. All 4 have died in my wife's 2018 Subaru Outback (8 years and 125k miles) I am getting the sensors in my boxster replaced. One of the four has stopped reporting, and they all show no battery in the diagnostics. I bought the car in 2014 and it was a 2008 w/20k miles. The car was CPO, so I don't know if they replaced them right before I bought the car, or if they "let it ride". So mine are either 18 or 12 years old with either 90k+ miles or 111k miles.

stevej37 · 06-27-2026, 01:14 PM

Nine years is about all you can expect from the little battery in those things.
I'd have them all changed.

GH85Carrera · GH85Carrera's Garage

Yea, 9 to 10 years is about the limit from what I read. My wife's Macan was 7 years old when the OEM tires were rock hard, and noisy as heck. We sprung for new tires and go ahead and replace all four sensors. The Porsche did not like those likely cheap Chinesium sensors at all. The tires shop replaced all four with better sensors and all is fine after several years.

A930Rocket · 06-27-2026, 02:03 PM

Replace all four and get factory or OEM sensors.

wdfifteen · wdfifteen's Garage

I checked the price of the sensors. $25 give or take. When I had the sensor replaced on my Tundra it was $60! If I had checked the price sooner I wouldn't have asked, I'd just do it.

HobieMarty · Yesterday, 10:17 AM

Yeah, I would change all 4 at the same time and be done with it since you are already replacing the tires.

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onewhippedpuppy · Today, 02:29 AM

I have a feeling doing them at the same time as tires will save you in labor, most require dismounting the tire to install. Considering the price it’s probably a no-brainer to just knock them all four out.

porsche tech · Today, 04:26 AM

Some vehicles (Cayenne back in my day) had the ability to check battery life of the sensors with the PST2 computer. Maybe your car does too?

911 Rod · 911 Rod's Garage

I'd stick with OEM even if they are $60 like the Toyota ones.

crustychief · crustychief's Garage

My front left battery died, I still have about 50K miles left on my tires, just going to live with the light on the dash for a while.

masraum · Today, 06:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by porsche tech

Some vehicles (Cayenne back in my day) had the ability to check battery life of the sensors with the PST2 computer. Maybe your car does too?

I can check battery level on my '08 boxster using durametric.

masraum · Today, 06:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crustychief

My front left battery died, I still have about 50K miles left on my tires, just going to live with the light on the dash for a while.

My wife's front right went out 8-9 months ago shortly after we got new tires. We've been waiting until we get new tires to replace them then. (will happen this summer)

My Boxster had the right front go out about 6 months ago. I'm getting ready to replace the tires and the sensors.

Superman · Today, 10:33 AM

I've always wondered why those things do not charge their own batteries. The wheel rotates. I would think that rotation could generate a tiny bit of electrical current that could keep the battery charged up. Then again, I also don't know why it took us so long to put wheels on luggage. We think we are more clever than we really are.

masraum · Today, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Superman

I've always wondered why those things do not charge their own batteries. The wheel rotates. I would think that rotation could generate a tiny bit of electrical current that could keep the battery charged up. Then again, I also don't know why it took us so long to put wheels on luggage. We think we are more clever than we really are.

I think the sensors in my boxster are original, so 18 years and 112k miles. That's not too shabby.

My parents bought luggage so we could move from Florida to Japan in 1977, and it had wheels.

stevej37 · 12:31 PM

I bought a set of sensors for my Prelude a couple years back....never installed it.
The Prelude is a 98 and didn't come with tpms.

The new ones worked by removing the tire valve (just the valve, not the stem) and using their sensors as valves/caps. It came with a dash mounted display (size of a radar detector) that had a readout of each tires pressure at any time.

I just never got around to setting it up.

masraum · Today, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevej37

I bought a set of sensors for my Prelude a couple years back....never installed it.
The Prelude is a 98 and didn't come with tpms.

The new ones worked by removing the tire valve and using their sensors as valves/caps. It came with a dash mounted display (size of a radar detector) that had a readout of each tires pressure at any time.

I just never got around to setting it up.

I remember you posting about that. Sounds like you've got an afternoon project! Do it! You know you want to. (clearly not)

stevej37 · Today, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by masraum

I remember you posting about that. Sounds like you've got an afternoon project! Do it! You know you want to. (clearly not)

Two reasons why I didn't....the dash display looked cheap
the other reason...the new valves and caps were larger than stock and looked weird.

But I do like the idea....simple for anyone to set up without having to break the tire off the wheel....and a constant display of all tire pressures. (My new Civic has constant pressure display)

I still have it if interested.

.

masraum · Today, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevej37

Two reasons why I didn't....the dash display looked cheap
the other reason...the new valves and caps were larger than stock and looked weird.

But I do like the idea....simple for anyone to set up without having to break the tire off the wheel....and a constant display of all tire pressures. (My new Civic has constant pressure display)

I still have it if interested.

.

Ugh, yeah, cheap display = no bueno. Large funky cap/sensors = no bueno. Especially if you ever run the speed up and there's extra weight hanging at the end of the valves causing them to bend over. Hell, the 911 valve stems had little metal supports on them to keep them from bending over.

Thanks, both of our cars have integrated display of all 4 pressures. I was shocked the first time that I heard that some cars don't display each tire individually. If there's a problem you just get "you've got a problem somewhere".

stevej37 · Today, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by masraum

Ugh, yeah, cheap display = no bueno. Large funky cap/sensors = no bueno. Especially if you ever run the speed up and there's extra weight hanging at the end of the valves causing them to bend over. Hell, the 911 valve stems had little metal supports on them to keep them from bending over.

Thanks, both of our cars have integrated display of all 4 pressures. I was shocked the first time that I heard that some cars don't display each tire individually. If there's a problem you just get "you've got a problem somewhere".

My Honda Fit was that way...didn't display individually. When I brought it in for the 'bad tpms', the guy grabbed a tool that looked like a timing light and walked around the car.
The tool told him which one was the culprit. I'm sure anyone could buy that thing...it might be costly.

.