Ошибка бмв flat tire

My first experience with the BMW i3’s TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) came on Day two of our long term test. And out of all places in Kansas City, it happened at a Chick-fil-A drive-thru.

We had taken a ramp of the highway and it felt like we ran over a huge rock even though there wasn’t anything visible on the road. While sitting in the drive-thru line at Chick-fil-A, I wondered what the hell we’d hit. Even though there were no warnings on the dash, I pulled up the iDrive to check on the tires. Sure enough, our passenger rear tire is down 15 psi. Three minutes later, I was down another 5 psi and now the low tire pressure alarm goes off.

Less than 150 miles and I am getting the dreaded flat tire.

Ironically, I am fascinated at the evolving disaster on my i3 and being a journalist at heart, whipped out my iPhone and started snapping pics. Many owners have posted problems about getting flats on the i3 Facebook Group and it’s just day two and here we go!

Interestingly, BMW chose not to install run-flats on the i3 and doesn’t include a spare or even “fix a flat” onboard i3s. Edit: There is sealant and a compressor included in the frunk of which I will probably never use so I don’t wreck the TPMS in the tire.

However, BMW’s newest TPMS i3 tells me exactly how much pressure I’ve lost and exactly which wheel it is, in a wonderful live read out graphical interface. This is huge leap forward from 2007 BMW’s systems and gives me confidence on how to deal with this flat.

It’s now 7:30 in the evening on a Saturday, so my dealer is closed. I’ve had the i3 less than 48 hrs and I do not want to flat bed it to the dealer. My mind races as I am grabbing the food from the drive thru window.  There’s a gas station about a quarter mile away where I can put more air in the tire. I feel confident, I can at least try to make it there without destroying a wheel with live read out of the tire pressures. The tire’s going down so fast, I am sure it’s toast, so I don’t worry about damaging it further.

Worse case scenario, I stop and call BMW.

We reach the gas station and fill the tire up to mid 40s PSI per the iDrive dash. This is sooo cool. I don’t have a tire pressure gauge but we are able to use the readout on the i3 to guide how much air to put in the tire and I over shoot a few PSI. The live read of the Tire Pressure works really quickly on the i3. When you start a trip, the tire pressure monitor does take about a quarter to half a mile of driving to give you the initial pressures. As we’ve not stopped during this fateful  trip, it’s still giving us a live read on the PSI.

Carefully watching the dash, we are able to make the short distance to the house and arrive with just over 20 psi.  I put the rear of the car i3 up on a jack stand and take off the wheel.

No surprise, the tire is toast and I find a huge bolt sticking out of the rear tire.  It’s so big I can’t even pull it out of the tread. Damn. Day two and I trashed a tire.  I can just see the guy at the finance department who tried to sell me the wheel and tire insurance laughing now. For the first time, I notice these tires are staggered.  The front’s are 155/70/19 and the rear 175/60/19’s.  Only the base i3 has a square set up of non-staggered tires.

Monday comes and I go to the dealer with the wheel and drop it off.  Unfortunately, they don’t stock the tire. At just $148, at least the Bridgestone Ecopia EP600 All-Season tire isn’t expensive. Once the dealer got one, I was back on my way for $211.78 with mount balance and tax.

TPMS – A History

TPMS – These four letters are a big mystery to most drivers. TPMS stands for Tire Pressure Monitoring System. Automobiles manufactured for the U.S. market, starting September 2007, have been mandated to have them, though some BMWs made them available earlier. TPMS is designed to warn the driver if tire pressure falls below a certain programed pressure appropriate for the car, typically 25% of recommended PSI. BMW uses a sensor inside the wheel that acts as a high frequency battery operated transmitter to a receiver inside the vehicle which then displays the info on the iDrive and dash. 433 MHz is a common frequency used by BMW.

Older TPMS systems used the ABS to monitor changes in tire pressures by sensing changes in rotation of the tire. Communicating this loss of tire pressure has gone from a simple warning light on the dash, to a more graphical system on the iDrive. Currently BMW has several different types of TPMS depending on your build date. Newer BMWs such as the i3, have the ability to show you the actual tire pressure PSI in the iDrive. The Tire Pressure Monitor Sensor for BMW is an integrated unit built into the base of the valve stem and unfortunately does not have a serviceable battery. This means when the sensor battery dies, you have to replace the whole sealed unit.

Our 2007 BMW X3 3.0 si still has its original sensors which are faithfully transmitting, though I expect them to check out anytime soon now. I think a 4-5 year timeframe seems to be a reasonable life expectancy of the sealed units.

How to install TPMS

BMWBLOG installed a set of TPMS on our HRE FlowForm Wheels and documented the straightforward process. I purchased the set from Tirerack and asked them for directions, only to get a huge pause on the phone because they said “TPMS sensors are so simple that they don’t even come with directions.”  I was compelled to install the TPMS sensors on our HRE Wheels because NTB wanted to charge me a fee for each wheel to install the sensors.

Each TPMS wheel set comes with a sensor which was in my case was orange, a valve stem with gasket, a locking nut and a small retaining screw with a square head and finally a valve cap. To install, line up the base of the valve stem with the orange sensor and hand tighten retaining screw. Now slip the valve stem through the valve stem hole in the wheel. Next take the large nut and slip it over the top of the valve stem from outside the wheel and cinch it down with a 11 mm deep well socket.  The square head of the small screw locks into place of the orange sensor and obviates the need for a tiny allen wrench. Finally install the valve cap. Done. Piece of cake.

If you try to order a stand alone set of TPMS sensors off the website from Tirerack, you cannot find them. They want you to call. The reason being that even with in the same year of model of BMW you can find different sensors.BMW uses Huf Hülsbeck und Fürst from Germany. The TPMS set that Tirerack sent me were made by Huf. They were easy to install and once reset/initialized via iDrive, have worked flawlessly on my E92 M3.

OEM TPMS sensors run $85 each but can be found for just under $70/wheel if you search the web a bit.

Ultimately, TPMS has evolved from being a federally mandated idiot light on a dash to a very useful set of information of live read out on your iDrive. Porsche has had live Tire Pressure read out dating back to 2009, and I am glad to see BMW has evolved their TPMS to such a useful monitor and integrated safety system.

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What is Tire pressure Monitor System (RDC)?

Tire pressure monitoring system known as RDC is based upon pressure sensors in each wheel and responsible for controlling whole tyre pressystem in car.

Tire pressure monitoring system (RDC) is basically an electronic system installed in BMW to monitor tire air pressure and alert the driver when it falls dangerously low than standard. There are both direct and indirect TPM systems which triggers either your dashboard indicator light or a warning message displays when air pressure drops below the manufacturer’s recommended level. Since 2002; BMW has started offering most of its vehicles with pre-installed tire pressure monitoring systems (RDC) to ensure that in case of a run-flat tire, driver is quickly informed via this electronic system. It is easy to get installed TPM system in any good mechanical workshop; if not provided at factory level for your model.

What does Tyre pressure Monitor System (RDC) failure mean in BMW

An ideal Tire Pressure Monitoring RDC system in BMW will detect and send an alert to the driver when there is 20% air pressure loss in one or more tires. After receiving an alert; the first thing to do is to check tire pressure with a pressure gauge. When the tire is at the appropriate pressure, the indicator light should go off.  But if tire pressure in all tires is correct and you still getting warning messages or light indicators then there might be some defects causing malfunctioning in TPM system. It’s worthwhile to check if the problem is with TPM system itself or the main control unit has failed.

Reasons of BMW Tyre pressure Monitor System (RDC) failure

You might receive Tire pressure Monitor System (RDC) failure message due to some obvious reasons such as: defective TPMS RDC sensors, Faulty RDC module or any other external interference. Like many other parts in your BMW, sensors also have a life and might need checking and replacing from time to time. Sometimes, there is a problem with sensors lithium-ion battery which drains out with the time. In most cases, OEM batteries have a life of up to 10 years so it’s good to check sensors for their battery when you continuously getting inoperative message and not finding clue to fix this error.

In some other cases, there might be a problem in the communication between signals transmitted by sensors to the central control unit. RDC receive signals through an integrated antenna which may fail and create communication break or transmitters can also go faulty.

Another common problem with BMW tyre pressure system is when the RDC module is installed under the spare tire in the trunk floor. Water can build up under the spare tire which in turn damages the module or causes corrosion to the sensitive electronic components. To be more responsive to the warning alerts it is a good idea to check TPMS fuse once. In most models, this fuse is located in the junction box behind the glove compartment and it can burn in case the control unit shorts out.

One possibility could be mechanical damage which usually happens during tire replacement. Mechanics might forget to transfer sensors to the new rims causing the car not recognizing TPMs sensors. However, many shops have wireless readers or detectors that can verify if the sensors are properly installed and emitting signal.

Diagnose BMW Tire pressure monitoring system (RDC) failure

It might be difficult sometimes for you to analyze the actual problem which caused tire pressure monitoring system (RDC) issues to malfunction but its diagnosis is not a big problem at all. With the help of an OBD-II scanner, BMW specific fault codes can be clearly read to diagnose BMW tire system malfunction. Many top notch scanners are available that can read messages appearing on dashboard and decode the numbers and alphabets to help in diagnosis of malfunctioning.

Common Display Error Messages

Depending on the generation and model of BMW, several different error messages appear on dashboard to keep you alert on Tire Pressure Monitoring System RDC failure. Some of the possible error messages are:

• Tire Pressure Monitor (TPM) for the detection of flat tires is currently unavailable. Please contact the nearest BMW
• TPM Status: TPM Malfunction
• System unable to detect tire pressure loss
• Check tire pressure manually
• Continued driving is not possible
• Consult service center
• TPM Inactive warning light on the dashboard.
• Low tire pressure. Stop carefully.
• Tyre Pressure Monitor (RDC) failure
• Tire Pressure Monitor (RDC) failure
• Unable to detect any loss of tyre pressure. Check tyre pressures manually
• If problem recurs, have it checked by your service partner

Fix Sensors Manually!

Every machine can be fixed, so can be your BMW.

One easy way to fix the problem is to check tire pressure in all four tires and their sensors manually and consider them replacing one by one until the warning light goes off or message stops displaying.

How to reset BMW Tire Pressure Monitoring System (RDC)?

Resetting Tire pressure monitoring RDC is the next step after you have fitted the sensors properly, inflated all the tires with recommended PSI. All the information about recommended tire pressure is provided on the driver’s door frame or under the fuel cap so just open it up and find it there. Typically, BMW tire pressure is 32-36 PSI. Once you get all the information. Resetting RDC system in BMW is quite easy with an in-car communication system called iDrive.

1. Inflate the tires to the recommended tire pressure.
2. Press iDrive knob to select vehicle settings.
3. Scroll down to Vehicle Tires using the iDrive knob.
4. Rotate the iDrive knob to select the TPM menu.
5. Select Reset then press iDrive knob.
6. Select YES. Status should change to Resetting TPM.
7. After a short drive Status should change to TPM Active.

After resetting, you are again in a safe position and have a system which can measure pressure accurately allowing reasonable braking distances and performance stability.

A list of bmw fitted with tyre pressure rdc system:

• 1 series E82 E88 F20 F21
• 3 series e90 e91 e92 e93 f30 f31 f34 gt
• 5 series e60 e61 f10 f11 m5 g30 g31
• 6 series E63 E64 640d
• X series E70 X5 G05 E83 X3  G01