Timbogates

I just checked my tire pressure cold on my new 2014 Civic. It uses the nitrogen in the tires. We just had a change in temperature of about 15 degrees cooler in the past few days. The pressure sensor warning displayed. I checked the tires cold and they were all around 31 psi which on the door states PSI of 30. All that said and done -- Is it normal for these sensors to register a problem when the PSI in all 4 tires is good?? Now lets say the PSI changes about 1-2 PSI will it give this reading and is this normal for all correctly operating sensors?? All my cars before this did not have these sensors. Is this normal??

ezone

Doesn't matter, it's still subject to the laws of Physics. Nitrogen is really not recommended by Honda either, no matter what every dealer, shop, NASCAR commercial, parts and tire store tells you.
Meh, typical.
Where I live we can have 40 degree swings in a day.

So they are fine.
Maybe. There are situations where it can happen, your owners manual explains at least one or two of them.




------
The 14 does not use tire pressure sensors at all.
It uses ABS and VSA systems, sensors, and logic to make a judgement about pressures. It watches individual wheel speeds and car lean angles and stuff like that.

I'm not fond of the logic this system uses to judge tire pressures.....
I preferred the previous system with a sensor in each tire, it was easier to deal with as far as seasonal changes.

But it's here and it's what we were given to work with.
That much change, and MORE, is normal with variations in temperature.
No matter what magic fairy gas the tires are filled with.
(BTW, my tires are filled with 78% Nitrogen.)

We figure about 1 PSI change for every 10 degrees change in tire temperature.



==============

You really don't know what the tires were originally set at, do you?

Scenario: If the system "learned" with the tires set at (example) 38 PSI and now they are down to 31, that's a significant loss in the 'eyes' of the system. Light and warnings may come on.

Adjusted pressure in any tire and didn't perform the calibration procedure? Light and warnings come on.

Rotated tires and didn't perform the calibration procedure? Light and warnings come on. (I think within 20 miles or so.)

See your owners manual for more info.

====

You have the tire pressures set, right?
Do the system calibration as outlined in the owners manual, then see how it goes:

Sit in the drivers seat.
Close all doors.
Key ON.
Make sure the steering wheel dead straight and level.
Use the steering wheel buttons to select the IMID screen for TPMS calibration (or whatever it says on there).
Enter. Yes. Yes. Now it says something about calibration started....
Now sit there and do not move for one full minute. Listen to the radio or find a CD or something, just don't move the car for at least one minute.
Now drive it and see how it goes over the next few days.
And plan on airing tires up and doing all this again and again as the temperatures drop through fall and winter. IF you have winter there.


-----------------------

Also, the system might turn the light on again if it detected that whatever it saw to cause it to turn the warnings on was not corrected. In other words, if it saw a low tire and the driver just does the reset without airing up the low tire, the system is supposed to recognize that and display the warning again real soon.



Did I cover it good enough?