In this video we have a look at a 2011 GMC that was brought here from the dealer. The customer states the TPMS light has been on for two years and took it to the local dealer who threw $1500 in parts and time at it and it still does not work. The fix was so easy it doesn't make sense.
-Enjoy!
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South Main Auto Repair
47 S. Main St
PO Box 471
Avoca, NY 14809
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Due to factors beyond the control of South Main Auto Repair, it cannot guarantee against unauthorized modifications of this information, or improper use of this information. South Main Auto Repair assumes no liability for property damage or injury incurred as a result of any of the information contained in this video. South Main Auto Repair recommends safe practices when working with power tools, automotive lifts, lifting tools, jack stands, electrical equipment, blunt instruments, chemicals, lubricants, or any other tools or equipment seen or implied in this video. Due to factors beyond the control of South Main Auto Repair, no information contained in this video shall create any express or implied warranty or guarantee of any particular result. Any injury, damage or loss that may result from improper use of these tools, equipment, or the information contained.
-Enjoy!
If an SMA Video has helped you out please consider giving using "Patreon" to help support us. The videos take real time to create and pull us away from real work that pays our bills. CLICK HERE: https://www.patreon.com/southmainauto
CHECK OUT OUR "SMA SWAG" STORE! Go on Teespring and get your very own SMA merch!
https://teespring.com/stores/the-sma-store
If you don't like Patreon feel free to use the "PayPal Me" link: https://www.paypal.me/SouthMainAuto
The South Main Auto Amazon Store:
https://www.amazon.com/shop/southmainautorepairavoca
AES Wave Automotive Diagnostic Tools: https://www.aeswave.com/cart.php?m=affiliate_go&affiliateID=2525b91fc8e906e8215984074c9d9e8f&go=https://www.aeswave.com/Miscellaneous-p9347.html
Thank you for all the continuing support!
--Eric & Vanessa O.
Feel like sending some swag to SMA because you love the videos but don't know where to send it?
Just ship it here:
South Main Auto Repair
47 S. Main St
PO Box 471
Avoca, NY 14809
Disclaimer:
Due to factors beyond the control of South Main Auto Repair, it cannot guarantee against unauthorized modifications of this information, or improper use of this information. South Main Auto Repair assumes no liability for property damage or injury incurred as a result of any of the information contained in this video. South Main Auto Repair recommends safe practices when working with power tools, automotive lifts, lifting tools, jack stands, electrical equipment, blunt instruments, chemicals, lubricants, or any other tools or equipment seen or implied in this video. Due to factors beyond the control of South Main Auto Repair, no information contained in this video shall create any express or implied warranty or guarantee of any particular result. Any injury, damage or loss that may result from improper use of these tools, equipment, or the information contained.
It's a wonderful day to work on a Chevrolet Folks 2011 it's a GMC actually uh customer tells me the TPMS light or service tire pressure monitor system light has been on for a couple years now. Uh, he wanted to fix it so he took it to the dealer uh, dealer replaced from what he tells me all four of the TPMS sensors and then says we don't know what's wrong with it. we can't fix it so the dealer gave up on it. He want to know if I would take a look at it so I'm sure I give it a try.
you know, no guarantees. Obviously if they've already tried everything they could but I thought we'd take a look at it and see why on Earth you know the TPMS system doesn't seem to work now. I've never worked on one of these before I've done, you know, a Bazilian TPMS sensors and chivies. uh as they age out and the battery side and they go bad so that's usually a pretty uh you know pretty cut and dry system and they usually program quite easy.
so I don't really know what we're going to find. We're going to grab our all tool or allel TPMS tool. Uh, we use the It 600. We're going to go through and scan the sensors and see if the truck goes into programming mode and see why it doesn't like it and then hopefully we can figure out what's really going on here.
Try to zoom in on this baby so we can all see it. Uh, it's got a Bluetooth dongle. I've got it plugged in the Uh data link connector so we're going to go through here. Let it.
uh Auto ID it should. Auto ID for us should come up as an 11 GMC Sierra pick GMC All right, let's go through and skate. Didn't have any options. says 09 9 to 13.
Oops it's communicating now. it's going to check for codes. but yeah, 09 to 13 snap-in sensors here in 15 MHz So I'll let it sit here and just recode. even though we weren't going to do that at first.
Uh, we got four Dtc's I've never used this portion of the tool, so I'm not. We're going to be a little fumbly here usually I just use this for uh, reading and and writing sensors. So all right, what do we have? Left Front Low pressure performance signal invalid, right front, left rear, and right rear. So they have the same type of code uh for every single sensor so that's that's interesting.
So let's just back out of here. and then let's just go through and scan each sensor. We'll start right with the left front. All right.
pressure is low but we don't have a a low tire pressure light on. we just have the flashing light there with check TPMS system or what have you got 65 lbs there in that tire? Oh we got pressure is all over the place. Uh let's just go to Uh Relearn and we're going to do an OBD2 relearn. Let this process go through.
so that's what it says on the dash there service tire monitor system turn engion on engine off. Let this go through and new this thing all right. What set it was successful. So let's just see.
I'll take a peek in here. lights out. Let's go through and adjust the pressure so they're all correct. Tire pressures are all the same Now let all the air out of that back. there wasn't like 65 lbs. Uh spoke with the customer because I wanted to get the story and he told me uh that he took it to the Chevrolet dealer. He told me which one. uh he's from out of town so took it to the dealer.
it's neither here nor there and then they spent they said 8 hours on it and then just says we're done. We can't figure it out. they changed. Uh, he used his terminology the module that receives the signal from the TPMS sensor.
So I I could be wrong where I have to look I think it's the driver's door switch on these or driver's door module I could be wrong. We'll look into that. I Guess they put a module in it. Um, they tried programming it, couldn't get a to program.
they were on the phone with GM forever I guess Anyhow, they told them hey, we're $1,500 deep in this thing. If you just forget about it and walk away, we'll weigh the fee and we'll just charge you 150 bucks. You have a nice day So he opted for that because he didn't want to pay the the $1,500 and still have a broken truck. They told him they put the old module back in it and that was it.
And then he told me that he's got to slip above the visor here. Uh, let's see here. Uh, let me just read this here for you. uh Customer: States TPMS System is not Oper Operational Diagnose and advise Cause: Remote Control Door Lock Receiver in operative causing fobs and TPMS systems to be in operative at well Customer: States That's all they wrote and then um in their notes here it says Remote Control Door Lock Receiver and operative causing fobs and TPMS to be an operative as well.
Tested Fobs: They are functioning according to the tester Tested: TPMS According to the tester, all four are operational. Nothing can report to the vehicle due to the receiver being inoperative upon reinstallation of old remote. Condor Loock receiver functionality returned to key fobs I Didn't notice it's key fobs worked. It didn't work okay.
Oh, hang on the seat's moving. Hold on fellas. All right. Well let's just see what we did here.
All right, all the lights are out I Grabbed the altel because I want to look at some data and I didn't want to look at on that tiny screen. So let's open up the remote control door lock receiver I was right about being a door I didn't know if it was in a driver door module or driver door switch I'm going to get some data up on the screen and we're going to take it for a rip and see what happens. Uh, the reason I called the customer is because I wanted to see if this was an intermittent problem but he said no. The light's been on for 2 years.
It's never been like off and then back on. so we'll get some data on the screen here. Got our data, got the vehicle speed. all four tire pressures up there went through everything.
Everything else looks normal just like it says. everything's normal. So this is kind of bizarre I can't be. it can't be this easy. This is silly that they could work on it for 8 hours and just not have it function. Busy place. so TPM M light is off. We'll just go for a little ride here and see uh See if anything changes I don't know.
Kind of bizarre if you ask me. Not real sure what to make of this folks. We're driving along, everything's working. They've all switched to drive mode.
Pressures are populating. They're starting to, you know, come up as the tire pressure increases here from heat. I'll go through and you know, adjust them again. It's supposed to get cold here.
It's pretty warm out today. it's 50 but it's supposed to drop down in the 20s so we'll go. We'll adjust them for that. like I say it's pretty pretty bizarre.
lights out on the dash up to have you guys tell me what you think down in the comments section folded over here folks have a look so we can see like I say all pressures are working good. Like I said, they've all switched from learn to drive mode TPMS indicator is off yeah I don't know what to say. it is what it is seems kind of silly and like I said all of you guys tell me what you think down in the comment section. um checked it for codes.
There's no codes in it, everything seems to function and like I say talking to the customer he States it's not an intermittent problem, it just quit and that was it. And then you know like I say he was going to be500 deep. he just they called it. It just seems really bizarre that if it was at the dealer they couldn't fix this problem.
I mean this is this one's old enough that you don't even need a TPMS tool to uh, relearn the sensors you do with the key fob and letting air out of the tires. We've made videos on that before so I chose to use a tool because it's faster, but essentially it does the same thing. So I'm not real sure why I didn't look at the IDS that were written in it. We could probably go back and and maybe see that on the footage and compare them to the IDS we put in it.
Um, I don't know what their process is at the dealer so it just seems really weird what I'm going to do I've got some other work to do on this I'm going to go back, do that work, let it sit, take it for another drive, and if something acts up, I'll come get you. otherwise we'll just give it one of these. We don't know why. Uh, kind of feel bad for the dealer if it really was that simple and there was just a part of their process that wasn't working I don't know.
Anyways, work your way in that comment section. let me know what you think, questions, comments, the ins, the Facebook you know where to find us. Just remember viewers, if I can do it, you can do it. Thanks for watching.
Okay, so from my understanding, this was a programming issue? 'Signal invalid' codes make me think that the sensors were receiving faulty data and couldn't produce accurate outputs (please feel free to roast my amateurish understanding here 😅). Eric did a relearn for the sensors to resynchronize with the module(s) and then after that the sensor was able to receive valid information?
Another Cruncholet. The dealer sat on it for eight hours, didn't change anything, wrote a BS receipt and a made a quick $150.
Gotta love the stealership
I hate those automatic seats. I don't know how many times I get in a customer vehicle and it tries to smash me into the dash. Even worse when I don't know where the seat buttons are
My 2012 Sierra is starting to do this. Ever since I brought it to get new tires put on. And they refuse to even look at it again. Thanks kaltire not ever bringing it back to you again.
gm dealer could not fix it? sounds like they did not like the customer,just my .02
What area of the country are you in, looks a lot like north ga.
I appreciate you for showing us your skills and how you fix hard to find shorts and diagnose major issues 💯
This guy I've watched for years is always on point with trouble shooting yeah dealer lets pay south main auto to fix it for us and tell the customer yeah we fixed it 😂
They have to teach techs to use there scantools and they probably didn't know how to use the tpms scantool 😂
It may not have made cents, but it made dollars for somebody
Inexperienced technicians that work at this dealership Eric you wish they were all that easy great video Easy money
a fair dealership. is this a unicorn?
I’ve had the TPMS tool learn the sensors on the car next to me! I’ll bet forcing the learn through OBD2 was the real fix.
Looks like it was set up on you. They’re testing your integrity.
I think this guy got ripped off.
TPMS is in the running for most needlessly overdesigned system in all the automotive industry.
Drug dealer, casino card dealer, car dealer… I'm surprised that lawyers don't have some version of dealer in their name.
Guess the dealership tech needs to learn the re-learn process.
THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT "FIXING" THEM, THEY JUST WANT TO SELL THEM!!…………..
Sticky fingers, when you worked the fob buttons like crazy it made them contact fully. Kinda like giving it the Fonz.
😁lazy or incompetent
The truth most likely is that they as you just said they don't want to do their jobs
Trying to force people into buying a new car
Hope you have a great day brother
Keep up the great work
Just saying
Eric having dealt with main dealer at VW it appears to me that the vast majority of so called technicians at main dealers are incompetent. they will occasionally have a gem but probably abused them so they leave. Independents is the way to go.
Happy thanksgiving Eric to you and your family and staff
Sounds like that dealership didn't know what in the Chevy Thunder they were doing.🤣
Another repair where the original part ended up being ok. Also looks like the dealer didn't do a re-learn after the part swap.
Having worked in dealership service departments for half of my adult life Ive seem this situation repeated all too often. The service writer documents the complaint then the dispatcher,who believes it to be such an easy repair, gives the job to the most junior person in the shop thinking it will simply require tire sensor replacement. The tire changer replaces the sensors but can't figure the programming tool out. From that point on the story spirals out of control and the hours rack up and parts cannon is emptied.
At best the dispatcher pulls the job back and reassigns it to a qualified tech or at worst the hours are billed and the customer is stuck with the bill only to return for the comeback treatment days later. The dealership then either refunds the entire labor charge or finds a qualified tech to pull the bacon out of the fire.
Well done Eric. Rational thought wins out over pattern failure guesswork.
Customer States. The Chevy dealership is useless.
i worked at ford dealerships for 38 years,,the last place i worked there was one guy who was the brake king,,,i thought he must be smart ,,till one day he asked me how to use a scanner cause the antilock light was on and he had 5 more years of experience than me,,,there are too many guys out there that really dont know how things work!!!
That is the worst kind of problem to have. The intermittent ghost! You did all anyone could have. great job! Ed Hicks
Dude,if the problem doesn't show up on a laptop,these incompetent losers are lost. Mechanics are a dying breed.
If I had that truck and experienced what you did, I wouldn't be able to find a fault either. Then I'd give the vehicle back to the customer who'd have the dash light up within five miles from my shop. I hope you'll have better luck than that.
👍👍
With all of the chaos in the world, there is some sense of refuge when we find ourselves vicariously working with Eric in the shop. 🙂
Whenever my tires have been swapped to non sensor tires or to another set I'm surprised at how far I can drive before the dash light comes on.
Feel sorry for the dealer? Feel sorry for their customers.
I'm surprised there's no comments on the vintage Harley lovers decal in the window near the registration. Anyone?
Nice job Eric, that was a quick 1500. 🤣🤣
I have a '14 cruze eco. In 2015 when switching to snow rims and tires. The chevy dealer couldnt learn the tps sensors. They wanted to replace all sensors and modulators. The problem was the E-brake needed to be on to enter learn mode.😂
Precisely why at age 68 I still repair 98 o/o of my vehicle 🚗 in my fleet and many friends and relatives
Wow I thought my GM dealer sucked lol
Even tire companies whose bread and butter is selling tires have problems working with TPMS systems. I took an older car (2004 Chrysler) into my local tire company and had them replace all 4 tire TMPS sending units (with 4 new tires). It did not work after they installed them and I had to take it back in twice for them to get the system to read the sensors, and work properly. Has been fine since then – 2 years, but amazing that they could not get it right without call backs.
He’s obviously not telling the whole story and just bashing the dealer
Good videos, I had to subscribed to your channel. Greetings from Texas 🙏
Typical gm/chevy stealer ripoff scam
Maybe they were confused by the over inflated tire, and did the TPMS relearn but didn't check the tire pressure?
tpms sensors recognized they were at South Main and shenanigans would not be tolerated so they straightened up and flew right?
Its ashame that you got your fingers dirty putting air in and taking air out of the tires, but as you've said before. GM helps pay the college fund. Everyone should be happy with this one. Happy Thanksgiving
Mine did that with a shitty ground
The road tests are the best part of these videos as far as I'm concerned. Looks just like the scenery in my town, about 90 miles East of Avoca.
Eric. I’ve had a mother lover of a time with a 2011 Tahoe at the shop. TPMS, just would NOT behave. Wore out some patience’s around the shop. Prayer, patience, back to step A, and son of a bisquit, put her in learn mode,then one at a time, deflating until hornchirp, at all 4 corners, got the double chirp after L/Rear, turned key off, aired up to fac. spec. And !!!! Hallelujah! Son of a bisquit eater! She was back in action. Oh happy day. I will never forget that truck, and still don’t understand why. I wrote down the recipe and put it in the glove box.
if it was a tire issue, it probably was given to a low man on the totem pole or the "new guy" and once he asked a few other higher up mechanics who were doing engine and trans works, and they didn't have time, the new guy gave up…he said he asked the other guys and they couldn't help him so the service mgr figured it was unfixable……service mgr accounted for experienced guys looking at it plus the new guy and that's how he got the 8 hours….when actually it was probably closer to an hour or two……everyone thinks it's easy when Eric fixes it but experience will never be replaced
dealership needs to get a new tool!!
IDK Ponch. You da man and that GMC knows about you! 😂.
As Scotty would say. “ The more complex the plumbing. The easier it is to stop it up “
I work in a shop with techs and I can tell you sometimes they hire green techs and they end up costing the company big time dollars because they don't actually know how to work on anything.
My tire pressure monitor is in the glove box. Cost $5.99
another dealer repair, saved by Eric O
Auto dealers produce R&R guys and NOT ONE OF THEM HAVE ANY IDEA HOW TO DIAGNOSE anything
In the dealership world, you use the key fob and and a trigger tool to relearn the sensors. No one in the dealership world lets air out to learn them. You read the SSID/serial number of each sensor and just wrote it to the module via the OBD2 port, which I also have never seen anyone do in the dealership world. Been in GM dealerships since 2013.
My brother in law put 80psi in his right front using the gravel driveway visual psi gauge and it set off the pressure warning light also?? It also broke my 60psi gauge when I checked it..
"We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas."
In my experience with aircraft we would rerack (unplug and replug) a device before we did anything else it often fixed the problem.
Air pressure gauge: $5. Done.
Tip: Never take your vehicle to a dealer for repairs!
Doesn’t surprise me in the least about Chevrolet dealerships. Friend had bought new a 2004 trailblazer that wind caught the drivers door, blew it back hard and seemed misaligned. So took to the dealer and they fixed it (supposedly). Driving the car I noticed wind noise and a rattling above 35mph in the area of driver door.Took it back to the dealer with complaint issue, after 4 hrs they call say they have an estimate for repair in the tune of $3000 for air fuel drivability issues. ??? I go to the dealership, get the service writer and go to the driver wheel well point and pull on the cover tell him there are missing push clips that need to be replaced. The name of the dealership is Reliable Chevrolet in Albuquerque Westside. Same vehicle 1 yr on no crank, no start dealership picks it up said terminals were loose all good (supposedly). Friend calls she’s stuck again crying said she wants me to fix it not the dealership. I find a cracked battery case on positive side. I go to the dealership with the battery, they bitch, bitch but replace it. I go to the parts dept buy the Extended battery post, install and relieve pressure on harness which I think loosened the battery post. Headlights intermittent, they fix, not. I find aftermarket in a brand new? Vehicle. Wtf. Shady all around.
Maybe the 65 pounds of pressure screwed everything up.
All I want to know is when does the ice cream shop open back up!
My mechanic told me, "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder."
Dealer is confused between hours and minutes and spent 8 minutes (6 pulling the vehicle in and writing up the paperwork and 2 minutes scratching their heads). Told the customer that they were doing him a favor for only charging him $150 for doing nothing. Dealership is happy and customer so so since the car is in same shape (bad) but thinks he got a $1350 discount (good).
My question is why do people go to the dealers in the first place just need to find a good mechanic from the start.They are way over priced to begin with. Only go to them for warranty service.
dealer was jacking that guy and i would of told him so
GM Dealership – ‘nuff said
He said Dongle. Hehehe.
Parts replacer with little experience. Probably a young guy with ambition. But little experience.
👍👍
Sounds like they didnt check the basics first and went down a rabbit hole, or they just dont want to work on older vehicles hoping the customer will buy a new one. Or maybe they're too busy putting lifters and camshafts in the new ones to be bothered with the old ones! 😂
The Owner let a GARBAGE MOTORS STEALERSHIP work on the vehicle.
Could have been unverified test equipment at the dealer they assumed was working but wasn't actually working and didn't bother the check their gear…lol…
A lot of people will resent this comment. People are lazy. Expect a quick fix and rely on technology for a quick fix. Few people today actually take the time to trouble shoot a problem. Even though my dad has been gone for over 6 years. I still run into people who comment on how he could trouble shoot a simple issue after they spent hundreds of dollars at different shops. I don't consider these people cheap, they just adored my dad for being honest and not throwing the parts cannon at their car.
Sounds like a nube tech at the dealer shooting from the hip!
Kinda scary…
Chevys need to be re learned after new sensors. Same as fords. Most Toyota,Nissan,and some Hondas don’t need to be re learned because they reset themselves just like mopar does.
A well developed process will not fail. When it does it needs refining. As time goes on practice makes perfect…or really darn close to perfect.
what about the spare?????
Another case of going to the Stealership, where they plug in the Scamtool and replace everything.
Many dealers are using flat rate help which does not bring in the highest level of technition. I also agree that no tech. spent (8) working on this problem. It seems the quality of dealers is getting worse!!
You live in a beautiful area.. Pour Chevy. I have a Colorado 2019 2.8
Man I tell you what I wish this guy was the mechanic in my town there is nobody half this hood anywhere close to me
8 hours and $1500 because they didn't think of putting air in the tires. This is exactly what you get from most dealers, they can't even fix their own vehicles and they do this to unknowing customers day in and day out / SAD
What did you do that rhe gmc dealer didn't hit the key lock from inside the truck maybe or put a piece of tape over it
I WOULD NOT TAKE A TRUCK OR CAR TO ANY DEALER SHIP !!!!!!!!!
This reminded me a little of that 2019 GM pickup last year with electric assist steering that was acting wonky and throwing codes in the trailer brake module and a couple others. The dealership quoted the guy almost $4k for a new rack and pinion, but Eric tracked it down to a rusty crusty body ground strap. New ground strap fixed it all and for a lot less than 4 grand!
I'm guessing a bad contact or connection. They gave up on it in frustration and put the old door module back in the truck. Didn't bother to rescan it after realizing the key fobs were working. Possibly unplugging and reconnecting , bad ground or simply moving the wiring around alleviated the problem. Good fix and happy customer either way now.
Call it lumpy air and walk away .
I've worked on the same situation like this before. IDK what the difference is bc you'd think all scanners pretty much did the same thing. Manually put in the IDs with a snapon scanner (didn't fix it) then OBD relearned with the Bartech 500 ( didn't fix it ) lastly manually punched in the IDs again to the vehicle with my Autel Maxicheck MX series scanner and viola…. Just for fun obd relearned again with my Autel tpms tool and light is still out and no codes. I don't know what the difference is but I guess different brands talk differently to modules.
Explanation is sadly simple: teacher of kids in vo-tech aren’t being taught how to use common sense to diagnose and trouble shoot. The dealership isn’t a good destination for an out of warranty vehicle. They have access to good info on new cars but lack the skill to troubleshoot and problem solve. Just like college kids.