[jemez]

Winter tires installed on 2018 Volt last Friday, including TPMS sensors that the shop purchased from Chevy directly. The shop told me I'd see a flashing warning for a day or so, then it would clear, and that they'd "programmed" the sensors. Two days, still seeing the warning, and I'm suspicious that they didn't know what they were doing. Reading the threads here, it sounds like if they'd programmed them properly I'd never have seen the warning/error message.

Trying to figure out if I should call them Monday, or wait another couple days to see if it clears.

 

[jbakerjonathan]

Seems to me that by Monday you will have met their "couple of days" requirement. Call them and get them to correct the problem. A pain to have to go back to be sure, but, if done correctly (and I have watched it being done) you should be "good to go".

 

[jayoldschool]

Your shop lied to you. The new sensors (if they even installed them, bet they didn't) need to be paired with a tool after putting the car in learn mode.

 

[jemez]

I'm pretty sure they installed them, they showed them to me, I have a feeling they didn't know how to program them. I don't have a tool, but did check that I knew how to enter learning mode today, pretty simple. They wanted me to swing by to get lug nuts retightened, so will do it then. I'd like to watch it being done, then may just buy the tool to do it in the future. It looks like you can get one for $30 on Amazon.

They said that the system would be confused briefly, since I had the old tires in the car, if they'd done this right I'm assuming that wouldn't have been the case.

 

[Steverino]

I do mine every year. There are no "days of confusion". I think the shop meant to say that THEY were dazed and confused, lol.

Once paired using the relearn tool, the car's TPMS sees them just fine. Like minutes not hours or days. It takes a short trip of a few hundred feet or so for the TPMS to re-calibrate to the new tire's air pressure.

 

[MP81]

Exactly - as soon as you relearn them with the tool, it's instant.

 

[SteveSeattle]

Ask to see the tool they used. If necessary watch them do the relearn. Read the manual so you know what to expect. If they have the right tool it will take about a minute to do, the horn will sound every time the tool learns each TPMS sensor, and a minute or two for the pressures to show on the dash.

 

[jemez]

Ask to see the tool they used. If necessary watch them do the relearn. Read the manual so you know what to expect. If they have the right tool it will take about a minute to do, the horn will sound every time the tool learns each TPMS sensor, and a minute or two for the pressures to show on the dash.

Just spoke to them, they said they used a portable tool, and to come in tomorrow & they'll reprogram in the parking lot. This is good, I want to see it done.

 

[jasond]

I had this message on my 2017 when I purchased a new set of winter wheels/tires. Turns out they put the wrong type of sensors in. They put 315MHz instead of 433MHZ. Could be the same in your case even though they are from the dealer.

 

[telveer]

Get this TPMS relearn tool and train the TPMS yourself: https://www.amazon.com/VXSCAN-EL-50448-Pressure-Monitor-Vehicle/dp/B06XVR85N7/

User Manual has steps for relearn procedure (Page 283 - TPMS Sensor Matching Process): https://my.chevrolet.com/content/da...uals/2017/Chevrolet/Volt/2k17volt1stPrint.pdf

 

[SVoyager]

TPMS relearn tool is your friend. I might be extremly unlucky but, so far, I think 75% of the time since I got my gen1 2014 volt, the TPMS was not done. What happens is this:
-They swap the tires and check the driver display and still see pressures so they think that its fine (but they are still picking the signals from the old tires now in the back or there is a delay before it updates and they get confused by it).
-They rotate the tires and think its not required to relearn the sensor positions. (you don't get an error message but should you get a tire with lower pressure, the display will show the wrong tire)

At some point, I just gave up and bought the TPMS learning tool. I do tell them "hey don't forget the TPMS" when its time for tire rotation/swap but they are confused and don't do it. The best way to know if they did it or not is to hear the horn sound 4 times + 2 more once its done, while the car is in. No horn sound? They didn't do it.

Edit: That was on my Gen1, I don't know if its different for the Gen2

 

[hellsop]

TPMS relearn tool is your friend. I might be extremly unlucky but, so far, I think 75% of the time since I got my gen1 2014 volt, the TPMS was not done. What happens is this:
-They swap the tires and check the driver display and still see pressures so they think that its fine (but they are still picking the signals from the old tires now in the back or there is a delay before it updates and they get confused by it).
-They rotate the tires and think its not required to relearn the sensor positions. (you don't get an error message but should you get a tire with lower pressure, the display will show the wrong tire)

At some point, I just gave up and bought the TPMS learning tool. I do tell them "hey don't forget the TPMS" when its time for tire rotation/swap but they are confused and don't do it. The best way to know if they did it or not is to hear the horn sound 4 times + 2 more once its done, while the car is in. No horn sound? They didn't do it.

Edit: That was on my Gen1, I don't know if its different for the Gen2

Last one was just a rubber-swap and the dealership tech were smart. Figured out what corner they were gonna put the tires one, then just did them one at a time. Wheel off, dismount & remove snow, put on all-season, check balance, put wheel back. On to the next one. So the TPMS ended up on the right corners all by process.

 

[jemez]

The funny thing is they even TOLD me that it would be confused because of the tires in back for a while. I suspect one of two things: They didn't know the procedure, or they used the wrong sensors (although in the 2nd case it should have been obvious when they were programming). They did tell me that they supported the right frequency, and that they'd quit using aftermarket ones since they'd had lots of problems. I do know the package said Trax on it, they said this is the same as the current Volt - FWIW they showed me their receipt from the Chevy dealer so it seems most likely they botched the procedure.

 

[jayoldschool]

Just take it back and ask them to relearn it while you watch. Teach yourself how to put it in learn mode on the DIC before you go.

 

[Steverino]

The funny thing is they even TOLD me that it would be confused because of the tires in back for a while.

If they did not relearn the new wheels, putting the 4 old ones in the cargo area afterwards would just mean the car would continue reading those as if they were still mounted on the car. Once you took them out and stored them the car would lose it's connection and you'd get no psi reading.

Now, if they put the old wheels in the rear and then tried relearning the new tires, I don't know if that would create a problem (confusion) or not. I do know my relearn tool needs to be really, really close to the sensor (touching the tire by the rim above the sensor) to be picked up by the system and get the horn honk confirmation.

So it seems unlikely that the old tires in the cargo area would be a problem, but then I have never loaded my old wheels inside the car while relearning the new ones.

 

[jemez]

To update, went back to the shop today. They must have installed the wrong sensors. I had no problem putting the car in learning mode, but when he put the tool by the sensors, the tool sees the sensor, but the car never honked to acknowledge seeing the sensor. So, he's going back to the Chevy dealer (with VIN this time) to get the correct sensors.

 

[jbakerjonathan]

To update, went back to the shop today. They must have installed the wrong sensors. I had no problem putting the car in learning mode, but when he put the tool by the sensors, the tool sees the sensor, but the car never honked to acknowledge seeing the sensor. So, he's going back to the Chevy dealer (with VIN this time) to get the correct sensors.

Mystery solved. 8^)

 

[Steverino]

Since they did NOT hear the honk confirmation, how could they claim they had relearned the wheels? Sounds like they did not know how to relearn the new wheels.

 

[jayoldschool]

Probably a 433 vs 315 issue. People wonder why I do my own work...

 

[jemez]

Since they did NOT hear the honk confirmation, how could they claim they had relearned the wheels? Sounds like they did not know how to relearn the new wheels.

I stood with him this morning, his tool said the wheel was complete but no horn noise. I suspect they weren't listening for the horn. Maybe they do enough different vehicles that they just pay attention to the tool. Still seems weird, since he got the parts from a Chevy dealer (he showed me the receipt) and knew the model year. FWIW the receipt said Trax sensors, which he said were the same when I asked.