Tire pressure warning light is going off but the tires look fine
 

Today I noticed the warning light for tire pressure was on. I drove back home and immediately checked the pressure in all 4 tires, and they all read the same (edit** about 30). The tires are filled with nitrogen. I'm from Florida and it's about 50 degrees here. Could the temperature have anything to do with it? Has anyone had anything similiar happen? Or maybe its a malfunction. I tried to check for any punctures (nails, etc) but couldn't find anything.

EDIT**: The cars been acting kinda funny today:

1. Today while driving it, it seemed to drive slightly different. Nothing bad, but I've had it for a year and could tell that something was different. I'm assuming the cold weather, possibly. At times it would be sluggish when I accelerated quickly, the power was still there and it actually seemed a bit more powerful.

2. I put it in the manual mode, and while changing gears the indicator on the dash that displays the gears would be very slow in changing numbers, and it would flicker. The actual gear change wasn't slow.

3. I am getting the slip indicator light a lot whenever I stepped on the gas. VDC is on. The car is just acting weird today overall.

Typo? The tire pressures should be 35 all around. This would obviously explain the TPMS light coming on.

It's due to the lower outside temperature, every 10 degree drop in temp results in about 1 PSI drop in tire pressure.

Cold outside =Colder tires = less grip

Tires will lose pressure over time. I check mine about every month and add air when needed. How often do you add air/nitrogen to yours?

Oh and stiff sidewalls can make it hard/impossible to tell if a tire is low on pressure just by looking at it. Invest in a good tire gauge.

Gas station gauges can't be trusted! I got one of these for Christmas, excellent, I love it!
Amazon.com: Accutire MS-5510B Racing Tire Gauge: Automotive

Will it go back up as the temperature goes up?

It should, but I wouldn't wait for it, just adjust it now and re-adjust when the temperature goes up again (if needed)

Is it okay to put regular air in tires filled with nitrogen?

I know the regular air is composed of 78% nitrogen. But I'm not sure the effect it will had. I really wish my tires didn't have nitrogen, but it came with the car..

Yes, although it's better to keep using pure nitrogen if you can (it's less susceptible to pressure changes caused by temperature changes, and your tires will remain at the recommended tire pressure longer than they would with "normal" air).

Just start filling with air and scratch the nitrogen. Such a gimmick. I'm sure someone will argue that though. I have yet to find someone who can convince me that 78 vs 100% nitrogen in my fill makes any difference. I'd be more annoyed at worrying about adjusting tire pressures if I have a nitrogen fill since I'd have to find a place to fill them. Not to mention that nitrogen is super cheap but car places charge you $80 for the fills.

I made a mistake :eekdance:...the instrument was reading 30 for all tire pressure on the 4 tires. Should the warning light even be on?

I agree with the nitrogen gimmick, I'd rather not have it, it's really a pain. But that's good to know about mixing regular air with it, I didn't want to cause an explosion that stops time and create a black hole or something

30 after you were driving, or dead cold?

I think they trigger at 27lbs or so.. and won't go off until it gets to some higher number (so it's not going on and off). So if it's cold out, and after you warmed them it was 30, I'm sure you were below the threashold..

Try adding 5 lbs to each with a real gauge of some type and get them even, see if the light goes off.

:iagree:

However you should go to the dealer and get it service. You already paid for it! ;)

nice, especially with the locking valve option. is yours like that or do you have to hold in on? i never get a good seal like that.

I had the same problem last week. Normaly the car lives in the garage, but we were on a road trip to Monterey Ca. It was a cold night. The warning light went out after about 20 minutes of driving.

tires heated up while driving, expanded the air. highway driving does it pretty quickly.

happened to me the first cold snap we had here. been a little better about checking them since.

No problems yet with my 370Z but I have noticed they lose about 1 lb a week on all 4 tires and I've long been aware of larger fluctuations due to the ambient air temperature. I just put a few pumps into each tire with a bicycle pump about once a week rather than trying to find a gas station air pump that works. My G35 Coupe was the first car I owned with TPS monitors and one cold (for SouCal) winter morning the warning went off. I pulled into the closest gas station and checked the tires with my own dial gauge and all 4 were down to about 27 lbs. The standard PSI was supposed to be 35 and I think the TPS sensors are supposed to go off when the pressure drops lower than about 8 PSI below their threshold so the system worked perfectly. I pumped them all back up, drove a few miles and the light went off and never had it happen again.

Geezuz...you don't exactly know how much the pressure read. You thought it read 30 but maybe it was 35.....you ask if its temperature related and might it go back up when the temperatures rise again.....you admit to not checking the tire pressure regularly.....you are not sure what to do.......

Let me ask you a question....why in hell did you buy a $40,000 car if don't even have a clue about something that is just down right common sense and don't seem the least bit motivated to do something above and beyond the making of excuses or waiting for the ambient temperatures to go up???!!!!

SIR,,,,,do that beautiful car a favor and take it back to the dealer and have them buy it back so they can find someone who really can appreciate what it is they will be buying....

:gtfo2:

The locking hook holds on by it self, I have no trouble with it sealing. How ever valve stems may vary!
What I really like is the bleeder(picture circled). If I over inflate, all you do is press the bleeder button a few times, until you get down to the correct pressure. It sure beats using your finger nail, only to find out you've let out too much air, and having to pump air back in, and re-take a reading!
Plus it read out in increments of .1, .4, etc.!

:bowrofl:

Ok, all of the tires are showing a little above 30 and the light still remains on. It just lights up as soon as I start the engine and remains lit.

I drove it around for 20 minutes today and it hasn't shut off. I'm guessing it's a broken sensor now...

shouldn't be "a little above 30"

they should 35. period. get the tires warm before checking them.

Mine trip in my 350Z at 29 lbs. so 30 doesn't seem an unreasonable point to trip at.

Yes, they trip right at 29 in my experience (despite the manual saying 27). Try to keep them between 32 and 35 cold.

And yes, Nitrogen changes volumetric pressure with temperature at the same rate as regular air, you have to adjust your tire pressures just as often as the rest of us. The main reason to use nitrogen IMO is to avoid the water vapor, which causes problem when the tire temperatures start reaching 140 degrees or more, i.e. when racing. On the street - it doesn't do diddly squat.

I had the exact problem yesterday, and of course it was also the day I got my first oil change and service. This is Northern california and the weather was only about 45 at worse. I have been driving for about 80 miles intermittently. Stopped and checked the pressure right away when the light came one. I read the manual and it said that electronic interference can affect the sensor, and I was charging my GPS. After I unplugged it it as ok! I think it was because it was full charged but left plugged. I'll drive more in a couple of days but after I unplugged it I drove about 50 miles stop and go and also steady without the light coming on.

No arguement here. The free nitrogen - 78% out of the hose - has worked for me for 40 years.

In my 350Z it won't go back off until about 32 lbs. The nice thing about the 350Z's is that you get an actual readout you can use while filling the tire if you don't have a guage. There is about a minute delay between adding air and it showing up on the readout.

Same thing happened to me today.

I read this thread and my owner's manual before heading to the gas station to fix the problem.

Tires were all at about 27, so I bumped all four up to 35 and drove for about 1 minute at 35 or 40 mph before the warning light disengaged.

I've already ordered one of the tire pressure gauges that "dad" recommended.

Thanks, all!

I've had that pressure gauge that dad mentions for a little over a year. Excellent gauge, extremely accurate. The bleed valve is nice as it lets you over-inflate your tires slightly with the compressor and then use the pressure gauge to obtain a precise pressure.

Is it that hard to put the correct amount of air in the effin tire. The light is going to trip at 30, our G37 had 31 lbs and the light tripped so I put air in it. How lazy can you seriously be.

Nitrogen, due to it's properties, does last longer. Does not leak as much air along with a whole lot of other benefits.

Nitrogen in Tires : Information about Nitrogen Tire Inflation News, Benefits, Generator Dealers, Location Finder & More


OP. Get your tires pumped up to 35 pounds cold, not warmed up. The pressures in my old 350 would fluctuate as much as 10 pounds due to temperatures. If I had the tires set to 35 when the temps were in the mid-60s, they would drop below 30 pounds when the temperatures dropped well below freezing. If the temps went into the 90s, they might go over 40 pounds when they got hot. It's the nature of air. It compresses when it gets cold (see turbocharging) and expands when it gets hot.
Nitrogen is not nearly as susceptible to these issues because of its molecular structure.
As far as slipping when it gets cold, performance tires get very hard when the temperatures drop and reduces traction. If you have Sports Package, those tires get ridiculously hard when it gets cold.

You're telling me, Those RE05's are not good in NY with the latest weather. This forum has also seen a few people wreck due to cold temperatures and aggressive driving with the tires giving out

i thought Tony had RE11s? Maybe I'm crazy.

I usually care around one of those $3 pressure gauges usually check it out before I leave the garage