New owner TPMS problem

[jevansio]

Hi guys, just got myself a 2015 4h which I love already, I have a wierd one tho...

The car had a slow puncture, and 5 days after i got it the warning light came on the dash, i pumped up the offending tyre and the light went out, I noticed a screw in it.

So I got a friend who has a tyre machine to remove the tyre and use a patch, when he took the tyre off he said the plastic case of the TPMS sensor was rattling round in the tyre.

So he patched the slow puncture and put everything back together.

Initally the TPMS light stayed out but after driving a short distance it came on.... and I now cant put it out... even tho the tyres are all at 38 PSI
I tried going to the settings menu and choosing the reset tyre ! option, but the light continued to flash on the dash, then 4 mile later it came up with the bigger "take to mitsubishi for service" warning

So......

1. How on earth did my TPMS pickup the fact the pressure was low if the sensor was smashed (unless my friend broke it when removing the tyre? - are they particularly fragile or in the way?)
2. Does my car even use the pressure sensors or does it use the rotational speeds? Or both? and someone has just put a wheel on with a sensor in it?

Appreciate any feedback on 1) or 2) above

Many thanks

Jay

PS Just spoke to the place I got my car and he said it does use pressure based system and the fact it did detect the slow puncture means it was working and most likely scenario is it was broken off when tyre was removed (kinda explains everything) and no re-coding is necessary and simply fitting a new one should bring the system back to life?

 

[NightPHEVer]

Does sound as though the sensor casing was broken when the tyre was removed otherwise - as you say - it wouldn't have been able to detect and flag-up the pressure drop. So yes, you'll need a new replacement sensor and it will have to be fitted to the wheel (which means taking the tyre off again) and as far as I'm aware it will also have to be coded into the car's system, this is done at a Mitsubishi dealer. Otherwise the system won't be able to detect it and therefore probably gives the error message as it can only detect three sensors where there should be four.

Here is a picture of a Mitsubishi TPMS valve fitted to an OEM PHEV 18" Mitsubishi Enkei alloy rim.

 

[jevansio]

Many thanks for the reply - and the pic, it helps a lot showing how to avoid this in the future

I've ordered a new sensor, very reasonably priced from Mitsubishi too and £32

I'll ask them about re-coding while Im there