Vauxhall (Insignia) tyre pressure sensors?

[RonA]

Anybody had any experience with these?. My son in law had two tyres changed on his 2010 car & the tyre fitter was unable to get the tyre valve cores to seal while trying to re inflate the new tyres. The fitter had to resort to fitting standard tyre valves & removing the combined tyre valve/pressure sensor. The valve/ sensor although carrying a Vauxhall marking is actually made by Schrader.
A repair kit is available comprising new valve stem to wheel aperture seals & locking tube nut, additionally a new valve core is also supplied.
However, despite using the correct valve core removal tool have only succeeded in breaking off the top of the valve core & leaving the core body firmly stuck. So far I have tried hammering small file tang into core but it stubbornly refuses to budge. It should be noted the valve stem is alloy & I suspect some form of electrochemical corrosion has taken place.
The problem is replacement valve/pressure sensor modules are approx £75 a corner & if the two rear wheels have the same problem, a bill of £300+ looms ominously.
The only saving grace is that on a 2010 car, it wouldn't be an MOT failure only an advisory, not so with later cars
RonA

 

[Spark plug]

Apparently you can get someone with a fancy computer to tell the car it hasn't got pressure sending valves thus removing the warning

But then you will have to check the tyre pressures periodialy.

 

[thinfourth]

oh god how will he cope having to actually check the tyre pressures

 

[mike 109444]

oh god how will he cope having to actually check the tyre pressures

I have tyre pressure sensors on my Co car but I'm more concerned when checking each morning if there are 4 wheels still on the car !!!

 

[octo0072000]

here you are lot cheaper 60ish each

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VAUXHALL-INSIGNIA-2008-OE-TYRE-PRESSURE-SENSOR-TPMS-/110674537307?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&fits=Car+Make:Vauxhall&hash=item19c4b76b5b

loads more on the bay you might need a part no though for correct one
these are 30ish
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Insig..._3&fits=Car+Make:Vauxhall&hash=item43d866b310

 

[RonA]

here you are lot cheaper 60ish each

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VAUXHALL-INSIGNIA-2008-OE-TYRE-PRESSURE-SENSOR-TPMS-/110674537307?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&fits=Car+Make:Vauxhall&hash=item19c4b76b5b

loads more on the bay you might need a part no though for correct one
these are 30ish
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Insignia-Ready-to-Fit-TPMS-Tyre-Pressure-Sensor-TX-S058-Replaces-65889-67-/291393418000?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&fits=Car+Make:Vauxhall&hash=item43d866b310

Thanks for the info. Reduces the cost of replacing the sensors to a mere £250+ "ish", still a hefty price to pay for something a weekly check with a £10 accessory gauge could easily achieve.
The problem is that of 2015, a faulty sensor becomes an MOT failure on later cars, there's going to be a lot of unhappy motorists out there, all because a faulty valve core causing probably less than a pound can't be removed & replaced. Seems like the poor choice of using an alloy valve stem will hit a lot of people deep in the pocket. Plus off course, there is of course an additional expense of setting up the new sensor to "talk" to the car.
RonA

 

[Bill Edwards]

Maybe silly, but if it's possible to remove these stems (before they have chance to corrode) perhaps they could be protected with an anti-locking grease/paste to make them last when cars get older?

 

[RonA]

Maybe silly, but if it's possible to remove these stems (before they have chance to corrode) perhaps they could be protected with an anti-locking grease/paste to make them last when cars get older?

Couldn't agree more, If I ever get the old valve core out, that's exactly what I plan to do
RonA

 

[octo0072000]

most of the problem is no valve caps or kids nicking them, my C8 has them the valve just corrodes away
even the valve cap won't stop on so seems that the road salt kills them with the C8 you can get repair kits lots on ebay
but not for the vauxhall

 

[octo0072000]

Thanks for the info. Reduces the cost of replacing the sensors to a mere £250+ "ish", still a hefty price to pay for something a weekly check with a £10 accessory gauge could easily achieve.
The problem is that of 2015, a faulty sensor becomes an MOT failure on later cars, there's going to be a lot of unhappy motorists out there, all because a faulty valve core causing probably less than a pound can't be removed & replaced. Seems like the poor choice of using an alloy valve stem will hit a lot of people deep in the pocket. Plus off course, there is of course an additional expense of setting up the new sensor to "talk" to the car.
RonA

it's not the core that's the problem the valve itself corrodes so the core can't be removed road salt seems to be the cause

 

[RonA]

it's not the core that's the problem the valve itself corrodes so the core can't be removed road salt seems to be the cause

Yes I'd already come to that conclusion, see my first note.
Whether it's the core of the stem, the problem remains the same. Unless the core can removed owners of newer cars are in for an expense they weren't expecting when they change tyres & then have to fork out an additional £60-75 for a new pressure sensor per wheel or face an MOT failure.
RonA

 

[Spark plug]

Modern motors are becoming a joke, are these over complicated systems realy nesasary?

 

[AndyStobbs]

Have you tried heating them yet?
Got EU to thank for this. The indirect system using rotational speed of the wheel is better.

 

[MrFluffy]

Modern motors are becoming a joke, are these over complicated systems realy nesasary?

No, but it does make life more interesting for people like me who like to tinker
http://www.networkworld.com/article...-hacking-tire-pressure-monitors-remotely.html

 

[AndyStobbs]

No, but it does make life more interesting for people like me who like to tinker
http://www.networkworld.com/article...-hacking-tire-pressure-monitors-remotely.html

Slightly on the scare mongery side. The TPMS is not the same ECU as the engine, which is not the same ECU as the immobiliser, which is not always the same ECU as the keyfob or keyless entry system.
The hacker would have to access the TPMS ECU, send a CAN message to his next ECU, wake up the entire CAN network.
Wouldn't lose sleep over it.

 

[howardm]

You can circumnavigate this, just google TPMS pipe bomb.

 

[MrFluffy]

Slightly on the scare mongery side. The TPMS is not the same ECU as the engine, which is not the same ECU as the immobiliser, which is not always the same ECU as the keyfob or keyless entry system.
The hacker would have to access the TPMS ECU, send a CAN message to his next ECU, wake up the entire CAN network.
Wouldn't lose sleep over it.

Not loosing sleep, I drive a 1989 landrover 90, but I deal with the same sort of thing on networks so it interests me. And its a similar issue, someone comes along, and has a external vector into the edge device, then uses that point to compromise things further in that nobody bothers with because theyre protected by the perimeter security stuff. Given the woeful state of computer network security where it is big business now, especially the state for embedded devices , I have no faith that auto manufacturers are going to be any better or trying to implement defence in depth concepts as theyre going to be listening to the same salespeople punting their products.
My single real foray has been to reflash the medianav computer on my wifes renault with a alternative firmware (and that is still winCE, which should have died and been buried several years ago) and mess round with the bus on a ford to get rid of fault codes and reprogram a new key but its an area that interests me deeply.
Its a brave new connected world. Like I said, technically interesting possibilities