Opel Insignia 2015 - tyre pressure sensors?

ManUnited123

So got my tyres replaced from an Opel service center and they told me they replaced the tyre pressure sensors with a standard valve in 2 of my tyres as my tyre pressure sensors were damaged . They said they had to replace it with standard valves because the current ones were dangerous.

Not quite sure i understood what was the issue here but anyway they're asking me to cough up 300 euros to install 2 tyre pressure sensors which i think is really expensive. I have limited knowledge about these sensors so was hoping someone could give me some advice here where i can get them on the cheap here in dublin and get them fitted? Currently my car is not showing tyre pressure for 2 of the tyres and i have the notification coming up on the dashboard which is annoying.

Thanks in advance!!

Damien360

Opel service centre did that ? That’s ridiculous.

I had trouble with them on a 2011 Insignia. Always on one wheel. They had to be replaced twice that I remember. Warranty at the time.

Why would they leave the car back with faults showing ? Did they offer standard valves instead of pressure sensors ? Or just go ahead and change without telling you beforehand ?

Why did you get tyres done at Opel ?

ManUnited123

Damien360 wrote: »

Opel service centre did that ? That’s ridiculous.

I had trouble with them on a 2011 Insignia. Always on one wheel. They had to be replaced twice that I remember. Warranty at the time.

Why would they leave the car back with faults showing ? Did they offer standard valves instead of pressure sensors ? Or just go ahead and change without telling you beforehand ?

Why did you get tyres done at Opel ?

They have standard valves now in 2 of the tyres but i don't see any pressure on them in the dashboard because they took out the pressure sensors and returned to me and told me they were damaged and unsafe to use.

They didnt tell me before doing this, they went ahead and did it and gave me a call later on to say they've done this which was ridiculous. I got the tyres done at Opel because i had to get my brake pads replaced as well so thought i might as well get the tyres changed as they were almost worn out.

This was Sandyford Motor Center in case anyone's curious !

colm_mcm

It’s quite common for this type of sensor to fail. On some of them, when you unscrew the dust cap a chunk of the valve comes off too.

Note that after a certain reg date in 2015, non working TPMS is an NCT fail.

ManUnited123

colm_mcm wrote: »

It’s quite common for this type of sensor to fail. On some of them, when you unscrew the dust cap a chunk of the valve comes off too.

Note that after a certain reg date in 2015, non working TPMS is an NCT fail.

Thanks, Any idea where i can get these replaced in Dublin and how much should i be expected to cough up to get these replaced?

colm_mcm

I would say these are either main dealer or from a breakers yard.

You can get them on eBay but I’m not sure I’d have confidence in them unless they’re genuine parts.

This site suggests that the same TPMS sensor is used across a load of Opel/Vauxhall models.
https://www.ebay.ie/itm/273564863435?ul_ref=https%253A%252F%252Frover.ebay.com%252Frover%252F1%252F5282-53468-19255-0%252F1%253Fff3%253D2%2526pub%253D5575376664%2526toolid%253D10001%2526campid%253D5338268676%2526customid%253DCjwKCAiA_MPuBRB5EiwAHTTvMX_hVWP3LLUEI5RRoiCuGIeGbctmEpHvil5Cn6n0MWBGTBeAu1ATGhoCgI8QAvD_BwE%2526lgeo%253D1%2526item%253D273564863435%2526srcrot%253D5282-53468-19255-0%2526rvr_id%253D2184871488494%2526rvr_ts%253D79679f6a16e0ad327886e7c4ffb3e5c0&ul_noapp=true

ManUnited123

So talked with another OPEL dealer, they quoted me significantly lower than SandyfordMotorCenter to install the tyre pressure sensors. They also told me that if the tyre pressure valves were in fact damaged then you would have had the tyre pressure warning light on the dash constantly and if i didn’t have any warning light on the dash prior to the tyres being replaced then probably the person replacing the tyres has damaged the sensors and you would need to go back and talk to them.

So i had a discussion with Jim Downey (SandyfordMotorCenter service manager) and he told me that the tyre pressure valves were 'Literally just hanging in there' which is why there was no indication on the dashboard when i dropped my car off. He also told me that as soon as they took off the old tyres, the tyre pressure sensors came off as well and there was nothing they could do about it and to effectively just take his word for it. He told me the opel tyre pressure sensors are usually very bad and get damaged very easily.

Anyway, will never be going back to Sandyford Motor Center again and would not advise people to get their car serviced from them. To me it seems that the fitter has broken the tyre pressure sensors while replacing the tyres. I've driven some very old cars and i never had an issue with the tyre pressure sensors ever so find it hard to believe that the 2 of the Tyre pressure sensors on a 2015 car were so severely damaged that they had to come off. Unbelievable.

CJhaughey

IMHO TPMS is a stupid system designed to try and prevent even more stupid people from driving around with flat tyres.
I have it on one of my vehicles and don't like it, I will be buying one of the TPMS bypass boxes which will allow me to check the tyre pressure manually and not be bothered with warnings when I change tyres or adjust pressures outside the narrow limits.
E 70 is the price of the bypass box, far cheaper than the sensors.

colm_mcm

ManUnited123 wrote: »

So talked with another OPEL dealer, they quoted me significantly lower than SandyfordMotorCenter to install the tyre pressure sensors. They also told me that if the tyre pressure valves were in fact damaged then you would have had the tyre pressure warning light on the dash constantly and if i didn’t have any warning light on the dash prior to the tyres being replaced then probably the person replacing the tyres has damaged the sensors and you would need to go back and talk to them.

So i had a discussion with Jim Downey (SandyfordMotorCenter service manager) and he told me that the tyre pressure valves were 'Literally just hanging in there' which is why there was no indication on the dashboard when i dropped my car off. He also told me that as soon as they took off the old tyres, the tyre pressure sensors came off as well and there was nothing they could do about it and to effectively just take his word for it. He told me the opel tyre pressure sensors are usually very bad and get damaged very easily.

Anyway, will never be going back to Sandyford Motor Center again and would not advise people to get their car serviced from them. To me it seems that the fitter has broken the tyre pressure sensors while replacing the tyres. I've driven some very old cars and i never had an issue with the tyre pressure sensors ever so find it hard to believe that the 2 of the Tyre pressure sensors on a 2015 car were so severely damaged that they had to come off. Unbelievable.

Did the original garage give you the damaged valves back?

Hellrazer

ManUnited123 wrote: »

So talked with another OPEL dealer, they quoted me significantly lower than SandyfordMotorCenter to install the tyre pressure sensors. They also told me that if the tyre pressure valves were in fact damaged then you would have had the tyre pressure warning light on the dash constantly and if i didn’t have any warning light on the dash prior to the tyres being replaced then probably the person replacing the tyres has damaged the sensors and you would need to go back and talk to them.

So i had a discussion with Jim Downey (SandyfordMotorCenter service manager) and he told me that the tyre pressure valves were 'Literally just hanging in there' which is why there was no indication on the dashboard when i dropped my car off. He also told me that as soon as they took off the old tyres, the tyre pressure sensors came off as well and there was nothing they could do about it and to effectively just take his word for it. He told me the opel tyre pressure sensors are usually very bad and get damaged very easily.

Anyway, will never be going back to Sandyford Motor Center again and would not advise people to get their car serviced from them. To me it seems that the fitter has broken the tyre pressure sensors while replacing the tyres. I've driven some very old cars and i never had an issue with the tyre pressure sensors ever so find it hard to believe that the 2 of the Tyre pressure sensors on a 2015 car were so severely damaged that they had to come off. Unbelievable.

To be completely honest these valves on the Insignias are absolute **** and Jim isn't lying to you.
They are made of like a really cheap alloy that literally snaps off when the tyre fitter is changing tyres.
I know Jim well and Id say hes right in saying they were literally hanging on. Weve had tyres where the sensors are actually just rolling around inside the tyre but are still reading ok on the dash.
Its very easy to break them off or for them to fall off with the slightest tip. In all fairness its not the garages fault-Its Opels for using **** materials in the sensors but the dealer should have told you if they broke them off while fitting.

Its gotten to the stage where we tell Insignia customers getting tyres that the valves may break when doing them and to be prepared for a call to say they need new sensors.
And for what its worth Sandyford are no longer an Opel dealer or service centre and haven't been in nearly a year. Id say what happened was they broke the sensors and couldn't locate them (not being a dealer and all that) and had to just replace with rubber valves to get your car driving.

Hellrazer

Oh and for what its worth those sensors are about 65 + vat and fitting. €300.00 is nuts money to do 2 sensors.
Id do the whole job for probably half that.

ManUnited123

colm_mcm wrote: »

Did the original garage give you the damaged valves back?

They did, but what am i going to do with them now?

Hellrazer wrote: »

Oh and for what its worth those sensors are about 65 + vat and fitting. €300.00 is nuts money to do 2 sensors.
Id do the whole job for probably half that.

Do you own a garage? I'd happily come over to get these replaced so PM me!

colm_mcm

You can see where they’re broken. If they gave them back it would say to me that they’re not hiding anything.

ManUnited123

colm_mcm wrote: »

You can see where they’re broken. If they gave them back it would say to me that they’re not hiding anything.

They look perfectly fine to me to be honest ! I might post a picture of it later maybe someone else can spot something which i couldn't.

Fabio

Don't mean to hijack the thread but the TPMS sensor on my Alfa Giulietta plays up the odd time. It doesn't actually give you the tyre pressure for each wheel, it just tells you if they seem a bit low (based on wheel circumference, apparently it takes the data from the ABS and wheel speed sensors...if one wheel is turning faster than the others then it knows something is up).

Anyway, despite all pressures being fine, it'll still beep and appear on the dash. Wonder if it's something that be cleared from the computer?

Hellrazer

ManUnited123 wrote: »

They did, but what am i going to do with them now?



Do you own a garage? I'd happily come over to get these replaced so PM me!

Pm me the reg of it and Ill see what the best price I can do is.

wotzgoingon

https://youtu.be/TmeOtZJpdoo?t=636

colm_mcm

wotzgoingon wrote: »

https://youtu.be/TmeOtZJpdoo?t=636

TPMS is an NCT requirement for newer cars.

creedp

colm_mcm wrote: »

TPMS is an NCT requirement for newer cars.

Didn't realise this! Last year the dash TPMS warning light (Nissan Leaf) came a day after I got new tyres. Went back to tyre guy and on one wheel the TPMS was broken off and rattling around in the wheel. He said it was fine when he put on the new tyre but its probably coincidental that the two events happened so close to each other. Not necessarily blaming the guy as the monitor is connected to the valve with what seems like a metal 'thread'. Not sure if the Leaf monitors are a similar design to the Insignia's but its a ridiculous design given the likelihood of damage when tyres are being replaced.

Is there any point trying to repair these things or is it simply a replacement job? My car will be due an NCT in March so will have to get it sorted.

colm_mcm

Newer cars tend to use the ABS sensor readings to determine if one wheel is turning faster than the rest (as would be the case if the circumference of the tyre becomes smaller) and are moving away from sensors on the valves.

CJhaughey

creedp wrote: »

Didn't realise this! Last year the dash TPMS warning light (Nissan Leaf) came a day after I got new tyres. Went back to tyre guy and on one wheel the TPMS was broken off and rattling around in the wheel. He said it was fine when he put on the new tyre but its probably coincidental that the two events happened so close to each other. Not necessarily blaming the guy as the monitor is connected to the valve with what seems like a metal 'thread'. Not sure if the Leaf monitors are a similar design to the Insignia's but its a ridiculous design given the likelihood of damage when tyres are being replaced.

Is there any point trying to repair these things or is it simply a replacement job? My car will be due an NCT in March so will have to get it sorted.

By a TPMS bypass unit and you never have to worry about them again!

creedp

CJhaughey wrote: »

By a TPMS bypass unit and you never have to worry about them again!

Interesting idea but it would appear the crowd in the above link don't supply a unit for Nissan vehicles. Any other way to switch off the dash warning light for NCT purposes?

CJhaughey

creedp wrote: »

Interesting idea but it would appear the crowd in the above link don't supply a unit for Nissan vehicles. Any other way to switch off the dash warning light for NCT purposes?

I'm not sure how you can do it with the leaf, there is probably a way but I don't know how to do it. Maybe drop that TPMS bypass guy a line or phone him and ask? He is in Donegal afaik.

ManUnited123

Update:

So i complained with the SIMI and explained to them what happened and lodged a formal complaint. After i lodged the complaint, I got an email from Sandyford Motor Center offering me to replace my tyre pressure sensors free of cost as a goodwill gesture. There's no way this is a goodwill gesture as if it was, they should have offered it to me before i lodged the complaint. I'm also aware from talking to SIMI that they have reached out to SandyfordMotorCenter so they are aware that i have lodged a complaint.

Anyway, i bought my car in to them to get the tyre pressure sensors replaced. Was told it would take an hour so i stayed there, ended up taking 3 and a half hours which was frustrating because i have to take time off work for this. They however apologized and explained to me that they have installed 2 new tyre pressure sensors however they are just not able to get them configured correctly and the dashboard is still showing an error. They told me they'll need to take the car to LiffeyValley as they are the recognized Opel service providers and the guys at Sandyford are just not able to figure it out. Talked with the service manager again on this who offered his apologies and also offered me a free minor service for next year for the inconvenience and also mentioned that this is the first time they have not been able to configure the tyre pressure sensors.

So now i'll be taking my car to Liffey Valley next week to get to the bottom of this. Also see pictures below for one of the tyre pressure sensors which i am told is broken. Can someone see where it's broken? I can't seem to see where this is broken.

ManUnited123

More pictures

wotzgoingon

ManUnited123 wrote: »

Also see pictures below for one of the tyre pressure sensors which i am told is broken. Can someone see where it's broken? I can't seem to see where this is broken.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=111828860&postcount=17