TPMS

[windymiller]

ah ok so i put some wind in then basically straight in the garage might try again with a drive tomorrow but engine management light also came on on way home !!! joy

[Cdm2018]

I got my friendly AA man to pump up one of my tyres as valve was worn their tyre pump thing went straight on ?

the AA man commented that these TPM on other car makes are equally temperamental so I don’t think it lotus quike? 

[phil flash]

If the vehicle is not moving the sensors go into 'sleep mode' to save the battery ...  once you start driving, it takes a couple of hundred yards (or metres?) for them to wake up and start talking.  

Sometime in November I usually swap wheels to go onto winter tyres and that takes a couple of miles for the system to realise it's got new sensors and where they are... it's long enough for me to start thinking "Taking a long time, have the batteries died?"  ... and then "Oh no, there it is"

I park on my drive facing west, so the N/S tyres are in the sun, O/S are not ..  when I first set off the N/S are usually reading a psi or two above the O/S but they even up once the tyres are warmed up ... so don't be too hasty to squirt in an extra psi or two if tyres aren't at the same temperature.

 

 

[windymiller]

Hmmm so last drive of the year and the alarm on the dash didn't disappear and tyre flashing on car symbol, didn't see how I could reset via scanner either so I'm guessing buggered sensor 😐

[NAC63]

I had issues with mine intermittently working, but recently had wheels refurbished and 4 new michelin pilot 4s fitted and as the car is 11yr old I suspect the tpms sensor batteries have had it, so I had 4 new sensors fitted and no more issues.

Also for cars after 2015 it's now an mot fail

[au-yt]

My 2016 400 one sensor is dead, they should have a 10 year life according to SSC tech guys.

 

[Bruss]

10 years since Lotus bought them and stuck them on a shelf, or 10 years since Lotus sold the car?

[au-yt]

It could be either, as far as I am aware its 10 years after fitting them to the car, however my "suspicion" as has been discussed they are bought by the factory in batches and left in a box on the production line and used as needed and they occasionally don't get to the bottom of the box. By the time they are fitted they are a few years old and how old are the batteries when they the sensors are made. who knows. 

[au-yt]

Back again, and if I’m covering old territory appolagies in advance.

I bought a set of TPMs from the Elise shop only after 2 hours at specialist work shop to discover that the ones fitted to the EVORA have a frequency of MHz434, where as the others are MHz433.

the factory fitted ones on my car are made by Alligator, their website doesn’t list MHz434, so I’ve sent off an email.

And has probably been previously mentioned the Lotus Service bulletin mentions a service life of 5 years.

I have ordered 1 new factory one... $$$$$$$$ grrrr

[exeterjeep]

From 2017 ish lotus used the alligator tpms sensor and a different receiver module in elise/exige/evora. I have bought 4 for my new spare set of wheels. I only bought the transmitter as the valve stem is also expensive from lotus, but is cheap from the tyre fitters (as it is a standard part) 

[au-yt]

I contacted The manufacturer in the US and they sent me a link to local suppliers.

The real problem is the frequency of the units is MHz 434, as most readers/ programers only work on MHz433 and 315

[exeterjeep]

1 hour ago, au-yt said:

The real problem is the frequency of the units is MHz 434, as most readers/ programers only work on MHz433 and 315

The Autel programmer I have does not touch the new sensors, but the tpms sensors that came from lotus come programmed to fit the lotus, so I had no problem.

The alligator programmer which is available will now program the alligator generic sensor (not sure which one), as the software from alligator has been released for the lotus and is downloadable. Previously only lotus dealers had access to the correct tool/software. https://www.ebay.com/p/2142951898 is also on SJ website.

I signed up to alligator so they send out notification of updates.

[au-yt]

Keith, brilliant I’ve ordered a programmer and will sign up to Alligator.

[exeterjeep]

Still don't know why you need the programmer, I can't see you saving much by buying the programmer and one of their programmable sensors, compared to the price of a pre-programmed one from lotus? Unless you expect to be needing more in the future?

[Bruss]

One here on sale

 

https://www.cdfgroup.de/onlineshop/de/home/247-alligator-programmiertool-pt1.html

[exeterjeep]

There is also some discussion here..

https://www.lotustalk.com/threads/replacement-tpms-sensors-for-evora-400.468622/

Somewhere I found an illustration of the Alligator programmer in use.

But of course there is no way to access the cars TPMS data via OBD2 without lotus techcentre, that I am aware of.

[exeterjeep]

Any use...

[NAC63]

Why do you need all that. I had 4 new sensors fitted at my local tyre shop when I had the wheels refurbished,  I only dropped the wheels off so they didn't have the car. They programmed the new sensors same as old ones,only thing they weren't sure about, was the positioning on the vehicle for the dash display, when I put the wheels back on I found that they were indeed mixed up. But lotus must have sensors in the wheel arch as a few miles down the road they sorted themselves out to the correct positioning.  All 4 sensors cost £200 fitted and programmed. 

[exeterjeep]

What model year is your car, as evora's pre 2017 had a much more common sensor and a receiver in the boot, these can be bought cheaply (ish SAAB?) and if need programming, tools like the one I have can program them.

Evoras etc after 2017 (the 4xx) , have the receiver under the dash and different transmitters. My TPMS reader would read the the sensor data from an earlier evora, but not my current one. 

But as I said above getting the new ones from lotus do not need re-programming as the car will pick them up eventually. So do not need to buy the alligator programmer    

[phil flash]

12 hours ago, au-yt said:

And has probably been previously mentioned the Lotus Service bulletin mentions a service life of 5 years.

What Service Bulletin is that ?   Is it that the new improved ones cost a lot more and last half the time?

 

[exeterjeep]

Evora later workshop manual says 

If a tyre valve/sensor is renewed, or is moved to a different wheel position,
the TPMS will automatically identify the new configuration by interpreting
signal strength as distance from sensor to receiver.
Note that the pressure sensors are powered by integral batteries, with an average service life of 5 years. It is
recommended to renew all pressure sensors at this time interval.

 

The earlier one 2013 ish says 10 years.

 

[JamesS.]

7 hours ago, au-yt said:

The real problem is the frequency of the units is MHz 434, as most readers/ programers only work on MHz433 and 315

The 433MHz frequency used by nearly all TPMS sensors is actually 433.92MHz. Most manufacturers refer to it as 433MHz whereas most people would round up to 434MHz. In summary, 433MHz and 434MHz are actually the same. 

[NAC63]

Just now, exeterjeep said:

What model year is your car, as evora's pre 2017 had a much more common sensor and a receiver in the boot, these can be bought cheaply (ish SAAB?) and if need programming, tools like the one I have can program them.

Evoras etc after 2017 (the 4xx) , have the receiver under the dash and different transmitters. My TPMS reader would read the the sensor data from an earlier evora, but not my current one. 

But as I said above getting the new ones from lotus do not need re-programming as the car will pick them up eventually. So do not need to buy the alligator programmer    

Mine is a 2010

[exeterjeep]

Must be an early one with tpms, my 63 plate evora s did not have tpms. So yours must have this as an extra option pack?

[Cdm2018]

I think it was part of tech pack but I stand to be corrected ?