tpms... is it possible?

[navyeoseabee]

hello, This is my first post , i must say. I love forums and i am a member to many for my r/c hobby and dodge caliber club.

so otherwise adue

i just had the first set of tires put on my 2003 chevy 1500, 2 wheel drive extended cab pick up. It was at walmart ...i know... i had a friend that got some tires there and they messed up his tpms on his ford. so that is why i am here.

they charged me $40.00 on top of the tires for a "broken" tpms ... i have had "under" inflated tires before and never seen a light on the dash board before....DO i even have a tpms ? is it possible that it was "broken" before i took it to them ? and how do i check to see if they put a new one in ?

it sounds like a scam to me since i had pretty low psi in my front tires before and never had a warning light before.

thank you for your time -arick

[tbplus10]

Most likely they broke it dismounting the old tire. If it was broken before you'd have gotten a tire Press. warning.
Proving they broke it is a different story unless you witnessed them breaking it, its your word against thiers.
From what I've seen of Walmart they could care less about repeat customers and customer service. At this point to save yourself from a big headache I'd say let it go, never do buisiness with them again, and spread the word about how good the service you recieved was, and use it as a $40 lesson.
To check the TPMS you'd need to know which tire it was, you'd have to remove the tire from the rim, and prove the TPMS was new. You might get lucky and find a lot # or date of manufacture on the TPMS that could prove when it was manufactured but more than likely you wont find any date on it to show date of manufacture.
Did they return the broken parts to you as required by Fed Law? Maybe you could use this angle to your advantage if they didnt.

[navyeoseabee]

thank you for the fast reply.

i figured as much. BUT do i even had tpms? i am about to go drain the psi out of the front tires they are old and i swear i never got the warning before that my going flat tires were "LOW" ...i like that they have to proved a broken part ...that i did not know. thanks again very good info.-arick

[dwill3015]

Welcome to the site!

[navyeoseabee]

okay , my wife is thinking i am immature... i just went out (38-40degrees) to drain the front tires which they did not replace only the two rears. and i drained it to 15 psi and fired up the chevy for 5 mins and nothing, no lights , no bells or whistles ...

does a 2003 chevy have the tpms? i really am starting to think i got screwed! if sam walton was alive he would not be happy! -lol


thanks for the welcome -arick

[1slols1]

first of all you have to drive with low air to make the light come on, secondly if you look at the valve stem and it is just a black rubbr stem then you dont have it, the tpms sensor is attached to the bottom of the valve stem and the easiest way to tell if you have it is that there is a nut holding the valve stem on the rim, no nut no sensor. secondly it is unfair to claim wal-mart is a ****ty place, and i dont say this just because i work in the tire shop part time, because believe me we have some ****ty wal-marts here in OK, but as far as the one I work at, I am one of 3 certified mechanics that work in the shop part time and the other 3 guys who work part time are certified tire techs. I guess you just have to find one where the guys know what they are doing. Also if you do take the tires off and there is a sensor the easiest way to tell if it is new is that the ones we sell at wal-mart do not have GM part numbers on them they are aftermarket. every one i have changed has had a GM number on it so, no number equals they have changed the sensor. hope this helps and sorry for the trouble you have had at your wal-mart, if you lived in Oklahoma i would recommend you come to our shop from now on.

[sheep]

first of all you have to drive with low air to make the light come on, secondly if you look at the valve stem and it is just a black rubbr stem then you dont have it, the tpms sensor is attached to the bottom of the valve stem and the easiest way to tell if you have it is that there is a nut holding the valve stem on the rim, no nut no sensor. secondly it is unfair to claim wal-mart is a ****ty place, and i dont say this just because i work in the tire shop part time, because believe me we have some ****ty wal-marts here in OK, but as far as the one I work at, I am one of 3 certified mechanics that work in the shop part time and the other 3 guys who work part time are certified tire techs. I guess you just have to find one where the guys know what they are doing. Also if you do take the tires off and there is a sensor the easiest way to tell if it is new is that the ones we sell at wal-mart do not have GM part numbers on them they are aftermarket. every one i have changed has had a GM number on it so, no number equals they have changed the sensor. hope this helps and sorry for the trouble you have had at your wal-mart, if you lived in Oklahoma i would recommend you come to our shop from now on.


just a note of info for people who do not know yet(this wont include the 03s to like 06s, the new chevy tpms might still be a rubber valve stem but they look thicker and longer then a normal rubber one

[navyeoseabee]

first of all you have to drive with low air to make the light come on, secondly if you look at the valve stem and it is just a black rubbr stem then you dont have it, the tpms sensor is attached to the bottom of the valve stem and the easiest way to tell if you have it is that there is a nut holding the valve stem on the rim, no nut no sensor. secondly it is unfair to claim wal-mart is a ****ty place, and i dont say this just because i work in the tire shop part time, because believe me we have some ****ty wal-marts here in OK, but as far as the one I work at, I am one of 3 certified mechanics that work in the shop part time and the other 3 guys who work part time are certified tire techs. I guess you just have to find one where the guys know what they are doing. Also if you do take the tires off and there is a sensor the easiest way to tell if it is new is that the ones we sell at wal-mart do not have GM part numbers on them they are aftermarket. every one i have changed has had a GM number on it so, no number equals they have changed the sensor. hope this helps and sorry for the trouble you have had at your wal-mart, if you lived in Oklahoma i would recommend you come to our shop from now on.


i didn't mean to upset you in anyway. sorry if i did.

I did find out that my 2003 truck DOESN"T have the tpms BUT the wheels does have it. i guess that it was never completly installed in the truck OR the orginal owner put these wheels on the truck. Still got the un-needed part...:(

[tlperry68]

Hey SeaBee,
I have had my tpms come on a soon as I turn the key to ON. The warning comes up before I crank over the motor saying what tire exactly is low and also gives the pressure reading.
Sorry to hear about the loss of 40 bucks - thats always a bummer.
I cross trained with NMCB 7 in North Carolina, some good guys out there. Does the eo stand for equipment operator?

[navyeoseabee]

Hey SeaBee,
I have had my tpms come on a soon as I turn the key to ON. The warning comes up before I crank over the motor saying what tire exactly is low and also gives the pressure reading.
Sorry to hear about the loss of 40 bucks - thats always a bummer.
I cross trained with NMCB 7 in North Carolina, some good guys out there. Does the eo stand for equipment operator?

at least it was only $40.00 bucks! got some pretty cool meats on the truck now bridgestone dueler rvt's http://www.bridgestonetire.com/tireselector/GlamourIndex_BS_EN.aspx?productID=2009 It is a 2wd ...i am not going to the baja either, just Oklahoma winter coming.

EO stands for the best job the navy has lol...yes equipment operator, i knew a female chief craig and a guy with the last name george from nmcb7 any luck? were you usmc?-arick

[tbplus10]

first of all you have to drive with low air to make the light come on, secondly if you look at the valve stem and it is just a black rubbr stem then you dont have it, the tpms sensor is attached to the bottom of the valve stem and the easiest way to tell if you have it is that there is a nut holding the valve stem on the rim, no nut no sensor. secondly it is unfair to claim wal-mart is a ****ty place, and i dont say this just because i work in the tire shop part time, because believe me we have some ****ty wal-marts here in OK, but as far as the one I work at, I am one of 3 certified mechanics that work in the shop part time and the other 3 guys who work part time are certified tire techs. I guess you just have to find one where the guys know what they are doing. Also if you do take the tires off and there is a sensor the easiest way to tell if it is new is that the ones we sell at wal-mart do not have GM part numbers on them they are aftermarket. every one i have changed has had a GM number on it so, no number equals they have changed the sensor. hope this helps and sorry for the trouble you have had at your wal-mart, if you lived in Oklahoma i would recommend you come to our shop from now on.

You dont have to drive on the tires to make the light come on. Everytime I get a low tire on my work truck the warning comes on as soon as I start the truck.
As noted in another post there are a few different type TPMS's out, some have the metal valve stem and some use a rubber valve stem. (my wifes 2008 HHR has rubber valve stems with TPMS).
Everyone has thier own opinions about vendors, if you were to have some issues when you dealt with a particular vendor then you would feel it's %%%ty, were allowed to have our own opinions this is America. You may have good techs in your store, and thats great, but you can only speak of how people are treated at your particular store, experiences by others at other stores have created this opinion.

[navyeoseabee]

thanks tb,

as i said before sorry if i made you(1slols) mad. but i was just wondering if they charged me for something i did not have. which like i spoke about before my truck/ instrument panel doesn't have the option of tpms. the wheels do ... they broke one or one was broke and i got a new one for the wheel that required one , but as my gut instict was that my truck doesn't have it which turned out true.

p.s.

1slols1...you never stated what store you worked in here at okc?

[tbplus10]

Vehicle manufacturers outfit vehicles for options that may not be on the vehicle at the end of the assembly line. It saves them from having to change up the assembly line and sometimes the options can be added at the dealer. Look at the wire harness in your truck sometime, you'll see lots of extra plugs these are for items you could get on your truck but werent added at build time.

Fair winds and following seas
Tim CWO3 USN(RET)

[apinechevy]

ya but you would have to do some work to make them fit right.

[navyeoseabee]

ya but you would have to do some work to make them fit right.


huh? what is that in regaurds to?