jakematic

Part way through my drive to camp for vacation a TPMS warning came on in DIS and went away seconds later with no MIL.

A couple of days ago TPMS was off when I started the car and would not turn back on.
Next time around everything came back to "normal".

VCDS shows the life as 71 months on 3 sensors and 72 on the fourth.
Yes, yes I do travel with VCDS on any trip longer than a couple hours

Is this time left, or time that has already passed?

Mister Bally

<<<Yes, yes I do travel with VCDS on any trip longer than a couple hours
>>>

+1

I had it with me on my recent 3400 mile road trip. Didn't need it but I definitely needed the Bentley manual as well as front engine photo I had stored on an external drive when the serpintine belt snapped on me a month ago.

mishar

+2

Just returned from Yellowstone. 3400km (2100 miles). VCDS came back with me too.

P.S. Have some new experimental knowledge about not really perfect contacts.

P.S.S. Sorry, forgot to address trade question. Measuring battery's capacity is very complicated. Only real way to do so is to charge and than discharge it measuring energy it can hold. So that number VCDS can read is generally useless. It is probably based only on voltage and that means almost nothing. What happens with your TPMS looks like bad battery. If it doesn't work when cold and works when it is warmer it must be it.

jakematic

Per Sebastian at Ross-Tech:

I've been a nervous wreck about not having replaced them when the new tires went on.
Just found the old paperwork saying new ones went on last summer

Another 1,500 mile trip with the A8 running like a Swiss watch - what a pleasure !

My new motto: Why drive a car when you can pilot an Audi

FlyTyinFool

Nice! I may need to borrow that one from time to time. I'll be sure to cite you as the source though.

Mister Bally

I love the line that goes: Not driving a nice car to keep mileage low so it will get more when you sell it is like not having lots of sex with your girlfriend in order to make her more appealing for her next boyfriend.

Nice are are meant to be driven. Just like girls. Apologies to the female readers out there. You think the same way about us though

lionhearts

need an education ... my tpms alert 2005 a8L ( flat tire symbol) came on ... does that mena the batteries are down? how can I fix it ? aplogies I am new to this and really like my A* but not very technically savvy

appreaciate an education and if I can fix it myself

Thank you

jakematic

The flat tire symbol (usually) means you are 6 psi below what was set in MMI with Set Tire Pressure under Car -> Systems -> Tire Pressure Monitorng

Press the Check button on the dash next to the odometer reset and additional info will be displayed.

No apology necessary - I didn't know squat about Audi's on Feb 3 2011 when buying mine.
My initial run in with that symbol was due to a low spare.
This community is a fantastic resource with many knowledgeable folks.

FlyTyinFool

+1

This forum is fantastic. And always try to do a thorough search before posting up. I find most answers here without needing to start a new thread.

Anyway, back to the topic...

If all the pressures are good, including the spare as jakematic pointed out, then I would definitely suspect the batteries in the sensors have died. The batteries are not serviceable. the only fix is to replace them. Usually folks do this when they replace their tires. You should look to pay right about $94 per sensor (includes stem), and TireRack is my preferred source. My local dealer wanted $245 each - WHOA! Way out of line.

The sensors use those watch type batteries, so they're only good for a few years. From the posts I've read it sounds like 5 years is about the average life expectancy.

Carry on...

mishar

Warning comes on if any one of running sensor batteries is dead (not spare). Tire guys has an instrument to detect that. So you may be lucky and solve your problem for some time just swapping wheel with dead battery with the spare wheel.