Quick answer: A steady TPMS (tire pressure) light means at least one tire is significantly low on air — check pressures and fill to the number on your driver's door jamb sticker. If the light flashes for about a minute at startup and then stays on, that is a system fault, usually a dead sensor battery — sensors are not rechargeable and the sensor gets replaced. At ABC Tire Wholesale, LLC in Moreno Valley, a shop-supplied TPMS sensor is $60 installed and programmed, with a 3-month warranty. Call 951-653-2869 and we will find out which one it is.
That horseshoe-shaped light with the exclamation point confuses more drivers than almost any other warning on the dash — mainly because it can mean two different things, and the fix depends on which one you have.
Steady light = low pressure. The system triggers when a tire drops to about 25% below its recommended pressure. That is lower than most people realize — by the time the light comes on, the tire has been underinflated for a while. Check all four tires (and the spare, if your vehicle monitors it) with a gauge, and fill to the pressure on the driver-side door jamb sticker — not the maximum number printed on the tire sidewall. Cool mornings can trip the light in the fall because air contracts in the cold; if the light goes away after a top-up and stays away, you are done.
Flashing, then steady = system fault. If the light blinks for roughly 60–90 seconds when you start the car and then stays lit, the system itself has a problem. The most common cause is a sensor with a dead battery. TPMS sensors live inside the wheel, run on a sealed battery that typically lasts 5–10 years, and when the battery dies the whole sensor is replaced — there is no recharging or battery swap. A sensor can also be damaged during a tire change or by a hard pothole hit.
What to do, and what it costs. Do not just live with the light — a working TPMS is your early warning for the slow leak that becomes a freeway flat. Diagnosis means scanning each wheel to see which sensor is silent. At ABC Tire Wholesale, LLC, a replacement shop-supplied sensor is $60 installed and programmed, backed by a 3-month warranty. Already bought your own sensor? We install customer-supplied sensors for $15 per tire (installation only), and we recommend having sensors handled while tires are being mounted, since the tire has to come off the wheel anyway.
Bring it by: 14300 Elsworth St #105-106, Moreno Valley, Mon–Fri 9 AM–5 PM, Sat 9 AM–2 PM. Details on TPMS and our other work are on the services page: https://abctirecenter.com/pages/our-services. Se habla español.