Resetting tyre pressure monitor system

Oct 31, 2018
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Hi
Just bought new campervan Wildax Aurora based on Citroen Relay 2018 - it has tyre pressure monitoring, but this is set to factory tyre pressures.
I have taken the van to a weighbridge and based on front and rear axle weights have e mailed the tyre manufacturer for recommended pressures - as these are different to the Citroen pressures how do I get the system to recognize the new pressures when I have adjusted them?
Thanks
 

Hobbyt600

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Ever since UK motorcaravan manufacturers began to build on Peugeot Boxer chassis fitted as standard with a tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS), there have been complaints from owners of such motorhomes about being unable to modify the TPMS factory-set pressures. This discussion on another forum refers

https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Tyre-pressure-monitors-again/47164/
It is near certain that the TPMS system of your Citroen Relay-based Wildax is the same as that fitted to Peugeot Boxers and, consequently, that the only way the factory-set TPMS data can be altered is by a Citroen agent doing it (or possibly a Peugeot agent doing it?) However, finding a Citroen/Peugeot agent who will agree to make the alteration may not be easy.

Presumably you want to reduce the Citroen recommended tyre pressures. If those reductions are not too large, you may be able to make them without the TPMS system being triggered. If you reduce the recommended pressures radically, the TPMS is going to start producing alarms.

The Peugeot/Citroen system has no ‘learning’ capability, and vehicle owners can’t just change the tyre pressures themselves and then get the revised pressures recognised by the TPMS system by pressing a 'magic button' or by trying to play about with the vehicle’s software via the dashboard MENU system.

I suggest you ask Wildax about this and the Citroen agent that will be servicing your Relay.
 
Oct 31, 2018
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Hi
I have been researching this further and it seems that you may be able to reset the tyre pressure that the TPMS is set to by visiting a good tyre fitting centre - some of these have TPMS equipment that might be able to adjust the TPMS to your recommended pressures - will be trying this soon - watch this space hope this works otherwise TPMS is a waste of time as it must be for many other newish motorhomes - we need to have correct pressures in our tyres no1 priority so hope this can be resolved - its a pity TPMS cannot be switched off and just go back to checking tyre pressures yourself as I have done perfectly happily for the 46 years I have been driving - technology - just another name for headache!
 

Hobbyt600

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It will be interesting to learn how you get on at tyre-fitting centres.

Citroen Relay-based motorcaravans are relatively rare in the UK, but there are plenty of motorhomes based on the Peugeot Boxer (the Relay's near-identical twin brother) and a lot of recent Boxer-based motorhomes have TPMS as standard.

This link is to a recent discussion on another forum and relates to resetting the TPMS data of Boxers.

https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/TPMS-Elddis-Envy-120-2018/49595/#M569713
You will note that user “Steve928” was able to customise the TPMS data of his Boxer-based Bailey motorhome by purchasing suitable equipment/software, but I am doubtful that an ordinary tyre-fitting centre would be able to do likewise.

If you believe that Wildax have sold you a motorhome that has tyre pressures that are ‘incorrect’ and that cannot be altered to make them ‘correct’ without the TPMS system being triggered, you really need to take that up with Wildax.

I am pretty sure that a Citroen main agent (or a Peugeot main agent) with the appropriate equipment and expertise (and the inclination to cooperate) could adjust the TPMS settings to your specification and Wildax might be prepared to meet the cost of doing so.

Imagine barrelling along the motorway at 70mph having picked up a slow puncture at the start of your journey, immediately after you had checked the tyre pressures. If it is a rear tyre that has punctured you probably won’t notice the gradual reduction in pressure (I speak from experience) but the eventual result will be that the tyre will fail catastrophically. This is the scenario that a TPMS should guard against and, as it is a ‘driver safety’ feature, it is hardly surprising that Citroen/Fiat/Peugeot don’t want drivers to disable it or play about with the factory-set inflation pressures.
 

Hobbyt600

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This is just idle curiosity, but what make, size and type of tyre has your Wildax Aurora got, what inflation pressures are recommended by Citroen/Wildax for it, and what pressures would you like to use?

I have visited the Wildax website and it looks like the tyre size will be 215/70 R15. If that’s correct I’d expect the tyres to be either ‘commercial’ type (ie. 215/70 R15C) or ‘camping-car’ type (ie. 215/70 R15CP).

I would expect the recommended inflation pressures for front and rear tyres respectively to be 4.1bar/60psi and 4.5bar/65psi for the ‘commercial’ tyres, or 5.0bar/72psi and 5.5bar/80psi for the ‘camping-car’ type and - although the latter pressures would probably result in a harsh ride - the former pressures should not be unreasonable for a motorhome like the Aurora.
 
Oct 31, 2018
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Hi thanks to all who replied to this thread - Cant remember tyre size but they are Continental tyres I think it was Vanco or similar name?
I took the van to a weighbridge and loaded up with bikes on back, x2 pairs of skis to represent weight of food/clothes and all chairs/table etc and full tank of diesel plus full water tank (100lit) the van weighed 3660kg - happy with that as we still have a margin of payload on the 3500 kg plated van.
I forget the axle weights but anyway contacted Continental and based on the weights given, they gave me a chart which also included higher and lower weights(great service Continental) and for the given weight, they recommended 58psi front and 62psi rear - haven't tried reducing the pressures to this yet to see what if any problems the TPMS is gonna give me but will do that this weekend - I asked at my local Kwik Fit tyre centre and they thought that the TPMS would "self learn" if I just reduced the pressures then went for a drive in it so I will try this but don't hold out too much hope.
I read somewhere that yes the dealers should be able to reset the TPMS pressures but can charge around £200 for this - forget that!
Meantime I have been looking for a diagnostic tool which can also rest TPMS tyre pressures - these don't seem to be available at least not for my van unless you want to shell out thousands for a professional one.
By the way, I don't blame Wildax at all for the setting of TPMS - I don't think they touch it at all and this is set at the Citroen factory when the vans are made - set to a high figure for commercial vehicles. This is a frustrating issue which lots of motorhome owners must be having and I find it strange that it is so difficult to resolve
 

Hobbyt600

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Let us assume that the TPMS sysyem on your Citroen Relay-based Wildax Aurora is exactly the same as that used with a 2018 Peugeot Boxer.

There has been a lot of on-line discussion about owners of motorhomes based on recent Boxer chassis with TPMS wanting to lower their vehicle's tyre pressures to obtain an improved ride-quality and finding that doing this causes the TPMS to produce alarms. There has also been a lot of incorrect/misleading advice provided on-line...

The facts are as follows:

1: A Peugeot Boxer’s features do not include the capability to allow the vehicle’s owner/driver to alter the tyre-pressure data stored in the TPMS’s ‘memory’.

2: A Peugeot dealer SHOULD be able to alter a Boxer’s TPMS tyre-pressure data to values specified by the vehicle’s owner/driver. Although I’ve seen quotations or £200 or £300 stated for that task, it should take no more than a half-hour (say £50 atmost).

3: Those motorcaravanners who have had the TPMS data adjusted by a Peugeot dealer tend to be reluctant to reveal which dealer did it. (This may well be because Peugeot(UK) are clearly unprepared to authorise dealerships to make the TPMS changes as a matter of course.)

https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/TPMS-/49489/
4: It is possible for a Boxer-based motorhome’s owner with the necessary know-how, equipment and software to adjust the TPMS data to his/her requirements, but I am only aware of one (very competent) person who has done this.

5: The Boxer TPMS has no ‘self learning’ capablity that would permit the tyre pressures to be reduced and the TPMS to recognise, tolerate and store the lowered pressures. No ‘direct' TPMS system has that capability.

6: If a Boxer’s TPMS is triggered by a tyre’s pressure falling below the TPMS’s low-pressure threshold and that tyre is then reinflated to a pressure above that threshold, the TPMS SHOULD recognise that this has happened and the warning should cease to be given. However, it should not be expected that the TPMS warning will stop immediately. I don’t know what the Citroen/Peugeot handbook says about this, but the handbook for the Fiat Ducato (that almost certainly has the same TPMS) states

"The tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS) warns the driver of low tyre pressure on the basis of the cold inflation pressure prescribed for the vehicle....

The TPMS continues to advise the driver of the low tyre pressure condition until this is corrected; the warning continues until the pressure corresponds or exceeds the pressure prescribed for the cold tyres. When the low tyre pressure check warning light turns on continuously, the inflation pressure must be adjusted until it reaches the pressure prescribed for cold tyres. After the automatic update of the system, the tyre pressure control warning light switches off. You may need to drive the vehicle for about 20 minutes at a speed higher than 20 km/h to allow the TPMS to receive this information."
 
Oct 31, 2018
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Hi - up date on the TPMS issue - I can confirm that the advice given by my local Kwikfit tyre centre was wrong - I went for a drive for over 30 mins and having earlier set my tyre pressures to that recommended by Continental for my weight of van(see earlier post) the TPMS light stayed on with the pressure warnings on the dash so it does NOT reset itself.
I spoke to my local garage- an MOT testing station, who do have some sort of TPMS equipment and they said to bring it along and they would see what they could do, but I have decided after carefully reading the replies above (thanks guys) that I will go down the road of getting the software mentiioned in the link on one of the posts above as used by Steve 928 - for Citroen it is Lexia3 also known as Peugot Planet (does both Citroen and Peugot) - its a bit of a minefield this as there are different versions of the software, and different leads/cables/hardware requirements - I am gonna contact the Ebay seller to try to sort out what is needed for my vehicle and order it - this will also be useful in general fault diagnosis on the van, as apparently you get almost the same software as that used by the dealers - sells for around £50 so a good investment I think - I hope that this software will enable me to reset the tyre pressure warning limits as done by Steve 928 (although I have a feeling that Steves was an older vehicle) and I can get on with my life again!.
Just a comment that I hate the fact that manufacturers are trying to take away the freedom of DIY mechanics to work on their own vehicles as I have done for over 40 years with electronics/sensors everywhere etc - well I am fighting back and will try hard to sort this out myself - I noted that on my new van, the service interval is 2 years or 30000 miles - I will be grudgingly having first service done by a dealer to keep the warranty, and then doing it all myself after that! PS I also ordered a hand held fault scanner - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Citroen-Professional-Diagnostic-Scan-Tool-iCarsoft-CPII-CP2-2-YEAR-WARRANTY-/291650276779 which I can keep in the van and will give me peace of mind that I will be able to check/clear fault codes etc when travelling around on camping trips abroad wherever.
 

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