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Jeep Patriot Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS)

104K views 33 replies 23 participants last post by  Hamm  
#1 ·
DESCRIPTION
The Tire Pressure Monitoring (TPM) system monitors air pressure in the four road tires (excludes spare). Pressure in the spare tire is not monitored. The base system does not specify how many tires are low or where they are located. The premium system does so.

NOTE: Premium Tire Pressure Monitoring is the only system used on this vehicle. Because the Premium system is based upon the Base system, both are explained here.

There are two types of TPM available, a base system and a premium system.

The Base TPM system consists of tire pressure monitoring sensors attached to each road wheel through the valve stem mounting hole, a central receiver module (WCM) and an indicator lamp.

The Premium TPM system consists of tire pressure monitoring sensors attached to each road wheel through the valve stem mounting hole, a wireless control module (WCM) three wheel sensor transponders located in three of the four wheel wells, an electronic display, and an indicator lamp.

The receiver circuit for the TPM system is integrated into the WCM. Commonly referred to as the Sentry Key Remote Entry Module (SKREEM), the WCM also includes the Remote Keyless Entry (RKE) receiver and the Sentry Key Immobilizer (SKIM) receiver. All three receivers share a number of common components. The WCM decodes the RF signals transmitted by each of the vehicle’s tire pressure sensors. The decoded information is used to determine if "warning" or "fault" conditions exist within the TPM system.

Upon detection of a warning or fault condition, the WCM will send a request to the module that controls the indicator lamp (and the text display if equipped with the Premium system) via the vehicle bus system to illuminate or flash the indicator lamp. Also, upon detection of a warning or fault condition, the electronic display will send a request to sound the "chime". A chime will only be requested once per ignition cycle per warning or fault condition detected.

The WCM will store all warning and fault conditions, placard pressure values and low-pressure threshold values (lamp ON and OFF) in memory that can be accessed through diagnostic communication. If new sensors are introduced to the vehicle, the data stored for the sensor being replaced will be deleted.

The WCM will store all wheel sensor ID’s and locations and faults in memory that can be accessed through diagnostic communication. All other data values transmitted from each active wheel sensor (not the spare tire) shall be stored in the WCM memory.

The WCM automatically learns and stores the sensors’s ID while driving “within 10 minutes continuously above 15 mph (24 km/h)” after a sensor has been replaced. The learning sequence will initiate when the vehicle has been stopped for more then 20 minutes.

OPERATION
NOTE: Premium Tire Pressure Monitoring is the only system used on this vehicle. Because the Premium system is based upon the Base system, both are explained here.

BASE TIRE PRESSURE MONITORING
The tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) is designed to operate without loss of function for all OEM tire construction for this vehicle. Sensors, mounted to each road wheel as part of the valve stem, transmit an RF signal indicating their individual pressure to a receiver located in the Wireless Control Module (WCM), commonly referred to as the Sentry Key Remote Entry Module (SKREEM). On a Domestic vehicle, the TPM sensor operates on a 315 MHz radio frequency. Export vehicle sensors operate on a 433 MHz radio frequency. These transmissions occur approximately once every minute at speeds over 15 mph (24 km/h). For more information on sensors, (Refer to 22 - TIRES/WHEELS/TIRE PRESSURE MONITORING/SENSOR - OPERATION).

If the TPM system detects that the tire pressure in any road tire is going low, beyond the Low Pressure (lamp) ON threshold (see placard table below), the TPM system will continuously illuminate an indicator lamp. If a system fault is detected, the indicator lamp will flash on/off for 60 seconds, once every 10 minutes.

If the WCM detects a warning or fault condition at ignition key "on" it will wait ten seconds +/- 10 % before sending the first request to illuminate the indicator lamp. This will assure that the display module has concluded its bulb check period. The display module will request a chime once per ignition cycle for each "warning" or "fault" condition detected. A "warning" or "fault" condition will remain enabled until the problem causing the condition is corrected and removed/reset.

The WCM shall continuously monitor for the receipt of tire pressure RF message transmissions from the wheel sensors during both the ignition key "on" and key "off" cycles. The wheel sensor ID’s and the location of each sensor (e.g. Tire 1, Tire 2 etc.) are stored in the WCM non-volatile memory during the initial Manufacturing Plant Process, or during a service procedure, as required.

The TPM System will continue to warn the driver of low tire pressure as long as the condition exists, and will not turn off the indicator lamp until the tire pressure is at or above the Low Pressure (lamp) OFF threshold (see placard table below). The system will automatically update and the TPM indicator lamp will extinguish once the updated tire pressures have been received.

Tire pressure will vary with temperature by about 1 psi (6.9 kPa) for every 12°F (6.5°C). This means that when the outside temperature decreases, the tire pressure will decrease. Tire pressure should always be set based on cold inflation tire pressure (placard pressure). This is defined as the tire pressure after a vehicle has not been driven for more than 3 hours (and in outside ambient temperature). The tire pressure will also increase as the vehicle is driven; this is normal and there should be no adjustment for this increased pressure. For a system fault, the system will return to normal once the WCM receives a valid transmission from that sensor location.

PREMIUM TIRE PRESSURE MONITORING
The operation and lamp/chime strategy of the Base Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) also applies to the Premium TPMS, but the premium TPMS can display text messages and a tire pressure graphic display on the information cluster. If a low pressure condition is detected, in addition to a chime and indicator lamp turning ON, the Electronic Vehicle Information Center (EVIC) will show a graphic display of the pressure value(s) with the low tire(s) flashing. Once pressure in the suspect tire raises above the Low Pressure (lamp) OFF Threshold (see placard table below), the lamp will go out once the WCM receives a valid transmission from the sensor. If a system fault is detected, in addition to a chime and a indicator lamp flashing, a “Check TPM System” text message will be displayed in the instrument cluster, and the tire pressure graphic display will have “- -“ in place of the pressure value. The system will return to normal once the WCM receives a valid transmission from that sensor location.

The Premium TPMS determines the location of the tire pressure sensors by using transponders located in three of the four wheel wells on the vehicle. A fourth transponder is not necessary in the remaining wheel well due to the process of elimination theory. Once the system knows the location of the first three sensors, it assumes the location of the fourth tire pressure sensor, and updates the graphic display when necessary. For more information, (Refer to 22 - TIRES/WHEELS/TIRE PRESSURE MONITORING/TRANSPONDER - OPERATION).

For both the premium and base TPM, the recommended "Placard Pressure", "Low-pressure Threshold" and “Hysteresis Pressure Values” for the tires installed on the vehicle, are stored in the WCM non-volatile memory during the initial Manufacturing Plant Process, or during a service procedure, as required. To determine the pressure thresholds for a vehicle, refer to the Tire Inflation Pressure (Placard) Label, and then apply the placard pressure to the following table. The Low Pressure OFF Threshold is defined as the Low Pressure ON Threshold plus the Hysteresis Pressure Value.

For further information, refer to the Owners Manual or the Appropriate Diagnostic Information.



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#4 ·
I have just changed the original wheels and tires for winter & snow with steel wheels and snow tires; I live in Canada. Of course, the new snows come with new valves. The TPMS warning light is now on continuously and it will be until I put back the all season wheels and tires in April.

My question is: is there a way to either remove the appropriate fuse, and if so - which fuse; OR is there a way to temporarily remove the feature from the vehicle's computer?
 
#5 ·
I have the same problem in reverse here Branko, summers don't have the TPMS. I have found it very easy to ignore the chimes at startup and the light on the dash, if the light were too bothersome I'm sure a small piece of black tape would solve that, in the meantime I think of the money I saved not paying for another set of TPMS sensors with the wheels and tires
 
#6 ·
I could have bought a lot of electrical tape with the $100 I spent on 4 TPMS sensors shipped from Amazon.

I wonder what it will cost to replace an instrument cluster lens that was scratched while removing the electrical tape.
 
#9 ·
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#11 ·
Check TPM system?

I just got the tires rotated on Thursday on my 2010 Patriot Limited. On Saturday, I first noticed that when I turn the car on, it says "Check TPM System", and then goes to the tire pressures, which has readings for all 4 tires. It doesn't alarm, I get no other warning lights. Is this something that could have happened during the rotation?
 
#17 ·
Agreed!

Pres. Obama had an idea that everyone was driving around with soft tires, wasting fuel, and contributing to global warming. He was wrong, but when has that ever stopped Washington?

I wonder how much fuel I've wasted stopping & starting to check my tires when I got a false indication? Actually I've learned to ignore it. It always comes on when there is a drop in temperature, say from summer to fall -- 75 one day / 30 the next morning. Bing! It says soft tire. I'll drive a few miles, stop for coffee, and it goes away. Might do it for a couple more mornings until it gets used to the new cooler weather.

Then it happens again when the weather changes from fall to winter -- 35 one day below 0 the next morning. Bing! Its deja vu all over again. Once it gets used to winter it goes away.

Haven't noticed it on the transitions from winter to spring to summer however.
 
#16 ·
Yes, I know what you mean--however, if you're under 30, you may not understand that concept--recently in OR, they rescinded a law not allowing self-serve gas stations, and when some young folks had to pump their own, many had difficulty--shame.

The EVIC system--an option--allowed a 4 wheel at a time display, so you could verify all the tires, and that was nice.
 
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#18 ·
I was driving in town recently and smelled burning rubber. Noticed that the lady driving along unconcerned in front of me had already destroyed one of her rear tires and was driving on a loose tread (sidewalls were shredded). No, I don't believe that people can be relied upon to check their own tires or even to recognize that anything is wrong.
Cute to see that blaming Obama for everything is still going on, but this started long before. I recall TPMS showing up on some Fords in the late '90s, and Wiki says they were on Corvettes with run flats in 1991. The legislation requiring TPMS on all vehicles was passed in 2000 as a response to the Ford/Firestone rollovers in the '90s. And roadside inspections routinely find people driving on underinflated tires.
If it was up to me I'd make it even more draconian - for example limit vehicle speed if a tire is reading low.
 
#20 ·
I was driving in town recently and smelled burning rubber. Noticed that the lady driving along unconcerned in front of me had already destroyed one of her rear tires and was driving on a loose tread (sidewalls were shredded). No, I don't believe that people can be relied upon to check their own tires or even to recognize that anything is wrong.
:doh: She is probably married to the guy that shot a dairy cow and thought he had a buck!
Cute to see that blaming Obama for everything is still going on, but this started long before. I recall TPMS showing up on some Fords in the late '90s, and Wiki says they were on Corvettes with run flats in 1991. The legislation requiring TPMS on all vehicles was passed in 2000 as a response to the Ford/Firestone rollovers in the '90s. And roadside inspections routinely find people driving on underinflated tires.
I just remember Obama making a speech about it.
If it was up to me I'd make it even more draconian - for example limit vehicle speed if a tire is reading low.
Draconian? Agreed. But on the bright side, because there are so many false readings, it would probably eliminate the necessity of speed limits on the highways. I can only recall one time (of several dozen) that the TPMS was correct and it was obvious. It was an instant flat and I was just trying to get to a lighted place to install my spare.

Now here's an idea: How about a governor that won't let a car exceed the speed limit? If it does, it summons the police because there must be an emergency. If there's no emergency it becomes a false report to police = arrest, night in the cooler, judge, lawyer, $$$, etc.
 
#24 ·
I think you are missing the point. There are legal laws, and there are physical laws. If you drive at speed on underinflated tires you are at risk of violating physical laws. The tire will overheat, it may blow out, you may crash, endangering yourself and others. I'm suggesting that instead the vehicle could limit your speed to reduce the risk, and you could either continue at low speed or pump up your damn tires to resume normal functioning.
Many things in the modern world already work this way. An example is portable generators that will shut themselves off if they are low on oil. That's not because of Obama. It is because it will fail if operated without sufficient oil. Yes you need to top up the oil to resume operation, but it is a lot easier than rebuilding the motor.
 
#22 ·
The technology exists already. My Garmin not only tells me how fast I'm gong, but also what the speed limit is. If it were accessed by the police I could get a ticket every time my speed indicator turns red (indicating I'm over the limit). If I set my cruise control at the speed limit and come to a downgrade where my vehicle gains a little speed a message is sent to the police. If its a particularly hilly area this could result in a couple citations every mile. This is a dream come true for the traffic court!

I suppose the day is coming when a driverless car gets a ticket from an automated police car!
 
#25 ·
Not missing any point really, people have driven cars for many many years without having a warning light that doesn't work half the time, telling them when to put air in their tires. The point was that this system doesn't work as it should. If it did then there is not an issue. Check your tires once a month and you will have no problems with your tires. Give them a quick look see every day and all the better. What does Obama have to do with anything? He had nothing to do with this sensor being used. This is basically just another "idiot light" simple as that.
 
#26 ·
Yeah, the idiot light is exactly that. A better EVIC system than my bare-bones Patriot has would help, like indicating how much pressure is in each tire. But then they'll decided to render the output display in kilopascals or millibars or invent a new unit of measure to obscure it from the average motorist. Can't be straightforward if we can find some way to be technically correcter regardless of clarity.

I still have the tire pressure gauge I got when dial gauges first replaced tower gauges -- probably cost $5. Now we have sensors in each tire that cost 10 times that. While much maligned, tower gauges were cheap and worked well enough. This isn't NASCAR. 1/2# doesn't make much difference if you're traveling typical highway speeds.

It just seems things are getting unnecessarily complex. Why on earth do the headlights have go through a computer module? Maybe we need a sun sensor that will sense the direction and intensity of the sun and automatically position the sun visor to protect the driver's eyes. Some cars (not mine) already have devices to turn the headlights on when it gets dark, and sensors to run the wipers if the windshield gets wet. Talk about useless!
 
#27 ·
Several years ago, I mentored a young man, who wasn't responding to input from his parents. So, I did tutoring on the main subjects he was having trouble with, and his grades got better. Then I started letting him just hang out with me, and I decided it was time to rotate the tires on the ol' Army jeep. He learned about bottle jacks, jack stands, lug wrenches, tire pressure gauges, and the air hose. He was just 16, and had his learner's permit. I was proud of him when getting qued up for a parade, my fellow Army jeep driver in town--who was 90+--developed a slow, becoming faster tire leak. This young man jumped right in, found the screw-up jack in the jeep, changed the tire, came back to me for the tire guage, and set the fellow on his way--none of the parade participants had to even get out. How many 16 year olds would/could do that?

Fast forward another year, graduation was a week in the past and several of the kids were going to the movies in the Valadictoran's mother's car. This young fellow took a corner too tight and ran into a deep pot hole, and got a flat tire. This poor kid--the smartest one in that year's class--didn't know how to change a tire. My mentoree jumped in and found the jack, but there was no lug wrench to be found in this 5 year old car, so what to do? Knowing one of the other kids's parents drove a similar make/model, he suggested calling that parent to come with a lug wrench, and the problem was solved.

Now, I do know that we who have several decades of driving behind us have changed more than one flat tire--most of us fixed out flats--and I remember when rotating/changing tires was part of the high school's driver training program. We should feel a little sorry for these young kids who haven't had to fend for themselves and experience car ownership--and learn how to pump your own gasoline....
 
#28 ·
A number of years ago my Wife was driving south on the interstate and noticed a friend's truck on the side of the road with a flat tire. She stopped and in a quick conversation discovered his jack was either missing or wouldn't work. She went back to Her Jeep, got the jack and he used it to change his tire. She laughed thinking that passing motorists seeing a man changing a tire and a woman watching, that he was being a good Samaritan, when in fact he was changing his own tire and She was waiting to get the jack back! How nice that all those people thought good things about him! :)
 
#29 ·
I'm getting a LTP warning on my Patriot due to the low temps. I'll plug in an ODB reader and see if it gives any indication of which tire it could be. It would be nice if Chrysler had given the UConnect units the ability to show diagnostic information like other companies car modules do. But no, we can't have that, now can we?!
 
#31 ·
Does anyone know of the underhood location of the TPMS receiver module? Per OP, it the module could be #2 or #3, (base vs enhanced TPMS display).

Dealer wanted $228 to replace; I found the part online for under $75.

Thanks in advance,

John
 

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#33 ·
After 10 years and 112,000 miles the TPMS bit the dust, the light is ok (comes on at start then goes out) but the fact is that I do NOT have sensors in the wheels ,I never got them with the custom Wheels and all seasons that replaced the factory steelies(which have winter tires on them that I haven't used in two years)
I had become immune to the four chimes at each start and the tire pressure warning light flashing then going to solid on, at least I thought I had, but somehow for some strange reason I miss them now that the system no longer works. For years I silently said CaChing CaChing CaChing CaChing each time the chimes sounded ( a reference to the fact I saved so much money per wheel by NOT purchasing new sensors from tire rack when I got the Wheels)
RIP TPMS I ignored you so long I suppose it is only fitting that you quit on me.
 
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