Intro & TPC Shenanigans

[EricGregory]

Greetings everyone.  I'm new to the forum and new to Porsche ownership.  I picked up a 2008 C4S just over a month ago.  So far, I absolutely adore the car.  It has the same feeling you get when you pick up a good sword, it instantly communicates how it's to be used.  So far, I've done an oil change, a serpentine belt change, and some detail work on it.  

 

Anyway, the TPC decided it wanted to deactivate itself and now I've got the annoying warning lights goin' on.  If this was a lesser car, I'd slap some electrical tape over the light and move on.  But, obviously, I'm *not* going to do that to the Porker.  Personally, I hate TPMS.  If you can't be bothered to properly check your tire pressures periodically you've got no business driving, but that's just me.

 

Everything I've seen states that Durametric Pro is needed to disable TPC/TPMS entirely.  Does anyone else have another solution?  I'm in northeastern PA and would be more than happy to provide beer to anyone who could help turn it off  :thumbup:

 

Thanks Much

 

 

Eric

 

Edited July 1, 2014 by EricGregory

[0356kid]

Just guessing, but you might have a dead battery on one of your sensors especially if all tires are at the right pressure. If you have an extended warranty (CPO), the dealer should cover all 4 replacements (they did on my 08C2S). You can also search this forum on buying aftermarket sensors at a considerably reduced price over dealer pricing for the originals. Since our cars don't have spare tires, I wouldn't deactive your TPMS even if you can. Pesonally I like the feature although I am in agreement with you about checking tire pressure on a regular basis.

[EricGregory]

The other reason that I'd like to get it deactivated is because I plan on buying a winter tire/wheel setup for it and I'd rather not plunk down the addition couple hundred bucks on the sensors.  

[JFP in PA]

Greetings everyone.  I'm new to the forum and new to Porsche ownership.  I picked up a 2008 C4S just over a month ago.  So far, I absolutely adore the car.  It has the same feeling you get when you pick up a good sword, it instantly communicates how it's to be used.  So far, I've done an oil change, a serpentine belt change, and some detail work on it.  

 

Anyway, the TPC decided it wanted to deactivate itself and now I've got the annoying warning lights goin' on.  If this was a lesser car, I'd slap some electrical tape over the light and move on.  But, obviously, I'm *not* going to do that to the Porker.  Personally, I hate TPMS.  If you can't be bothered to properly check your tire pressures periodically you've got no business driving, but that's just me.

 

Everything I've seen states that Durametric Pro is needed to disable TPC/TPMS entirely.  Does anyone else have another solution?  I'm in northeastern PA and would be more than happy to provide beer to anyone who could help turn it off  :thumbup:

 

Thanks Much

 

 

Eric

 

 

Can the system be deactivated?  The answer is yes, but no dealer and most independent's will not do it for multiple reasons.  First, it is a federally mandated safety system, so if it is deactivated, the car won't pass inspection in most states.  Secondly, there is a huge potential liability issue for anyone that does disable it.  If the car was subsequently in an accident with serious injuries, or worse, a sharp lawyer would pick up on the fact that it had been disabled and come after whoever did it.  So no one wants to touch the hot stove in fear of getting burned.

 

As pointed out, one or more of your wheel sensors has probably had the battery go dead.  If you search around, there have been several threads posted about cheap aftermarket sensors that can be substituted for the over priced Porsche units.

[spiffyjiff]

yes it can be deactivated but you need a durametric as well as to remove the tpms brain (somewhere in frunk, toward rear, driver side?).  there is a write up somewhere over on rennlist, a GT3 i think. 

[Mijostyn]

Actually, TPMS that gives you actual pressure readings is a good thing. I always checked my tire pressures twice monthly. Now I do not have too. Sometimes the car feels funny to me and a quick look at the TPMS rules out a tire leak. It is usually just road conditions.

Running around with the wrong pressures ruins expensive soft tires fast. You can get fine sensors for 200 the whole set and they last 6-7 years. You do not have to remove the tire to change the sensors. You just use a bead breaker to break the bead and hold the tire out of the way while you change the sensor. You will have to rebalance the wheel.

This is a federally mandated safety system and it is illegal to tamper with it. However like my clear marker lights I doubt anyone would turn you in for it be even if they noticed which they probably won't. Have fun trying to find someone with a PIWIS to turn it off.

[EricGregory]

Thanks for the info. I ended up getting this taken care of. Viva la Durametric Pro.

[cam2008]

Thanks for the info. I ended up getting this taken care of. Viva la Durametric Pro.

Ditto I did the same just yesterday. I had changed the TPMS sensors with HUF's as they went dead, till some of them starting acting up after I changed them. Too much money to maintain that system.