TPMS Malfunction Flashing Light

[capttris]

I've got 95,000 miles and now 6 years on my 2013 Legacy, and have original TPMS sensors. Never had an issue.

A few days ago I got the flashing TPMS light for 1 minute than steady. Checked all tire pressures and good.

Figured it was probably a bad sensor with low battery.

 

I was an hour away from home on a business trip and stopped by the local dealer since I had some time to kill.

I told the "Advisor" Lady the situation as described above and that it's probably a bad sensor.

"How much to troubleshoot the TPMS and replace a bad sensor?", I asked

Lady - "Well it's $137 per hour for troubleshooting, that's all I can tell you"

Me - "Troubleshooting TPMS with your wireless reader should take about 5 minutes. 1 minute per wheel. Then it's just the cost of the sensor and the cost to pull the tire and replace. What would that total cost be?

Lady - "Let me ask."

She is gone for about 3-5 minutes..

Lady - "$216 plus tax. Do you want to drop it off or wait?"

Me - "How much is just the sensor"

Lady - "$89" plus tax

Me - "Wow, MSRP on the sensor is $69. How did you arrive at $89?"

Lady "That's just what the parts dept told me"

 

I left as fast as I could.

 

Then did an online order at my local dealer for $42, drove over to my local Mavis and told them the situation and asked how much.

$20 they said. They ring it up as the cost to fix a flat tire.

And yes, it only took about 3 minutes with the TPMS meter to read each wheel and see that one of the wheel sensors wasn't transmitting. No Charge for this.

 

total cost: $42 for sensor, $20 for the install & free TPMS troubleshooting.

vs $216 from that crazy dealer...

 

Amazing....

[FLlegacy]

Lucky you, every time I went to discount tire the light was off, so they couldn't tell which sensor it was. After over a year finally got it fixed. $60 installed.

 

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