I live in the Chicago area and it has been in the teens here lately. My Red Triangle of Misery came on and it shows Low Tire for over a week. I have put air in all the tires, they were showing about 27 PSI and I brought them up to around 30 (tire said 31 PSI max). The light went off, but came back on before I left the gas station lot! I have a brand new (2000 miles) LS430. I am going to call the dealer, but could this possibly have something to do with the cold weather?

 

In another 2004 thread this is being talked about. See https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...hreadid=109537

 

Jennifer,

I think for those of us who live in cold snowy areas, the Low Tire Monitor system is going to be a problem. I am very surprised that Lexus would put a system on the LS that is prone to false warnings for many of us that drive in conditions that are just normal winter driving.

This is my first Lexus and I don't know how they are at addressing issues like these, but just from our experiences, it would seem like they need to make some modifications. As I said, I would rather have it disconnected than put up with all false reading.

If anyone has any ideas on how to organize and bring this to Lexus' attention, count me in!

 

I live in Chicago also. My 2004 has low tire come on twice. Really three times but we won't count the time I bent the rim and tore up the tire with pot hole and edge of road.Temp changes does affect air pressure maybe one tire a little more then the other three. Yes its a pain. Someone suggested running 35 so it can drop 3-5 lbs without low tire going on. I hope everyone complains to Lexus and not just the dealer.

 

Jennifer,

as I understand it, this system does not have anything to do with the tire pressure, but somehow measures the tire revolutions and when it detects a variation at one or more of the wheels, it turns on the warning. If you notice, it never tells you the actual pressure of any tire and it doesn't even tell you which tire it thinks is low. This is what service advisors at two different dealers told me. They also said this is a new system and as of December they had no experience with it. If our experience is any indication they will become very familiar with it very soon.

The first time mine went off after driving in a few inches of snow, I checked my tires with a dial gauge and they were all within the range of 35 to 35 1/2 pounds.

My question is will they only make changes to future models or correct our systems also?

 

The post by Jennifer G and MAlaimo on the low tire appears to be correct. I had the following problem: after my 10,000 mile service, I started out on a trip and after about 10 miles the light went on. It had never gone on before. I checked the tires at the next station and all appeared ok. To make a long story shorter, a few days later my Lexus dealer told me how to turn off the warning with the under the dash button. Again it went on a few days later. I brought it in to the dealer and they checked everything - said I was good to go and maybe one tire had been one pound low. Sure enough a few days later on it goes again.

After a few months of experimenting, I discovered that it was always going on almost exactly 10 or 11 miles after I started out somewhere. If I drove 7 miles then stopped and then another 7 it would not go on. So the main thing was that it was totally consistent that when I drove 10-11 miles without turning the car off on the light would go. I brought it in to the dealer again for my 15,000 mile checkup and still with this info they couldn't figure it out. But the night I left it for service I found this forum w the note from JenniferG and MAlaimo and it all fit together. This thing has nothing to do with temperature or anything else. It has to do with how they adjust the tires and if something is slightly "off" then the light can come on. After the 15,000 mile checkup and whatever they did w tire rotation, the problem is gone. I am getting snow tires soon and half expect the problem will come back. Bottom line is this system is not quite ready for prime time and there are probably some tire adjustment pointers the service people need to be aware of to quickly solve this problem for people when it occurs.

 

There is a recall on this - I had the system upgraded on my LS430 and have had no problems since. You should talk to your dealer.

 

I agree with Mandingo - there is a service notice on this. I had the same problem a number of months ago in Atlanta (where it does not get very cold) and my dealer changed what I believe was a small computer that monitors this and several other things. I have not had an issue with it since.

I think you have to complain about the problem before they will make the change.