TPM Malfunction - Check Trunk Seal

Car reported TPM malfunction. Could not select TPM in iDrive. Turns out the cause was a bad trunk seal (2007 530i w/nav/Logic7/premium/cold weather pkg)! Rain leaked from the seal at the center bottom trunk lid and into the spare tire well. There is a RDC Module at the bottom of the spare tire well. Pins on the connector got wet. Repair was cleaning the pins. And they "Coded" entire vehicle. Whatever that means. I got upgraded to the latest software - at least. Last one was earlier this year when iDrive acting up, so not much difference in this one.

What would happen if an ice chest/cooler spilled or one of many water bottles leaks after putting my son's sports gear? Or unloading after a grocery trip in heavy rain?

So, if you spill any liquids in your trunk, dry up right away and check underneath your spare.

Seems like a design oversight - not your typical German engineering quality.

Thanks goodness still under warranty.

Joe

You mean you actually let your bimmer get wet in the rain? Shame on you.

Thanks for the heads up.

That is very interesting!! My TPM light came on today but as soon as reset it, it went away. I checked the pressures on the front tires and they seemed fine. Good to know about the spare tire.

Originally Posted by joetallyho

Car reported TPM malfunction. Could not select TPM in iDrive. Turns out the cause was a bad trunk seal (2007 530i w/nav/Logic7/premium/cold weather pkg)! Rain leaked from the seal at the center bottom trunk lid and into the spare tire well. There is a RDC Module at the bottom of the spare tire well. Pins on the connector got wet. Repair was cleaning the pins. And they "Coded" entire vehicle. Whatever that means. I got upgraded to the latest software - at least. Last one was earlier this year when iDrive acting up, so not much difference in this one.

What would happen if an ice chest/cooler spilled or one of many water bottles leaks after putting my son's sports gear? Or unloading after a grocery trip in heavy rain?

So, if you spill any liquids in your trunk, dry up right away and check underneath your spare.

Seems like a design oversight - not your typical German engineering quality.

Thanks goodness still under warranty.

Joe

Maybe we need one of these.

http://accessories.bmwusa.com/ItemVi...&productId=318

dj

I think that will take care of the cooler and water bottle spills, but not sure about a faulty trunk seal.

There was another weird symptom. When I went to "settings"=>"vehicle/tire" to see what the TPM status says (before it completely failed), the iDrive went limp (no resistance "clicks" when spinning), then the speedo and tach failed, then I got a warning "complete electronic system failure" message, then a slow down get off the road as soon as possible message.

Called BMW SA: Get home, turn car off for 15 minutes than restart. All was reset, except for TPM Malfunction. SA says the computers were trying to talk to the TPM, lost communications with the RDC module, then failed.

I felt like I was driving my Dell Laptop.

Joe

Hi

I've just had a similar problem. In my case, washer fluid bottle in trunk leaked. BMW Canada doesn't want to cover repair under warranty. $1,200 for new TPM sensor and wiring harness.

I say its a design flaw to have exposed sensors in the bottom of anything where liquids will gather (gravity being what it is). Rain, wet ski boots, spilled milk or wahser fluid - it doesn't matter. Thats why you put liquids in a trunk - just in case

The only fluid I ever put in my trunk is opened liquor (and even then I will wrap the bottles up in towels). Everything else goes in the back seat for the same reasons mentioned above. With all those electronics under the truck, I think its just too much of a risk to put something like a $0.75 gallon of water back there. How much would that suck if you took a turn a little quick and the cap on the gallon of water came loose when it fell over? That gallon of water could end up costing you $1000s in repairs.

I just had TPM problem again. It happened last year 2 month after I picked up the car. I brought to the dealer, they replaced one of the sensors under warranty. But as of last week, same thing started happen again. TPM Malfunction shows up every time the car starts rolling, and goes away after 10 miles or so. Made an appointment next week hopw then can completely eliminate the problem. I do not want to have such problem every year.

hey everyone. I emailed a few of you for your help and I figured Id just post it here also. I am having the same problem with the TPM and I have been told warranty will not cover it. I was wondering for those of you they covered, if you could fax or email me a copy of the completed work invoice they gave you, I could march it over to BMW and show them that other people like me have been covered under warranty. I would really appreciate it. I can give you my contact info.

i completely agree with you with , this , they called me to tell me its going to cost me about 2200 to change the whole module in the car that has gotten wet. and yes they do not want to cover it but did your argument win ? i mean , they be losing a potential costumer for life , if they would pull this on me . and the guy who called me from bmw said i will try to negotiate with them on behalf of me . if anyone has had a smiler experience and could get it under warranty please let me know how it went . thanks

It looks like BMW's Policy of Blame the Customer is alive and well.


My advice, talk to the manager, then his manager, then his manager....someone will eventually say yes.

Had the same problem. BMW says the trunk seal was not covered. locally the seal is $85.00. The TPM module will cost me 1297.00. I am not happy with BMW NA and local dealer. They are most definitely in cahoots...

2004 525i

Originally Posted by dartery

Had the same problem. BMW says the trunk seal was not covered. locally the seal is $85.00. The TPM module will cost me 1297.00. I am not happy with BMW NA and local dealer. They are most definitely in cahoots...

2004 525i

This is exactly the same attitude they've taken with the leaky sunroofs (customer's fault): http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=259095

Here is my suggested fix: http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...5&classNum=304

My 2008 528i has been at the dealership for the past week with a TPM malfunction. I just received a call from the service department claiming water in the trunk is the problem and since it is an "outside" influence the replacement of the damaged harware is not covered under warranty. The dealership says the replacment parts and labor will start at $2,200 (there goes Christmas).

Does anyone have any information that will help me get this issue covered by the warranty? I have been to the manager and tomorrow I am going to his manager. I would be eternally grateful for any ammunition you can provide me with.

Thanks in advance!

I would ask them why the trunk seal is not working. Are they seriously saying you shouldn't park your BMW outside in the rain?

I would also ask what is going to prevent this from happening to your car again.

Has anyone been successful in getting this repaired under warranty? They are telling me I must have had bad body work because water has gotten in two modules. But I have never been in an accident or had any body work on this 2007 530XI. How can BMW get off not covering trunk seals in a car still under the original 4 year 50K miles warranty? Any info to help me negotiate with BMW will be appreciated.

If you push on them a bit they will come back with an offer of a "good will repair" which is sneaky because it means they aren't admitting it is a defect, and the next time it happens they can deny the claim.

I got really upset with BMW North America which blew me off saying dealer would not offer any goodwill repair due to "outside influence bs". I then took the car to Monrovia BMW, where I purchased the car (50 miles away). They thoroughly inspected car and found out that the leak did not come from a bad body work (the reason the screws were opened was that they had installed a Lojack device in that area) but from the SUNROOF. Since still covered under original warrantee, the sunroof was covered and they repaired it and replaced all faulty electronic modules which were affected.

Andrew Garcia at BMW Monrovia was great to work with. They kept it a long time (it was over the Christmas holiday and I was away and didn't need car) to be sure they didnt' miss anything.

Customers should not be treated like criminals (like the first one did) accusing me of negligence on a 2 year old BMW with 30,000 miles and still under original warrantee. It would have cost me thousands of dollars if I had not gone to a decent dealer which did repair it with no charge. I went to service manager of the first dealer to tell him what finally happend and he apologized and told me he would give me special treatment if I came back. I also called Stephen from BMW NA and told him final outcome and told him that how unhappy I had been with their treatment and that no customer should ever be treated like that.

Wow! What a story! Just a little neglegence on part of engineers stirs story like this. They could have placed RDC Module in different ways to prevent this. All we can do is 1. Periodically check trunk rubber seal for tear to make sure rain would not get into trunk. With a good rubber seal no water would get in. 2. Be extra careful when carrying liguid of any kind in trunk. 3. Take a vinyle bag and wrap the RDC module so that it is protected from water spills.

Originally Posted by Veniceguy

but from the SUNROOF. Since still covered under original warrantee, the sunroof was covered and they repaired it and replaced all faulty electronic modules which were affected.

What year is your 530 and what was the issue with the sunroof? Did they replace the sunroof cassette? Were the drains clogged?

2007 530 XIT (wagon). They replaced seals on sunroof. They didn't mention drains being clogged.

Originally Posted by Pitch1429

My 2008 528i has been at the dealership for the past week with a TPM malfunction. I just received a call from the service department claiming water in the trunk is the problem and since it is an "outside" influence the replacement of the damaged harware is not covered under warranty. The dealership says the replacment parts and labor will start at $2,200 (there goes Christmas).

Does anyone have any information that will help me get this issue covered by the warranty? I have been to the manager and tomorrow I am going to his manager. I would be eternally grateful for any ammunition you can provide me with.

Thanks in advance!

Which dealer did you go to?

I am having the exact same problem.

Dropped off the car yesterday and got a call today saying they are still working on the problem.

SA asked if the area around the module near the trunk was repainted, and I told him no.

The rear bumper cover cover was taken off and repainted after a woman driver scrapped it in the church parking lot six months ago.

So maybe the new excuse is that my bodyshop painted over the TPM module in the trunk Which would be a good one if it's not so pathetic...

I went to Monrovia BMW which took good care of me. In my case, it turned out to be a sunroof leak. The reason they thought it had been faulty body work was that some bolts had been opened where they installed the Lojack. There had in fact never been any body work at all. Santa Monica BMW was the one which originally blamed the outside influence.

Originally Posted by Veniceguy

I went to Monrovia BMW which took good care of me. In my case, it turned out to be a sunroof leak. The reason they thought it had been faulty body work was that some bolts had been opened where they installed the Lojack. There had in fact never been any body work at all. Santa Monica BMW was the one which originally blamed the outside influence.

Mine is also at BMW of Monrovia right now. Hopefully they will come through on mine like they did for you.