Tyre Pressure Monitor - Valve warning...

[Flipper_Man]

Now that I've got Tyre Pressure Monitor on my current bike ('09 GSA) I admit I dont check the pressures manually very often..... However....this has resulted in a problem I thought I'd mention here.

Through lack of use.....and potentially over tightening when at the dealer for its service in Dec - the valve caps on both wheels have corroded on.

Stupidly (I KNOW it was stupid) I used a pair of pliers to, very gently, get the rear one moving.......fell apart like it was made of chocolate - sheared the thread right off at the same time.

I swear it was the gentlest of squeezes with the pliers.........but pretty stupid of me.

.....£75 for the valve with TPM.......feck me thats not good value.

Anyhoo - the dealer is going down the warranty route so we'll see what happens. I had to get it done urgently so picked up the part and got my tyre fella to fit for me this pm. I'll be going back to dealer to get front one done when back from trip down to Devon in a couple of weeks.

I'm assuming they need coding to the bike ?

The point I want to 'air' here is that a) Check your valve caps after a service - I'm convinced they were over tightened during service and hence now corroded on;
b) even if you're not checking your pressures manually - check your valve caps for corrosion regularly;

BTW - the bike was getting washed every week and I was doing around 500-600miles /week.

So whilst the TPM is great (in my opinion) and prevents you having to check the pressure manually all the time.........watch out for those corroded valve caps - at £75 a pop its worth checking them regularly.

I'll let you know how the warranty claim goes.......

 

[haga lout]

ive got a set i got from mooworks for my other wheels never got round to fitting no use now if somone needs a set

 

[harry]

You'd do yourself a big favour by checking with a guage more often, the sensors can be wildly inaccurate

 

[wadham]

The Tire pressure readings are only there to make you worry and keep checking it on long trips around Europe.

 

[Owen Snell]

I have seen this on car forums as well - for some reason the TPM valves are a bit weak. Make sure to keep the TPM unit to get the OEM manufacturer and part number details, some types are available on www.ebay.de (German ebay).

 

[Paul Wakefield]

You'd do yourself a big favour by checking with a guage more often, the sensors can be wildly inaccurate

Doesn't really matter if they are inaccurate as long as they are consistent. If you know the tyres are at the correct pressure when you last pumped them up, you only need to monitor for change.

In my experience the TPC is both consistent and accurate anyway and is one of the most useful optional extras.

 

[Buz]

I have seen this on car forums as well - for some reason the TPM valves are a bit weak. Make sure to keep the TPM unit to get the OEM manufacturer and part number details, some types are available on www.ebay.de (German ebay).

I'm sure when i picked my 650 up last year the sales bloke said they are aluminimuminumum to cut down on the weight and to be carefull cus they snap like a ripe thing in ripeland.....

 

[SMB]

A little while ago I found that the caps were very tight - corrosion?
I put a small amount of ACF on the threads - no problem since.
SMB

 

[SpudBoy]

I've a late '09 GSA, and my valve caps are silvery plastic. No problems with corroding on. Maybe a design enhancement after feedback, or maybe a cost cutting measure....

 

[greggs]

Tyre Pressure Thingys

My tyre pressure thingys had silver plastic valve caps(OEM), and seemed to loose air slowly but consistently. I put on some nice shiny stainless steel ones and the tyre pressure remained contstant with a loss of 2 psi at each end during 5000 km's.
12000 km trip total, and added air once ! But, it does need dong again now I am home.

cheers
gregGS

 

[RichieS]

Chocolate valves....

I concur with the first post. I was in a petrol station and thought i would put a couple of psi in the front......and we all know how hard it is to get the bloody air line on to a motorcycle valve.....especially with wire wheels.

Filled up fine, but valve snapped off when i took the air line off

Instant deflate

i was in Portsmaouth at the time.....and i live in guildford

BMW recovery got me home.....very nice man

£65 just for the valve plus fitting

Now have to have it reconfigured....no doubt more cost!


and the lesson here is.....angled tyre valve attachment for filling up AND BE CAREFUL!!!!!

 

[Flipper_Man]

I've a late '09 GSA, and my valve caps are silvery plastic. No problems with corroding on. Maybe a design enhancement after feedback, or maybe a cost cutting measure....

Yeah - the new part I got yesterday has the plastic caps.........design fault........I smell a warranty claim for the rear AND the front. Checked the front cap this morning, been adding a little WD40 over the last day.....still tighter than a gnats chuff........lets hope the pressure stays ok for a week.....

 

[Kremmen]

When you see all those brightly coloured HP valve caps in the shops i would ask the question before buying ...... are they plated, probably not so will corrode on if no lubricant is used

I use caps which are use on commercial vehicles which are cadmium plated.. these definitely don't corrode to the valve stem and without any lubricant.

 

[skywalker]

Every bike thats got TPS on it has silver plastic caps on them so I fail to see how plastic can corrode on to metal. If you've got metal ones on them then that can happen especially if they're those cheap anodised ones. They've always had plastic ones on them so somethings a miss some where.
The best way to blow you're tyre up with TPS is to invest in a right angle tyre valve and then put it back in your tool kit when you've finished with it.
DO NOT LEAVE IT ATTACHED TO THE WHEEL. The extra weight of the valve will throw the wheel out of balance and it will cause high frequency vibrations on the valve which will eventually fracture it causing rapid tyre deflation

 

[Flipper_Man]

Every bike thats got TPS on it has silver plastic caps on them so I fail to see how plastic can corrode on to metal.

Not the case with my '09 GSA thats 11months old now - metal caps on both wheels.

 

[SURMANATOR]

Not the case with my '09 GSA thats 11months old now - metal caps on both wheels.

My 58 GSA Has the silver plastic caps on no issues with these

 

[GrinningGSer]

All GS's with TPS were shipped with plastic valve caps. Now I know why.

 

[Giles]

BOLLOX !!

I have just done something very similar. I have snapped off the top three or four mm of the valve trying to fit a slightly awkward air line on. Watling tyres have stuck a normal valve in for me, and my dealer is telling me this can't be a warranty claim. Meanwhile the on board computer is going haywire telling me to pull over and stop!! (Although it took about three days to decide to do this, don't know why it didn't warn me for the first two ).

So I can only reiterate, these are made of chocolate! Use with lots of TLC ....