Chrysler Town & Country Tires and Wheels

rondrag

We drive a 2004 Chrysler Town and Country Touring. It has the system that checks tire pressure. Whenever a tire pressure is low, the normal message is "Low tire pressure in 1 tire(s)". However, whenever the temperature falls below 40F degrees, the message "Service Tire System Soon" is displayed in the message console. I check tire pressure in all 4 tires, and they are all right on. If the temperature raises during the course of the day, the message goes away.

I could care less about the tire pressure monitoring system. Is there any way to just disable the system to make this message go away without having to bring the car to a Chrysler dealer and having them replace whatever sensor is malfunctioning?

Thanks,
Ron D.

gblument

Well, welcome to the club. I just serviced mine (it's a 2003 T&C Limited) and the dealer told me that when I had my tires replaced, the service man might have broken one of the sensors in one of the wheels, and it would cost me around $700 + labor to repair it.

I am on the same page as you are, for I asked the dealer to simply disable this monitoring system and he told me there is no way, until I get it serviced properly.

I didn't buy it, hence, here I am, looking for the answer to your question (actually, now, our question...).

If I come to know about it, I'll e-mail you, and would appreciate if you would do the same for me. My e-mail address is gblument@gmail.com and my name is Guilherme Blumenthal.

Thank you (and good luck to us...).

Claires

If you can continue the discussion here instead of in email, you have the potential to help countless members who might be having the same problem.

smithduluth

I have the exact same problem with a 2004 Pacifica. The dealer tried to tell me that I needed 35psi cold in the tires. We tried that and it lasted half a day.. It's at the dealer again today, so we'll see what they do about it.
I do not have great hopes as it's been there before for this problem and they do not seem to be able to fix it. My warranty is up next summer, so I am really pushing them to fix it this time.

rondrag

Please let me know what you find. I don't know about you, but mine is like clockwork. When it hits 40 degrees, the message comes on. Since the air in tires contracts when it gets colder, I could see what one might need to increase the tire pressure, but then I don't understand why the error isn't "One tire(s) with low pressure" rather than "Service Tire System Soon". It doesn't seem like increasing the pressure is the solution, and I have no warranty to cover a sensor replacement.

smithduluth

They replaced the right rear tire pressure sensor.. #5127335AD for "intermittant transmission". We will see if it stays fixed. It was covered under the 3 year warranty.

frankstc

My wife dropped our 2002 T&C LTD off at the dealer this morning for an oil change and correction of this problem. We've been getting theis message for a quite a few months. The last time we brought it into the dealer (Grand Prix Jeep Chrysler on Long Island) we told the service advisor to clear the message - he said the tires needed rotating. We declined the tire rotation because I knew I was about to buy new tires. Now the service advisor is trying to tell me that the tire installer could have damaged the sensor. I explained that would be impossible since the message came up long before the tires were replaced. The advisor is telling me I'll have to pay diagnostic charges if the sensor was damaged by the tire installer or if I hit something. I'm flabbergasted to say the least because I have a full 0 deductbile extended warranty in place and it seems like I'm being set up here. I'm wating for a call back but I don;t have a good feeling. I may just bring it to another dealer who will honor the warranty if Grand Prix won't.

bpiotro

I also drive a 2004 Town and country. I just had the the tire sensor replaced. It was a $50 part and $50 is labor. I only had one bad sensor.

frankstc

Thanks for the reply. The dealer switched gears on me and said I needed a brake job and they then conveniently forgot about the tire pressure sensor. When I picked up the car the paperwork stated that the tire sensor system was reset and tht I had been instructed to ceck my air pressure monthly (which never happened). So after getting a brake job and an oil change I'm STILL getting the message. I'm going to bring the van to another dealer and maybe I'll have better luck. The guys at Gran Prix Chrysler are appartently clueless.

jrsygirl

The crazy service guy at our dealer told me it was because when our tire guy replaced our tires he put metal caps on instead of the plastic/rubber ones. I thought he was nuts but i live in a part of Cali where the temp can vary 40 degrees in one day. I had been living with the stupid light for over 2 years. Put plastic caps on- no more light- unless it is low... go figure.

frankstc

I believe the metal caps are an integral part of the sensor system. If you put plastic caps on the sensor system will not work at all. I am assuming you'd still get the service message with plastic caps. I'll try it this weekend...

toolman1848

I have a 2002 T&C Ltd and the tire pressure system had been working fine until last week. A tire dealer could not remove the valve core stem from one of the sensor valves (corrosion I was told) so they ordered another sensor. They installed a regular valve in the tire until the sensor valve came in. At that point, I started getting a periodic message, asking me if I had the spare on the care. I hit the "yes" response. Then the new sensor was installed. Now I get the same persistent message but now I hit "NO" response. The the message tells me to get the Tire system serviced soon, and see the Owner's Manual. No one seems to know how to reset the system. Perhaps the new sensor is not working. I will not pay for $100 plus solutions! All 4 tires are new and filled with Nitrogen and have green plastic valve caps. Has anyone come up with a solution?

toolman1848

There is an inexpensive solution (free) after all. I am out of town so I decided to find a Costco store in the area since I bought the tires from a Costco store and I knew they would have nitrogen in the event I needed to add any to the tires. They reset the Tire System valves for me free of charge and said they do this for free for any of their members. All I had to do was hit the menu button on the system monitor in the car until I came to the item asking me if I wanted to reset the tire system. Enter "Yes" and then the service person takes this special donut magnet to each valve, holds in at the valve, the horn beeps once, then moves to the next valve, clockwise, starting with the driver side front tire. All 4 valves are now reset and problem solved! I wonder why the Chrysler dealer would not tell me this when I called. They said I had to bring the car in so they could check it out to find out what the problem was, then probably charge $100 or more to "fix" it! What a scam!

salaryman

Here's a strange one....

I decided to pull the spare today on my 2003 Grand Caravan. No issue, just wanted to check tire pressure etc. We just bought it used. Checked the manual and followed the instructions. It says to turn the knob until the tire is on the ground and can be removed from the mechanism.

Did that. But the tire stayed near the top. The cable spooled out through the connector piece, but I could not get the tire to drop. Looking at the thing, it appears that there was a safety running to that would hold everything in place incase the metal wire broke.

Question. Am I right that there is a safety and if true, how do I get the tire to drop.

If there is not a safety, then what do I need to do? I hung from the tire and it didn't go anywhere.

I'd really like to get this fixed on a nice sunny day rather than wait for a flat in the middle of a rainstorm.

Thanks.

Steve

lefty429

Salaryman,

Did you ever figure this one out? I'm in a situation where I need to get the spare off and am having the same problem. The cable comes down, but the tire isn't dropping. I've tried a number of things, but something is not letting lose.

Thanks

salaryman

No...any nobody else seems to have this problem.

Let me know if you get it solved.

Steve

flavife

Did you solve your problem to lower the spare? If not let me know and I can send some information sketches or pictures on how to release the safety catch.

Frank

lefty429

I never figured this out and would love for you to send some information. Please send to leftyjunk111@neo.rr.com - Thanks so much.

Karen_S

If you create a guide with this information, I'm sure a great many would appreciate it. You can start here: http://www.carspace.com/guides

flavife

I will be glad to but I would like to wait to see how "lefty429" made out with the information I sent him in case I need to make changes or additions. Hopefully he will try it in the near future and let me know.

Frank

jcronley

I've changed quite a few tires in 30+ years of driving, and today I changed a rented 2007 Town & Country on a busy Illinois state highway. The "hoist" system for the spare is unique as far as I know, and bizarre. It requires you to drop the tire and drag the spare from its center position between driver and passenger seats to the side of the car, where you can then disengage it from its holder. Problem is, the exhaust runs down the passenger side of the vehicle, preventing you from doing it on that side. You must then lay next to the car on the traffic side, which was risky for me even with someone to flag traffic into the other lane. It would be nearly suicidal to do it alone. Then, the clever locking mechanism for the spare was tricky to figure out, and the full sized flat wouldn't accomodate the mini-spare's molded plastic cover. The military has a term for this sort of engineering, it begins with "cluster."

I concede that if I had an owner's manual, which the rental company removed, it would have been easier. I doubt a person intimidated by mechanical things, male or female, would be able to change this vehicle.

For the people concerned about removing their spares: The crank handle specifies that when you retrieve the tire, you crank it until it clicks three times. I recommend making sure that it's fully drawn up to three clicks, it's possible there's an interlock mechanism that allows you to drop it again later. Just a guess.

I recommend that women driving this vehicle get a AAA membership, as they will never be able to change it themselves. And I really hate the idea of joining AAA.

jimel

I am sure everyone in this thread has already resolved their spare tire blues already, however I had the pleasure of being stranded today with my 1999 Town & Country.

I turned the crank so the cable went all the way down to the ground with no luck. Same as everyone else, the tire was still suspended with the safety latch engaged.

I got a 16 inch long flat head screw driver and cranked the cable back up so that there was only 2 inches of slack in it from the tire itself. I noticed that the safety latch was froze and rusted up. Crawling under the tire (with the van NOT jacked up yet) I pushed up on the tire with a knee and then hit the back of the release lever twice with a hammer on the screw driver, and the tire popped down the two inches of slack on the cable. The lever was tricky, there are two forks that hold the nylon bracket in place. The release side of the lever is a square piece of metal outside of where the nylon bracket is being held.

I am not sure how safe this was, but I was able to drive home and live to fight another day.

upnorthguy

I haven't looked at a 2003 specifically, but on my 2000 Caravan, the spare was held in place by a spring-loaded latch. When you start cranking the nut that lowers the cable, the weight of the tire is supposed to cause the latch to open. The problem is that corrosion can easily cause the latch to freeze...which is not a fun thing to figure out when you are on the side of a road with a flat.
It took me 15-20 minutes with my van up on ramps to free the latch. A flathead screwdriver, wire brush, some sandpaper and a bunch of lube got it working again. I've read on some other boards that people make this an annual thing to make sure the tire is accessible when needed.

harveylj

So, my 2002 T&C is out in the parking lot with a flat tire and I get out of work at 11:00 PM. What's the best way to get the spare tire off? I'm having the same problem as Steve/salaryman.

Harv

backy

I had to buy new tires for my 2007 T&C LX last week. I had just taken the van in for its 60k servicing and thought I would need to replace the tires (OEM Goodyears) soon, so told the service writer not to rotate them. He told me later that day that the tires had some life in them, enough for another year or so. Great, I thought, and got them rotated. Two days later, I walked up to the van, parked in my driveway, and noticed a huge chunk missing from the driver's side front tire, and the rim was dented and wheel cover pushed in. I asked my wife what happened. She said she hit a pothole, but with the REAR tire. I said, no, it was the front tire. Then I went out and looked again. The rear tire had a big chunk out of it too.

I had to immediately go out of town for a week. I asked my wife to take it in Monday morning to the local tire shop. Fortunately I had checked on tires when I thought I'd need to buy some soon. I found the Falken Sincera SN-828 and it seemed to have good reviews for a reasonable price. That is what the tire shop put on. With lifetime replacement/road hazard warranty and lifetime free rotation and balancing, the total was a little over $300. I got to drive the van today on a 200 mile trip and I was impressed by the ride smoothness and low noise from these tires--much smoother than the Goodyears, although those tires had 60k miles on them.

P.S. My 2007 T&C does NOT have TPMS. But it is odd in other ways, also, e.g. it has DRLs and my understanding is that is not a standard feature on the 2007 T&C LX. I bought it a year ago with 50k miles on it. I am wondering if it was a fleet car, although it was in too good of shape (absolutely spotless, wear-free interior) for a rental IMO.

bigmac5

2007 Chrysler town and country limited with stow and go seats spare tire is between the passenger and driver seats. Recently I was traveling in a lane of traffic when I came upon 3-5 inches of water in the lane. At about 25 miles per hour, I heard a loud bang on bottom of van. The next day I discovered the spare tire assembly and winch/cable assembly were missing. I think the water hitting the bottom of the van caused the tire to let down and snapped off in the water. Has anyone else had this problem. It is a $565 replacement fix.

harveylj

My spare tire is still stuck! My only solution was to buy new tire and save one of the older ones as a spare. It is bungee corded to the back (bench type) seat and is a real pain when I want to remove the seats to use the back for transporting large items as I do not have stow and go. It also leaves very little room for groceries or other items behind the seat. :mad:

diy_warrior

I have a 2002 Chrysler Town and Country Limited with a Service Tire System Soon message that I have not been able to get rid of. The car was brought to Discount Tire where they told me I had two bad tire sensors. I had them replace the two bad sensors and the problem still is there. I thought they improperly reset the sensors until I watched him go around to each tire with the magnet and hearing the horn honk each time a tire checked in. I thought that was going to be the end of it, but the problem is still there. After a couple minutes of starting the car and driving, the message comes back. I was even shown the testing tool that was used to check the sensors. All four tested ok. They told me they did all they can do. Now I'm left with the prospect of spending $100 at the dealer to get a diagnostic. Any help would be appreciated.