Chevy Silverado is one of the most popular pickups on the roads today, and certainly one of my favorites.
With impressive towing capacity, toughness, and technology.
Speaking of technology Silverado’s are equipped with a TPMS “Tire pressure monitoring system” which monitors the tire pressure and temperature.
This is a great feature because it alerts you to any problems with your tires before they become serious, but what happens if it malfunctions and you get a “Sevice tire pressure monitor system”?
In this article, I am going to explain what causes the “Service tire monitor system” warning message on your Chevrolet Silverado. let’s get to it.
What is Chevy Silverado Tire Pressure Monitoring System?
Before I get to the causes of the “Service tire pressure monitoring system” on your Chevrolet Silverado, let’s talk about what it is.
The TPMS is a system in your Silverado that is responsible for monitoring tire pressure and alerting you if the pressure drops below 25% of the recommended level.
Chevy uses a direct TPMS which simply means tire pressure sensors (TPS) are installed in each wheel to gauge the amount of air in the tire.
All the readings obtained by your Silverado’s TPS are sent to a central control module which sends the information to a display on your dashboard.
The display is usually located in the instrument cluster and will tell you if one of your tires needs attention.
What Does “Service Tire Monitor System” Mean on a Chevy Silverado?
Now, that you know how the system works, let’s look at what “Service Tire Pressure Monitoring System” means on your Silverado.
In short, It’s a warning that tells you that the TPMS is not working properly or has malfunctioned.
You may also see this message if you have one of the following issues: Bad Tire pressure sensor/s or extremely under-inflated tires.
What Causes Chevy Silverado’s “Service Tire Monitor System” Message?
I briefly touched on this above, but let’s look at what causes this warning to appear in more detail.
1. Faulty Tire Pressure Sensor/s
The number one cause of this warning is a faulty tire pressure sensor.
If you have one of these sensors malfunctioning, then it will cause the TPMS system to not be able to read your tires correctly and send you a warning.
Since Tire pressure sensors on your Silverado use batteries to power them, they can also go bad over time.
From my experience I would say, 99% of the time a “service tire pressure monitoring system” on your Silverado is caused by faulty tire pressure sensors/s.
If you find that this is the case and need to replace your tire pressure sensors, make sure that you also replace all four tire pressure sensors at the same time and not just one.
This way your TPMS sensor will still be able to read the pressure of all four tires properly.
2. Under Inflated Tires
On some occasions, this warning can be caused if one or more of your tires are losing air pressure and need to be filled up.
If you have just driven your Chevy pickup and the warning light comes on, check your tire pressure before driving again.
If the tire pressure is low, fill it back up to the recommended PSI in your owner’s manual.
How Fix and Clear the Service Tire Monitor System on a Silverado?
The first thing I recommend that you do is check your tire pressure for all four tires.
If the tire pressure is low, you can find a portable air compressor at any auto parts store or go to the nearest gas station and fill them back up.
Next, if your tires are not losing air pressure, then take your Silverado to any local Chevy dealer or a qualified mechanic to get the tire pressure sensor replaced.
I advise that you avoid doing this yourself (Unless you know what you doing).
Although it’s pretty straightforward to replace the sensors and relatively easy, they need to be properly calibrated a small mistake could result in an inaccurate pressure reading.
Additional Sources
https://www.classicchevrolet.com/what-are-the-best-tires-for-my-chevrolet
https://www.huberchevy.com/blog/how-to-do-a-tpms-reset-on-a-chevy/
https://www.goodyear.eu/en_gb/consumer/learn/what-is-tpms.html