How to Reset the Tire Pressure Monitor (TPM) on a 2009 BMW 328XI

It’s that time again. Time to watch the small low tire pressure indicator light flip on in the instrument panel of your BMW 328XI. When this happened to me just a few days ago, I was like, “Uh oh. That’s not good.” I think my first reaction was to think I had a flat tire. Then, I remembered what month it was. October. It gets chilly in October and that chill reduces the air pressure inside tires. I remember this happened in my pickup truck as I was driving from Florida to Maine. Right in the middle of Virginia – bam – the low pressure light came on. It took me around a year to fill the tires up to the recommended 70 pounds. I always thought that was a lot for a tire, but that’s what it wanted. As soon as I began driving around, the indicator turned off by itself with no action from me.

BMWs are a bit different when it comes to things like this. Because the computer needs to know when the tires have proper pressure in them, it’s not advised to reset the indicator without first filling the tires with the correct amount of air. If you do reset when the tires are low, you just told the car that whatever it is currently inside the tires is right and when you do get around to filling them, the light will come back on. That’s because the computer will think they’re overfilled. Moral of the story – never reset the indicator light without property inflating the tires first.

Here’s a photo of my current instrument panel in my 2009 BMW 328XI. That’s right, only a little over 35,000 miles. Not bad for a 7 year old car. I keep thinking if we didn’t take this car to Florida, it would have even less. Oh well.

Here are the instructions you need to follow when attempting to reset the indicator light in your 3-Series.

1. Fill the tires with the correct air pressure. The rears call for 36 pounds and the fronts call for 32 pounds.

2. On the left side of the steering wheel is your turn signal. Inside that control is a toggle switch. Push the switch up a few times until you see the RESET indicator appear on your instrument panel display screen.

3. After the RESET word appears, on the same control, push the BC button in and hold it there for 5 seconds. The word RESETTING will appear in the instrument panel.

4. Once the vehicle is in RESETTING mode, you’ll need to take the car for a cruise. I’d say it only takes a few miles. Once the tire pressure monitor has been reset, the warning lamp will automatically turn off. And that’s it.

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