Can a bad tire pressure sensor drain the battery

[cgott42]

I have a 2013 Leaf (one of the first)
And the tire pressure light comes on and the repairman said it’s faulty

I also find that my battery drains super fast
Can the faulty pressure reading be causing the battery issue (eg continually checking). The repairman said it’s cost $700 to replace all 4 sensors so want to know if it’s worth a shot

 

[knightmb]

I have a 2013 Leaf (one of the first)
And the tire pressure light comes on and the repairman said it’s faulty

I also find that my battery drains super fast
Can the faulty pressure reading be causing the battery issue (eg continually checking). The repairman said it’s cost $700 to replace all 4 sensors so want to know if it’s worth a shot

If you mean in the wheel, then no. It has it's own battery built in. The Leaf only reads tire pressure when the vehicle is On and Rolling because those tire sensors go to sleep after a while when the wheel is stopped and have to be spun to wake them up and start sending readings to the Leaf.

As far as faulty sensors, I think you can buy them much cheaper online and just pay a tire shop to install them for much less.

 

[Stanton]

And the tire pressure light comes on and the repairman said it’s faulty

I also find that my battery drains super fast

I think these are 2 different questions (with completely different answers).
@knightmb already answered the TPMS one (the sensors are quite expensive, although I don't see why you have to replace all of them).
Your 12v battery is probably old/weak and needs to be replaced.

 

[alozzy]

A digital pressure gauge costs $40, add a reminder to your calendar to check once every couple of weeks. Personally, I wouldn't pay $700 to regain TPMS.

 

[cgott42]

Let me clarify.
The green light with t image of a car and arrows below. Comes on and off- from what I understand if it’s not always on that could signal an EV system malfunction
Also the yellow triangle warning light comes on sometimes. The mechanic said it’s because of bad sensors in the tires
Can the sensors be removed entirely ?

Can the car be continually reading the sensors and getting info causing my EV battery to drain too fast (I’m barely getting 50 miles under optimal conditions. More so the battery drains at a normal pace then drops 20 miles I. An instant - it shows 8 of the 12 bars available. Shouldn’t that give 75 miles. I’m thinking there’s some wrong - erratic warning lights and quick drops in mileage - not simply due to an old battery

 

[Stanton]

Can the car be continually reading the sensors and getting info causing my EV battery to drain too fast (I’m barely getting 50 miles under optimal conditions. More so the battery drains at a normal pace then drops 20 miles I. An instant - it shows 8 of the 12 bars available. Shouldn’t that give 75 miles. I’m thinking there’s some wrong - erratic warning lights and quick drops in mileage - not simply due to an old battery

You are mixing/confusing multiple issues...and I'm not even sure any of it is due to TPMS (sensor) issues (because you don't mention the "low tire pressure" image illuminating). I am only going to address the one I copied above (for now)...because it's probably your biggest issue.
First, TPMS doesn't have anything to do with "draining" any battery in the car (either starter or traction). The wild fluctuation in both mileage and SoC indicates a serious problem with your traction battery pack. I suggest you post some LeafSpy readings/graphs to continue the discussion, as I suspect you have some bad/weak cells (or worse).

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

I have a 2013 Leaf (one of the first)
And the tire pressure light comes on and the repairman said it’s faulty

I also find that my battery drains super fast
Can the faulty pressure reading be causing the battery issue (eg continually checking). The repairman said it’s cost $700 to replace all 4 sensors so want to know if it’s worth a shot

No.

What is "super fast?" and are we talking the traction battery or the 12 volt?

FYI; that light and the warnings are very very low power. It would take weeks to kill a AAA

 

[Nubo]

... the yellow triangle warning light comes on sometimes. The mechanic said it’s because of bad sensors in the tires...

Per the owners manual, this is the meaning of the "yellow triangle":

Yellow master warning light:
The yellow master warning light is located on the upper display.
This light illuminates when a yellow warning light on the lower display is illuminated or when a message is displayed on the vehicle information display.

It's just to grab your attention and make you look at the rest of the dash to see what is wrong. The tire-pressure warning lamp looks like this:

Are you seeing that light when the triangle is lighted? If not the master warning is about something else.

Can the sensors be removed entirely ? ...

Of course, they can be removed and just put normal valve stems in the wheels. But that is entirely unnecessary, as the TPMS would still complain. The sensors are in no way related to your battery issue so that is not a reason to remove them.

If your sensors have actually gone bad, then you have a choice
- simply ignore the tire-pressure warning and check the tire pressures regularly as the world did before TPMS came along.
- replace the faulty TPMS sensor(s) to continue having the car monitor the tire pressures.

Some would view the first choice as reduced safety and depending on where you live, safety inspection may mandate that you restore the TPMS function.

 

[cgott42]

Note sometimes the triangle light is yellow other times red
Currently the car is in the repair shop so I don’t recall if the tire pressure light is always on
I guess my immediate Q is this. The repair shop (a Nissan dealership) says the yellow /red TRIANGLE is due to faulty retire sensors which I should just ignore and take my car back
Is that possible. Or are they clueless
Ie is there anything I can expect them to do or should I just take the car back

 

[LeftieBiker]

The main problem here appears to be that the OP bought an early build 2013 with the "Canary Pack" that degrades as badly and as quickly as the 2011-2012 cars. The build sticker is located on the driver's side door sill. I predict that it will indicate that the car was built before April of 2013, which would mean it has the old, bad battery chemistry. Shame on any shop that wants to replace tire sensors on an old car to the tune of $700. Generic sensors could be installed for less than half of that, and as noted, they don't have to be replaced at all, as they have nothing to do with the traction battery.

 

[Nubo]

Note sometimes the triangle light is yellow other times red
Currently the car is in the repair shop so I don’t recall if the tire pressure light is always on
I guess my immediate Q is this. The repair shop (a Nissan dealership) says the yellow /red TRIANGLE is due to faulty retire sensors which I should just ignore and take my car back
Is that possible. Or are they clueless
Ie is there anything I can expect them to do or should I just take the car back

You're still tangled. Red and Yellow triangles are two different things. Yellow means there's a yellow warning on the lower dash. Red means there's a red warning on the lower dash. You're supposed to then check and see what those warnings are.

The triangles are not specific they just mean "Check the dash to see why we're lit up". The yellow triangle doesn't mean tire sensors are bad, unless the tire pressure warning is lit and you have verified (with a gauge) that the pressures are correct. (Note, if one or more pressures are low, and you put in air to correct, the light won't go out until you begin to drive again).

The red triangle has nothing to do with the tire sensors; it's telling you there is a red warning elsewhere on the dash. Again, when these master warnings are lit, you have to check the rest of the dash to see what the specific warning is.

In any case I would not pay a dealership $700 to replace the sensors even if you need new sensors. As others point out, if needed you can get those parts more cheaply and have any good mechanic or tire shop replace them and re-balance the wheels.