$$$!! tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) in older vehicles

mostly22lately

mostly22lately

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I have two 15 year old vehicles.

The wheels on both contain the TPMS technology of that generation, where small battery-powered sensors beacon the tire pressure to a receiver in the vehicle.

The sensor batteries are now dead from age. You can't change the battery; the sensor is sealed, and has to be changed out in its entirety.

At the local tire shoppe, they can replace the sensors with new ones, at a cost of $100 per wheel, all in.

Anyone know of a place where this isn't quite so costly?
 
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Scsmith42 said:
Check on e-bay. My MIL’s 2008 Prius needs the same thing. A set of 4 is less than 40 bucks. Just need to install them and then program them. I think that the programmers on e-bay are pretty economical too.
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I see that I can buy the sensors, could probably change them out myself, and maybe even buy the gadget to recode them or whatever ...

all for less than the $800 the shoppe wants ... but ...

I have to pull the wheels and dismount and remount the tires. I can't do that at home.

Hm.
 
I would mask it with a piece of tape cut just right. I drive a couple older vehicles that don't have it so I don't know what I am missing. My TPS is looking it over before I get in it. If you were going to sell it, having them repaired could be a good thing.
 
Whether you can change the battery/rebuild the sensor or it has to be replaced, either way the tire needs to be partially dismounted and should be rebalanced if a new sensor is installed.

Sure, aftermarket, and even universal programmable, sensors are cheaper than what a shop is going to charge for OEM or their part store version, but the parts are the easy piece of the puzzle. Some vehicle brands are difficult to program, like Toyota/Lexus.
 
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Diablos said:
cheaper to ignore em
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Yeah I like them as much as I like automatic headlights.

They aren’t foolproof and they negate learning the trait of walking around your car for a visual inspection of the tires before driving.
 
Ignore them is best. (Future business model TPSlightturnoff.com)Amazon has china made ones if you really want.

Jeep guys buy the china ones and place in a tube and pressurize the pvc tube and leave it in the back to get rid of the light.

You couldnt pay me to have a shop dismount and remount my tires. Usually thats when the bead gets damaged.
 
Several years ago a lady that worked for me was on her way to work in the wee hours of the first cold morning of the fall. About a mile from her house the tire sensor comes on. She arrives to work, late, and is explaining to me that her “flat tire” light came on. She pulls over, calls a tow truck, then her husband whom brought her to work. She got pissed when I asked her if she walked around and LOOKED at the tires. Technology is fine but it can’t replace basic life skills or common sense.
 
mostly22lately said:
I have two 15 year old vehicles.

The wheels on both contain the TPMS technology of that generation, where small battery-powered sensors beacon the tire pressure to a receiver in the vehicle.

The sensor batteries are now dead from age. You can't change the battery; the sensor is sealed, and has to be changed out in its entirety.

At the local tire shoppe, they can replace the sensors with new ones, at a cost of $100 per wheel, all in.

Anyone know of a place where this isn't quite so costly?
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In 2021 discount tire charged me $60 per wheel. Which included dismount, parts, install, remount, balance and reprogram.
 
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MCQUADE said:
Several years ago a lady that worked for me was on her way to work in the wee hours of the first cold morning of the fall. About a mile from her house the tire sensor comes on. She arrives to work, late, and is explaining to me that her “flat tire” light came on. She pulls over, calls a tow truck, then her husband whom brought her to work. She got pissed when I asked her if she walked around and LOOKED at the tires. Technology is fine but it can’t replace basic life skills or common sense.
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Some women have issues with tires. 😉

 
Embrace the idiot lights. Become one with them.

We were up to, I dunno six or so lights on the dash and my wife joked that it would one day just start counting down....5...4...3...2...
 
mostly22lately said:
I have two 15 year old vehicles.

The wheels on both contain the TPMS technology of that generation, where small battery-powered sensors beacon the tire pressure to a receiver in the vehicle.

The sensor batteries are now dead from age. You can't change the battery; the sensor is sealed, and has to be changed out in its entirety.

At the local tire shoppe, they can replace the sensors with new ones, at a cost of $100 per wheel, all in.

Anyone know of a place where this isn't quite so costly?
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What kind of vehicles? some vehicles, like Mopars, just need to have the sensors put in the wheels and it'll ID them on their own. Others have a programming procedure that is a little effort, but can still be done with no tools. You wake up the sensors by adding or dropping the air pressure in the tire. There's also some that can only be done with a TPMS tool.

If you do go with programmable sensors there's a few brands that I prefer. Schrader, Alpha, Alligator and Huf are good. I don't like the Redi Sensors. They can be glitchy. OEM sensors are definitely better, but not enough to be worth the extra money if you have a programming tool.

You're a little bit of a drive from me (just north of greensboro), but if you want to get some blank sensors programmed or paired to the car, I have a few different TPMS tools to play with.

Joe
 
JoeR said:
What kind of vehicles? some vehicles, like Mopars, just need to have the sensors put in the wheels and it'll ID them on their own. Others have a programming procedure that is a little effort, but can still be done with no tools. You wake up the sensors by adding or dropping the air pressure in the tire. There's also some that can only be done with a TPMS tool.

If you do go with programmable sensors there's a few brands that I prefer. Schrader, Alpha, Alligator and Huf are good. I don't like the Redi Sensors. They can be glitchy. OEM sensors are definitely better, but not enough to be worth the extra money if you have a programming tool.

You're a little bit of a drive from me (just north of greensboro), but if you want to get some blank sensors programmed or paired to the car, I have a few different TPMS tools to play with.

Joe
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2008 model year; Honda CR-V and Toyota Tacoma PreRunner.

Can I buy a 'universal' programming / test tool? Seems like the reputable-looking one are pushing $300.

Then, I was looking at Amazon and all the cheap sensors there are very ... sketchily-named. The name brand ones cost almost as much as the tire shoppe wants

Just put new $$$ tires on the Tacoma today, to find out the act of doing so basically killed the old wheel sensors, which were originals and past the end of their life anyway.
Ergh.

Replaced 11 year old tires that were dried out and unsafe.

Wheels all nicely balanced and everything. Smooth. Took a ride to DPRC and it was like being in a limo.
Don't want to foul this up by dismounting the tires.
 
mostly22lately said:
2008 model year; Honda CR-V and Toyota Tacoma PreRunner.

Can I buy a 'universal' programming / test tool? Seems like the reputable-looking one are pushing $300.

Then, I was looking at Amazon and all the cheap sensors there are very ... sketchily-named. The name brand ones cost almost as much as the tire shoppe wants

Just put new $$$ tires on the Tacoma today, to find out the act of doing so basically killed the old wheel sensors, which were originals and past the end of their life anyway.
Ergh.

Replaced 11 year old tires that were dried out and unsafe.

Wheels all nicely balanced and everything. Smooth. Took a ride to DPRC and it was like being in a limo.
Don't want to foul this up by dismounting the tires.
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The Toyota will need a programming tool and a scan tool (Maybe just a TPMS tool if it has OBD2 capabilities). The Honda may not even need sensors. A lot of CRVs used the wheel speed sensors to determine tire inflation. (On edit, I looked up the 2008 CRV. It has TPMS Sensors)

The universal tools are good at triggering all brands of sensors, but many aftermarket sensors need to be programmed first. Until they are programmed they have no idea what info to transmit, or even what frequency to use.

the Chinese and cloned sensors you find on EBay aren't perfect. You may get one or more that doesn't work if you buy a set of them. I don't mess with them because I don't want the headache.

You don't need to dismount the tires or change the balance of them to change the sensors. Just break the top bead install the sensors and re-inflate it. You won't change the balance by much. It'll only change by the difference in weight of the new sensors.

It's funny how changing tires can kill the TPMS sensors. They have 3 transmitting modes. 1) Rest Mode. Car isn't moving. Sensor transmits once an hour. 2) Moving mode. Once/minute. 3) Flat tire mode, they stay in transmit mode. That's what kills them. They might even recover after a couple of days, but way less likely in this cold weather.

Joe
 
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I hear ya. My 2007 Tacoma had same issue; I tried to ignore for about 6 months, my OCD even had me thinking about selling the truck because of it; LOL.. But, after researching and deciding that I did not want to take the time to do it myself, I bit the bullet and let my local shop do it. I think it was about $100 each. But, my sanity was worth it and I didn't end up buying a $40K truck to ease my tension; so i consider it a win. :)
 
Is there any way with a scanner to disable the entire TPMS system?

Or buy some cheap replacements, program them and put them in a tube inside the vehicle. People survived for a very long time without having TPMS monitors in cars.
 
Took said:
I hear ya. My 2007 Tacoma had same issue; I tried to ignore for about 6 months, my OCD even had me thinking about selling the truck because of it; LOL.. But, after researching and deciding that I did not want to take the time to do it myself, I bit the bullet and let my local shop do it. I think it was about $100 each. But, my sanity was worth it and I didn't end up buying a $40K truck to ease my tension; so i consider it a win. :)
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... we may be related. Wife read posting and applauded
 
Our son drives our old Sonata to college and the TPMS light is always on. I don't recall the amount but it was going to be pricey to fix so I just told him I knew it was a bit aggravating but to ignore it and get in the habit of checking his tire pressure like I did growing up. He has been surviving with it always on for 2 years now ))
 
My father in law is staying with us a few days, and as luck would have it, his TPMS light was on in his 2010 Ford Fusion. It came on a couple of months ago and the shop recommended he put all 4 sensors in. He declined and just got the one done. Today the other 3 were dead. The original ones lasted 14 years, and 86k miles. We put in 3 more new ones. Tried a new brand today. Novo. We'll see how they hold up. They programmed easily and wake up instantly when hit with the TPMS tool, so they look good so far.
We also had to put an ABS module in it. The ABS and Stability Control lights were on, but there was no communication with the scanner. I picked up a used one and reprogrammed it.
Hopefully that'll hold him for a while.
 
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beamernc said:
Is there any way with a scanner to disable the entire TPMS system?

Or buy some cheap replacements, program them and put them in a tube inside the vehicle. People survived for a very long time without having TPMS monitors in cars.
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There's a few Fords out there that it's possible to disable the TPMS, but that's about it. I don't know of any others.
 
yeeyee said:
In 2021 discount tire charged me $60 per wheel. Which included dismount, parts, install, remount, balance and reprogram.
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Same here. I had ignored the light for months, but the system had done its job a couple of years before and saved me the cost of a tire, so I decided to fix it.
 
I had two sets of tires for my car at one point -- summer and all-season. The all-season tires had the sensors, so most of the year I had the light on. I, like you OP, am OCD and did not like seeing the light on the panel so I spent awhile trying to figure a cheap way to disable the system. Eventually I gave up and after awhile I just stoped noticing the light altogether. It hardly bothers me these days.
 
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