TPMS Dealer Shenanigans?

Swapped (dealer installed) my stock OR wheels to Pro Wheels using the same TPMS sensors. 20 min after the install the PSI went blank and I got a flashing, and then solid TPMS light on the dash. Called dealer to ID issue and then skipped town for a bit. Truck sat in airport parking lot (you don’t want to see that fucking bill!)

fast forward after deployment 3 months, dealer today (in for this issue and scheduled oil change) tells me they can see the TPMS sensors on their reader, and the module is trying to communicate- but they won’t pair.

nothing has changed on the truck since before and after the TPMS system worked and now doesnt- the dealer however is questioning if any of the mods I have done to the vehicle may be causing interference???? I’ve only done some very basic things to the truck. Dual battery system from OGE and an SPOD (direct roll second battery) with some additional lighting. Cell booster too.

any thoughts? Do the TPMS modules sometimes go bad?

another thing he stated was that once the sensors are paired to a vehicle they can’t be repaired to another. Is that true? If so, did they maybe install someone else’s set by mistake/shenanigans style and that’s causing issue? trying time avoid getting taken for a ride and educating myself.

TIA.

 

So tpms sensors don’t get programmed. That’s a big mistake many people make. TPMS sensors send a signal on a particular frequency. Each sensor is a semi-unique ID. Those IDs are added to the vehicle computer basically saying, “watch for info from only these IDs”. So long as the sensors are sending in the correct frequency, and the. Imputes knows of the correct IDs there shouldn’t be a problem. Just like anything, TPMS could have an issue but it would be weird to have all of them go bad unless whoever swapped them damaged them or mixed them up.

 

The interference they mention is because tpms communicate via radio waves (pretty sure) - and improperly insulated/isolated electrical currents /can/ cause RFI - Radio Frequency Interference.

But if all that’s changed is the wheels themselves, likely an issue with the tpms system itself. Maybe they broke a sensor? Or the antenna is bad?

 

This should be quite simple for the dealer. If they can read the sensors at the wheel then they are working. They go into techstream and can verify that the numbers they read are the numbers showing up in your TPMS ECU. If this is the case your light will be off, but you will "-" marks for tire pressure readings. They can then either use the reset button under the dash and drive for a while until it picks up where they are or they can manually assign the positions. It really isn't that hard especially since the dealer has techstream.

Now they could have damaged your sensors when they swapped them, but if they can read them, they should be good. The only time there is an issue is when someone swaps a steel wheel sensor into an alloy wheel. They are a different angle so they have to be reversed and can sometimes be difficult to read.

It almost sounds like they put different sensors in your new wheels. This is easy to determine if the numbers don't match up. The OE sensors are not programable. There are some aftermarket ones that you can program.

 

Press reset button per manual and see what happens.
You need techstream to see what's going on with those sensors.

 

so, bottom line is if they gave me someone else’s OE sensors in my wheels they will never work?

 

They will work, the trucks ECU just has to be told to look for them. To grossly simplify it, let’s say your original sensors are on channel 1 and the new sensors are on channel 3. The ECU will only look for signals on channel 1 until someone goes in to tech stream and tells it to look at channel 3.

 

This is not how it works.
Techstream has only one input - enter TPMS IDs.
ECU determines the position of those IDs after x wheel speed synchronization counts.
If TPM is recognized, ECU will show its status as judging, no information, FL, FR, RL RR.
OP,
Looks like ECU is stuck in judging status.
Reset using tpms button and drive for a while

 

Except all Toyota sensors are on channel 1 (really they are all 315mhz). As I, and others, said above, you have to get the id from the sensors and make sure that's what the computer knows. If the computer is expecting IDs 1, 2, 3, and 4 on 315mhz but the person swapping the tpms sensors mixed them up and stuck in sensor ids 5, 6, 7, and 8 on 315mhz then the computer won't ever know of 5-8 until it's told to look for 5-8. The other issue, but same scenario, is if the swap was done at a tire shop and not the dealer and the sensors got swapped for some not on 315mhz then there will be no way the computer can ever read those. Some aftermarket sensors can work on either 315mhz or 433mhz.

 

I’m really appreciative of you guys explaining this out to me. I’m much more informed.

what do you suggest I direct the tech to do when he calls me tomorrow? Trucks at the dealer still or I’d go try the reset button suggest right now.

 

I would question them on not able to reuse the sensors. That's bull. I would ask them to confirm the IDs in the computer are the same as what's on the truck. Or just go pick it up and take it to a tire shop and have them reprogram them. It'll cost a few bucks but they do this all-day.

 

The first thing I would ask is if they are using techstream to access the TPMS ECU. You can use a handheld device. That is what most tire shops use. It reads the codes at the wheels and you can program the ECU, but they are limited in what they can do and are designed to be used on all cars on the road and there are a number of known issues. Techstream is what they should be using once they use the device to read the codes on the wheels. Watch this video and it will give you an idea how techstream works and what info you can get - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MECPSmg5JfI Skip to the 3 minute mark. The data utility is where they would go to see what the ecu is seeing in terms of what your sensors provides. They need to verify that the codes are there and match the sensors.

- If there is nothing there or they don't match, then they need to correct it.
- If it doesn't detect the sensors then there is something blocking your signal. It could be the wheels, it could be your mods, etc. I don't know how cell signal boosters work, but that would be the first thing I turn off.
- If it is reading the sensors and the numbers match, I would delete them and reenter. If that doesn't work, it could be a problem with the tpms ecu.

 

Did you try the reset under the dash like others have mentioned?

 

No, vehicle has been at the dealer since I posted and is still there...or def would have tried that