resetting wheel sensors

i changed out my oem alloy wheels. with a oem steel set and the factory steel wheels has the tpms in them. my question is whats the process on getting them reset so the light well go off and thay would be monitering my air pressure

 

If your original sensors are gone, the codes are still in the tpms ecu. You gotta get the new codes off the wheels on the truck and have them put in, the dealer & some tire shops can do that. The sensor codes are printed on the part on the other side of the valve stem. Not sure if they can read them without breaking down the tires.

Also there is only room for 5 codes. the ncttora site has the factory manual which goes over the system pretty in depth but that is the jist of it.

Are your factory alloys w/ the sensors still around? If so and you are keeping them, you can just do a reset off the steering column. The sensors send a signal and keep the light off if you are keeping them. This is what I do with my winter set. Every once in awhile it throws the light out of range (trips to Maine) but when I return home it resets. This has been my experience over the last 4 yrs.

 

so your telling me i have to break all 4 tires off the wheels to get serial numbers. could i use the vin # off the truck thay came from?

 

you will have to break down the tires to get at the TPMS sensor serial numbers. Unless you have paperwork from where you got your other ones(doesn't sound like you do) or if you still have access to the other vehicles ECU where your new ones came from if they haven't been wiped out. You will most likely need the dealership to do the communications and downloads to the ECU for you for $$. I bought myself a TPMS quickreset tool from Tirerack.com so I could do all that myself for $135.

 

Supertaco is correct. Unless you have the #'s from the TPMS sensors already, you will have to break down each assembly to get them in order to reset them.

 

The dealer can scan your TPMS without breaking down the tires.


May be cheaper than having the tire shop break down the tires AND re-program the TPMS codes.

 

You do not have to break down the tires to get the sensor IDs. Any decent tire shop and many general mechanical shops have TPMS tools that can read the electronic IDs off the sensors - including those on Toyota vehicles.

To read an ID, a tire's TPMS sensor is activated so that is starts broadcasting. Some of the newer tools are able to electronically activate the sensors. Older tools require manual activation of the sensor. Once the sensor is actively broadcasting, the reader is held near the tire/sensor and reads the sensor ID (and other information) that the sensor transmits by radio frequency.

Even if they charge a premium for use of the TPMS tool, a shop should charge you much less to electronically read your sensors than they would charge to dismount and break a tire down. You can likely get a package price on reading all the sensors and reprogramming the ECU.

Bartec, a TPMS tool manufacturer, has some videos showing the use of their tools. At the bottom left of the home page menu are links to demos on a Toyota 4Runner and a Prius. Reading sensors and programming the ECU is really as easy as the videos show.

 

Yes, anyone can scan the TPMS for it's unique id # even at the factory using their own tools regardless of who makes the tpms.

However the activation process works differently for tacoma tpms sensors than it does for the tundra sensors due to different suppliers. (at least at the factory)

For the tacoma tpms, toyota needs the id/barcode printed on a label that is applied to each tire/wheel assembly so they can activate the tpms in addition to scanning them. They need that id printed on the label so they can manually enter the id or they can scan the barcode that is also printed on the label. You will not see this label by the time it reaches the dealership.

This process isn't required for the tundra. Toyota can just activate the tpms sensor using only scanning tools. It is much easier.

 

Ok, So I bought a set of OR wheels from a guy who took them off his TRD and mounted them with their original TPMS valve stems. I took the time to write down the id codes on each in case I needed them or a scan for whatever reason didn't work. So, now, I'd rather find someone local to SE PA who already bought the ATEQ tool from TireRack and wants to recover some of their cost instead of taking my truck to the Toyota dealer. Anyone out there?

Otherwise, I guess I could be the buyer and offer to help program other ECU to recover some of my costs (I think TireRack is currently charging $135, and the tool apparantly can only do up to 4 vehicles).

Thanks for any comments and or offers

 

That reset tool from ATEQ does only do 4 vechicles but I wouldn't be concerned about that. If a guy were to start using it help out other people all that would need to be done to get past the 4 vechicle limit would be to just uninstall the program and then reinstall it (takes about 2 minutes). It is a software based unit that you download information to a handheld unit and then take the handheld unit to your vechicle, so by reinstalling the software that would reset your 4 vehicle limit.