TPMS sensor in matching spare?

I rotate my (5) 33's, but because most of the time that means one of my current wheels started life off of the truck and is now on it, it doesn't have a sensor in it. The TPMS system on the 3rd gen seems to just completely give up if it doesn't see one of it's sensors. Great.

I had new wheels mounted 2 days ago and had them add a 5th sensor to the 5th wheel. I understand the truck itself can only have 4 sensor programmed in at a time, so every time I rotate them, I would have to delete the sensor that became the spare and add the "new" sensor into the mix.

My question is, how do I do this exactly? I've read mentions of keeping a detailed log of each sensor ID/code written down and knowing which wheel contains which sensor and then using techstream to update that every rotation, but is it that easy? I have no experience using techstream, but am willing to take a swing at it.

The truck is back at the shop this morning because they only wrote down 2 of the 5 sensor ID's. So, yep they pretty much have to do the work all over again to get to each sensor and read it to write down for me. Oops.

 

I think there is a way if you get the right sensor to clone the sensor ID to match one of the other tires so when you swap it in the truck does not notice.

 

Isn't there a TPMS reset button near the hood release? While I have not touched it or reset my TPMS, but dont you just press it and drive and it resets the 4 spinning TPMS sensors?

 

You have the process correct and it is that easy. Simplest way to keep track of IDd is to just write them on the back of each wheel.
To DIY rotate, you can use a pirated version of techstream, a tpms tool from Amazon or something like carista. Each one has its own pros/cons.
If you have a shop rotate your tires then they ought to take care of all of the programing for you.

I rotate and program them myself, but some guys rotate themselves and then travel to a shop just for programming.

That button will learn the location of each sensor on the vehicle but doesn’t add or remove IDs since there’s only 4 spots in the ECU and it isn’t capable of learning new sensors. You have to press and hold the button every time you rotate, but still need a way to remove the new spare’s ID and add the ID of the tire you put into rotation.

 

I have the $20 carista plug in that connects to your phone for some of the internal settings. This can do it you think?

The shop says they reprogrammed the truck for the current spinning sensors and that I just need to drive a few miles but it still isn't showing up after about 50 miles. I've tried holding down the TPMS reset button but it doesn't seem to be doing anything - the TPMS light blinks when I start the truck and then stays solid - everytime.

Thanks for your advice.

 

Carista will absolutely do it, but unless you are still under your free trial, you have to pay for a subscription to access the tpms programing feature unfortunately. It’s an auto-renew thing, so after you pay the $10 for a month be sure to go into settings and cancel the subscription.

I’ll edit in the page from the manual about tpms reset

 

I don't mind paying the subscription. That's brilliant, thank you. Sensor brands don't matter do they? The one they installed in the 5th wheel is a Schrader, not sure what the OEM ones are. They also broke one of my existing sensor on one of the wheels and replaced it with a Schrader as well.

 

Can you turn off the TPMS sensor setting on the Tacoma so you dont have to drive around with the light on?

 

I don’t actually know this. I have read the trucks can be picky about brands and obviously have to be on the correct frequency. I paid the $$ and bought the oem equivalents from a parts store when I did my new wheels. They were like $60 a piece I think.
I would suspect the tire shop probably gave you ones that will work as long as they are a reputable place.

I haven’t found a way, and have read from others that they had to put a piece of tape on the cluster to hide the light

 

I rotate 5 tires as well through Discount Tires. They reprogram the four rollers and toss the spare in the bed. When I get home, I toss the spare in the garage and go for a quick spin.

Sometimes they lock on and display each tire pressure correctly within minutes, sometimes it takes 10 miles. After that, I put the spare back up under the truck.

Been doing this for a few years now.

 

I was planning to get the

$199 AUTEL TS501 TPMS Programming Tool, 2023 Upgraded Car TPMS Scan Tool of TS408, TS401, Activate/Relearn All Known TPMS Sensors, Program Autel MX-Sensor [315 & 433MHz], TPMS Diagnostics & Reset

AUTEL TS501 and

$32 DENSO 550-0103 TPMS 315-MHZ Sensor for Toyota/Lexus with Factory Alloy Wheel Options. (THIS SENSOR MUST BE PROGRAMMED BEFORE USE)

DENSO 550-0103 and reprogram them myself every time I did a rotation. I would not clone a sensor on the spare to an existing sensor because then you can have 2 sensors with the same ID in the same rotation.

 

okay, I went ahead and tried it and I did find the TPMS menu within Carista. I typed in the new sensor codes and hit saved.

I’m still having an issue though because the TPMS reset button is doing absolutely nothing, it’s totally unresponsive. Like I said, when I start the truck it flashes for like 30 seconds and then stays on solid.

Below is a photo of what it read when I first opened the menu up (one of the sensors has a warning icon) and how it looks now after updating with the 2 new sensors. (Now the 4th sensor also has a warning icon).

 

Hhhhmmmmm and just to be sure: After you turn the truck on, you are holding the button until the indicator on the cluster flashes 3 times like in the page from the manual I shared?

 

I’ve held the button down while in accessory mode, ignition on, engine on, while the engine is turning on. Yeah, I’ve done it tons of times over the years and usually after a few seconds it flashes and then goes away. Now it does nothing no matter how long I hold it.

 

Sorry just wanted to be sure. The error in carista means that the truck isn’t reading that ID.
The IDs could have been written down wrong by the shop, they could not be “initialized” (if that’s a thing) after being installed for the first time, or that brand could not be compatible.
I hope I didn’t make it seem like carista would be a full tool for tpms stuff. It will work for adding and removing IDs once the sensors are sorted out, which seems to be the main issue right now...
I’ve re-read this thread and unfortunately I don’t really have any further suggestions besides not leaving the shop that installed the two new sensors until the cluster light isn’t illuminated.
Since the sensors that aren’t reading are the new ones they sold you, it’s something they need to fix.
One of your previous comments struck me as odd. You said they had to break down the tires to get the sensor IDs?
They should have a tool to program Ecus and learn tpms sensor IDs and it should only take them a minute or two. They just hold the thing by the wheel and it reads the ID

 

That was my assumption. They seem to have taken the tires off of each wheel to physically read the ID on each sensor from what I can tell.