Are Tire Pressure Sensors universal?

[retaufies]

I bought a second set of OEM 17"wheels for my winter tires. I have the tire pressure system in my 2007 Avalon. Must I buy tire pressure transducers from the local Toyota dealer or are most transducers universal and work on all cars? Do you register the new tire pressure sorsors by resetting the system?

[RningOnFumes]

Welcome to TN.


No need.

It was new regulation for 07s and up for manufacturers but in terms of owners needing to keep with the regulation, no. The worse is that you'll be driving around with the low tire light for the whole winter.

[Amaury]

Originally Posted by retaufies

I bought a second set of OEM 17"wheels for my winter tires. I have the tire pressure system in my 2007 Avalon. Must I buy tire pressure transducers from the local Toyota dealer or are most transducers universal and work on all cars? Do you register the new tire pressure sorsors by resetting the system?

One option is to relocate the sensors/transmitters from your stock tires to your new tires. The sensors are an integral part of the valve stems. Be careful when disassembling the valves (inner grommet, washer, nut & valve core) especially when touching the flat portion of the valves (try to keep this contact to a minimum; this is where the electronic part of the sensors is located along with the lithium batteries). Since you’re keeping the same sensors there is no need to register each transmitter ID to the tire pressure ECU.

I don’t think the sensors are universal; they ought to be specific to their car makers, since the sensors are a node of the vehicle’s multiplex or CAN communication network and car manufacturers are very air-tight when it comes to the algorithm of their communication program.

Resetting the system by depressing the driver’s reset switch won’t register transmitters’ ID; only the dealer can do it via Toyota’s proprietary software. The switch, however, is used to set the inflation pressure value threshold that the system uses for reference.

Amaury
’08 Limited

[avytouring]

im getting a OEM tire pressure sensor fitted through a dealer for my spare tire is there anything i need to look out for at present im getting a tire pressure light on which the toyota dealer told me that is because of a missing TP sensor in my spare wheel tire (i guess the previous owner of the vehcile may have taken it out)

[jkg065]

Originally Posted by avytouring

im getting a OEM tire pressure sensor fitted through a dealer for my spare tire is there anything i need to look out for at present im getting a tire pressure light on which the toyota dealer told me that is because of a missing TP sensor in my spare wheel tire (i guess the previous owner of the vehcile may have taken it out)

Is your spare a full size tire or one of those temporary "donut sized" ones? I could not find any info concerning the spares being equipped with the tpms. In your particular situation if you bought a previously owned vehicle from that dealer aren't they responsible for ensuring that the spare tire had the tpms included?

[avytouring]

JKG

the dealer wasnt a toyota dealer but a general dealer who had from audis to bmws etc, he has agreed to reimburse me for the cost of getting a TPM in the full size spare wheel

the toyota dealers are ripping me off asking 344$ aprox for installing one sensor in the sparewheel

whereas a independent chrome wheel tire dealer is getting me the sensor for 134$ installed.

now if go to this tire guy who is supposedly ordering this sensor OEM (as perhim) im just conerned sicne this is not going to be done by a toyota dealer should i be worried in a sense that the sensor would match and help in getting that annoying tire pressure light to shut off

[jkg065]

By going to the tire guy for this supposedly OEM sensor by all rights isn't he supposed to verify before and after installation that the TPMS is functioning correctly. I would place the tire in the open trunk and proceed to manually deflate that tire which would in turn activate the low pressure warning light in your dash board. The TPMS is something new to me as we have only owned our '08 Corolla since June. I have been reading up on it since, thus my original question regarding TPMS in fullsize/donut spare tires. I may be in error regarding your TPMS spare tire as there may be another way to verify function of that sensor besides what I suggested.

[avytouring]

i was thinkin on similar lines. thanks for the idea
the dealer (tire guy) said they will test it for sure.

[jkg065]

Good Luck & Happy Holidays! Please post results when deal is done.

[TrailDust]

Originally Posted by avytouring

the toyota dealers are ripping me off asking 344$ aprox for installing one sensor in the sparewheel

If it's at all possible (depending on where you live in the LA area) go down to Elmore Toyota in Westminster. They're honest and do damn good work. I have no affiliation with them, other than being a happy customer for many years. $344 for that installation is outrageous! I'd even report that to Toyota corporate as such. Food for thought.



TrailDust

[avytouring]

Folks! the TPM light is finally gone

after the chrome tire guy installed the sensor (the same on which toyota uses) the light was still there and he was unable to turn the light off inspite of all the tires including the spare having the same spare

he said the system reset is kinda weird that switch under the steering which is supposed to reset th settings may as well as be not there . It s a clever ploy by toyota to force the customer come to them

so i went to a another toyota dealer he said the sensor isnt toyota's the one installed in the spare
he however rest the system and charged me 92$ for it saying it wouldve been free if your sensor was toyota's

so in the end instead of spending 345$ (which was quoted by toyota for installing and procurement of a sensor in the spare tire)

i spent only 92$ for gettign that light to reset (for reasons explained earlier)

the 134 $ i paid for the sensor to the chrome guy will be reimbursed to me by the dealer i purchased the avalon from (non toyota dealer)

so i still saved money rather than spend 345 bucks
lesson learnt is buy a sensor outside and get it installed and if youre having a light on problem get it fixed for 90 odd bucks u will still save 100 bucks

if there is anyone here who knows that small button for reset is for anyway!
and in what situations does that work

(my vehicle is still in warranty, lets hope i dont face any other major thing)

[Amaury]

I’ll tell you what happened.

Your chrome tire guy couldn’t do everything because he isn’t a Toyota dealer (he should’ve known the nature of your problem long before he took your order). Getting the sensor was half the job; if your chrome tire guy thought that pressing the reset switch after installation was the other half…well, what can I tell you? No wonder he said the system reset was kinda weird.

The Toyota guy had to deflate & demount your tire to have access to the sensor so that he could read the sensor’s ID and manually input this 7-digit number, digit by digit, in the vehicle’s tire pressure ECU via Toyota software. Prior to this step, he had to delete the previous sensor ID registration (for the sensor that was missing, remember?) that was, in part, causing the light to blink. Once the new registration was completed the Toyota techie remounted and inflated your tire back to 32 psi. At any moment during this procedure there was not need to mess with the reset switch.

Amaury
'08 Limited

[avytouring]

Amaury
thanks for your reply and shedding light on the procedure
i went to toyota delaer first to procure the sensor (one that was missing)
its only becuase of their outrageous quote that i had to work around this problem

the chrome tire guy had said this earlier he is using the same sensor the toyota installs in their cars. and said if it doesnt work toyota will not charge that much anyway to reset it. it worked for me as i saved 250$ thats not a bad bargain at all

but yea the chrome tire guy shouldve known better, but still he still saved me money