Do I need the whole TPMS sensor to fix air valve?

That's through dealership, and yeah, my $200 guesstimate up the page seems about right. Is your estimate from a dealership or tire shop? I'm really suspecting the latter. That's not to say they won't do it right, get the sensor initialized properly, but verify with them: have they done Toyota sensors before, are they confident it will work, guarantee it?

 

TPMS in each wheel has limited life span of battery inside. The battery cannot be replaced once dead. Whole TPMS has to be replaced with new one. I made mistake on my previous first TPMS sensor equipped car some years ago by taking it back to a dealer, costing me $200/visit x 4 = $800 when this could have been done ~$200 total at a local tire shop.

 

Sound like it is an aftermarket TPMS with rubber stem. Yeah, the looks hurt, but that long stem is much easier to take off a cap and check pressure and/or put air in with air compressor. Believe me, been there, done that!

 

Not long enough for a missing sensor. While I never timed the cases when I forgot to reprogram after seasonal tires swaps, I've certainly driven more the 5 minutes before my TPMS alert came on. (Maybe 10-15 minutes? I went almost 10 miles down the highway, but there are 5 stoplights between me and the highway on-ramp.)

A low pressure reading should trigger an immediate alert once the car receives the signal. But a loss-of-signal condition is not alerted immediately, the car gives it a while for multiple tries.

I.e. he doesn't know how it works either. Don't believe those ideas.

 

Yeah, I know, but she said she had the flat tire with broken stem TPMS in the car all that time. In any case, it is now a moot point. She has a brand new TPMS.

 

I don't get that too: as soon as the car doesn't get a sufficient pressure signal from any of the four sensors, the warning light should go on. That's the object of the exercise.

We live with that light 4~5 months of the year, with snow tires on the car.

 

@fuzzy1 has it...it can take a 20-30 minutes drive for the TPMS computer to sort out a non-working TPMS.

TPMS responds quite fast as far transmitting pressure data, but if no new data is being transmitted, then that takes the computer more time to figure out that a lack of data is happening. Also it might be possible fake a pressure reading in certain failure modes...I do this intentionally with a TPMS in a binder clip for one of my tires.

 

I seem to recall, when switching over to snow tires (on separate rims, no tpms) it can take a few minutes to get the light. Maybe. The regular wheels/tires are in a stack directly adjacent to the car where it's parked too, likely a factor.

 

I checked Techstream and I have one sensor with low battery. Every morning when I drive to work, the TPMS light would blink right from the start and for a while then becomes solid. I didn't time it, but certainly within couple mins.

 

That's kinda early. I think right now it's typically 07~08 at the latest, starting to see battery failures.

I'm almost waiting on ours to fail, so I can replace with regular. There's no inspection or regs about tpms up here.

 

Yes.

It’s the most powerful diagnostic tool you can get for any Toyota, Lexus or Scion vehicle.

Paired with an old laptop and you’ve got what the professional mechanics have.

 

Techstream is an official Toyota diagnostic system. You can get it official version from Toyota for hefty subscription fee, or get rip off version from ebay. It has way to communicate with car's computer and allows you to diagnose many, many things, so I hear. I got one of those cheapo rip off version off eBay, but yet to be able to work on my old laptop. ScanGuage is third party diagnostic tool, also very popular among Prii owners and any car enthusiast.

 

There are ways around that issue.

There are plenty of old laptops to be had (my in laws had one they didn’t want so I have it for our Techstream setup).

Now all that laptop does in life is run Techstream .

Currently being used to rebuild a pack by another member.

It can be a bit fiddly to get going, but once you do, you have EVERYTHING you’ll need.