Hey guys, new to the forums and coming in with a problem lol. I usually drive diesel trucks so anything outside of my 2005 F-350 I'm ignorant to. I bought a 2007 Prius a couple months ago because I realized I was spending just shy of $300 in fuel and I needed something more efficient so now I'm that guy with a lifted coal rolling truck and a Prius lol. Anyway, the Prius has these fancy TPMS things that the truck does not have so I'm doing my best to figure them out. The light came on pretty much right after I bought the car and I figured I'd ignore it like literally every other light on my vehicles but I've had a couple days off so I decided to go ahead and work on it. Took it to a tire place, they said the passenger front is dead and the driver front has a low battery. No problem, I'll replace both of them, I've done stems before, how hard can this be? It went fairly smooth but the light is still on. Go back to the tire place and now the passenger rear is dead but all others are good. Put another one in that one and the light is still on so I go back and they had a hard time getting the passenger front to pair up and it still shows the passenger rear is bad. They go the passenger front to connect, I order another one for the passenger side rear and I install that today and wouldn't you know it? The light is STILL ON!!!! I'm so done with this, I want to order a set of 4 and just do all of them so this is over with. The problem with that is I don't know which ones to order. The ones I got already has one dead one and I'm sure the passenger front is probably dead too since they had a hard time getting it to read even though it is new and I'm just unsure as to which ones I should get. When I ordered I wanted one with the plastic back because the ones with just silicone seamed like someones cheap fix to make a buck but I have no idea what I'm talking about when it comes to these. Can someone point me to a cheapish decent set of 4?
kinda a bump post here, since I dont know too much about the tpms in Gen2 Is it the low tire pressure light? Are you aware of the reset switch? Just curious since it is not mentioned in your post
Yeah it's that light, I've tried the TPMS reset, after holding it for a little bit it blinks 3 times slowly then blinks normally for about a minute and then just stays on.
DENSO TPMS. 550-0103. Amazon.com. $50 each last I looked My tpms light has been on for 2 years. Could care less.
To end this TPMS dance with new aftermarket sensors installed in new tires on my 06, I had to manually enter the registration numbers (pair) with the corresponding ECU via techstream. I did this last fall and finally got a real warning indicator during the last cold spell. Front right was a little low, aired it up, and after a short drive light is back off. So, it works as intended. Techstream is the official Toyota software used for troubleshooting, reading/clearing codes, and many other things like TPMS, turning things on/off, etc. It's old and is best run on an old XP/vista laptop; some have had luck running it on newer hardware but one can still find these old laptops real cheap on CL, ebay, etc. NOTE: most cheap Techstream software included with an OBD cable is pirated/hacked and thus best loaded on an old computer anyways.
I'll try to find this tech stream thing, I decided to just get all 4 new sensors and put them in. Went back to Discount tire to get them paired and their machine says they are working and the light went off for maybe 30 seconds but its right back on. He said the thing in the car that actually reads them is probably the issue. Anyone have any experience with that?
There is a procedure in the manual to tell the TPMS that the current tire pressures are considered normal. It can then sense when they are low.
The manual says: 1. Park the vehicle in a safe place and the hybrid system is off. 2. Adjust the pressure of all the installed tires to the specified cold tire inflation pressure level. (See “Tires” on page 434.) 3. Turn the “POWER” switch to “IG−ON” mode. 4. Push and hold the tire pressure warning reset switch until the tire pressure warning light blinks slowly three times. 5. Wait for a few minutes with the “POWER” switch selected in “IG−ON” mode, and then turn the hybrid system off. I've done that multiple times but right after the 3 slow blinks it just blinks fast for a minute then stays solid. After turning the car off then fully on it is still there.
You will need new TPMS sensors, the batteries have likely died. You can go to any tire shop and they can figure out exactly which 1 (or more) sensor(s) is bad. It usually costs $75 or so per sensor. I bought 4 new Denso sensors for $32 each on Amazon and had them installed. I think I spent $125 to have all 4 installed and programmed. In the end, it didn’t save me much money to do it this way, but at least I have oem Denso sensors I guess.
I did end up having a similar issue. I had Sam’s club tire put my Denso sensors in, and they couldn’t program it no matter how hard they tried. I took it to another local tire shop and they struck out too. I ended up taking it to the dealer, and they got it done, though the technician said it was a bit of a struggle.
Another way is to have Discount Tire (or any major tire shop) install THEIR sensors and pair them. Should be cheaper than a dealer but not as cheap as DIY (which isn't working for you). If you're wanting to DIY as much as possible on the Gen 2 Prius, look into getting and learning techstream+old laptop. Also, HV battery health is paramount on an old hybrid. Then, there's the typical issues common to all older, used vehicles to check. GOOD LUCK!
Discount tire ended up reaching out to me after I posted how grateful I am that I didn't have TPMS on my truck and told the story. They briefed the manager at the store closest to me, and they ended up working out a deal with me to get their sensors put in the car. He rechecked all my sensors and said that 3 were working good and he manually paired them to the car but 1 was dead. They offered to just replace the one but I decided to let them replace all 4 and send these ones back to Toyota.
Very nice! I think going forward I will just have the 1 (or more) bad sensors replaced when I have a problem instead of having all 4 done at once as a preventative measure. That or just use black electrical tape to cover the warning light lol.
Or just do nothing? We have the light on for about 5 (winter) months, with snow tires sans tpms. Come spring, the light goes out. No big deal, life goes on.
That’s certainly a good option for most. My OCD can’t stand any warning lights in my face though lol. I did the black tape thing for a few weeks while I got the issue sorted out and did ok. I wish I could just be ok with the light on. After all, I drove cars for more than 20 years before ever having a car with TPMS, So you’d think I should be.
