Tire pressure sensor for 2008

Someone on here a couple weeks ago got it done for free at Discount Tire because when he got a new set of tires they didn't try to sell new ones to him and one of them had a worn out battery that turned TPMS light on day after install.

Also you can do your own by buying a set online for $30 if you have some tire irons...

 

Dealer will charge more than $100 each and you'd be looking at about $500 total. Ebay will sell you the exact same TPMS sensor as a set of 4 for about $40 and a tire store would sell that same set for about $80

 

I often wonder why people even want to maintain that system, any tire shop will remove the sensors and replace them with regular valve stems for free when you buy new tires, that stupid light on the dash is going to go on any ways even if you buy new ones and stop it for a year. The light on the dash does not do anything other than let you know you have an expensive problem again. I am used to mine blinking 6 times on startup then staying on. Been that way for over a year and couldn't give a single care, LOL! If you refuse to replace them 3 or 4 times you just got a free set of new tires. Win-win!

 

That does indeed raise an interesting point... Because for $40 you can buy valve caps and a wirless display that will give you tire pressure data and not having a TPMS in your tire means less unsprung weight, which means better MPG. And if you can find a screen that's able to cover flat tire warning light without covering other warning lights? Thanks for the thought... Inspires me to do some research!

 

Or just use a piece of black tape to cover the sensor light if it bothers ya.

 

The brand of sensors made for the Toyota Prius and all the wheel hardware if you look at the back of the center caps on your wheels have the tire off flip it over see the word Pacific on the center cap If you look on eBay you can buy Pacific green label TPMS sensors which came with your car from the factory for $44 for a set of four My tire store in Central North Carolina while I was changing my tires at their place of business charged me $7 to literally screw on the new TPMS sensors but they didn't have the tool or the wherewithal to register said sensors and make the light go off I did that later at the house. So they charge $7 to screw on the TPMS sensor I think they charge the same to pull in a rubber tire stem or valve because that's essentially what you're doing when you change the TPMS sensor it's the equivalent of pulling in a new rubber fill valve It takes about 22 seconds a wheel The other one's get thrown on the floor the new ones get screwed on the car If the person knows what they're doing that's doing this or you have already written down the number of the sensor and what wheel it's on just for the time being someone can use that information in the Toyota software to register the new sensors or they have a TPMS tool that makes the sensor wake up and makes the car relearn the new sensors that are now on your wheels some places you can spend $500 for this if you're not careful possibly more If you buy the properly branded sensors that I've given you above that should knock this price down to about $48 to get them on the car with your new tires so on and so forth.

 

I have not replaced any of my 2008 Prius's tire pressure sensors in over 10 years.
I just have regular valve stems, that were installed at the tire shop.
I covered the LIGHT on the dash, so I don't have to look at it.

 

Yes I checked my tires with my gauge more than pressure sensors even need to worry with because I changed my tire pressures if it's snowing things like that if I'm going to go out on the trail and it's soft We let some air out of the tires have a compressor in the vehicle etc etc so the tire pressure monitoring system is more of a pain in the butt than it is anything else It doesn't even warrant an orange lamp It truly doesn't It should be something that can be switched on and switched off because if you're using the car for other things like working on fence lines or whatever you may alter your tire pressures for the type of things you're doing so having this stupid orange light on your dash all the time sometimes flashing sometimes nothing all of that is pure bunk I know what my tire pressure is in my tires believe you me when you check them with your manual gauge they'll be within 1 lb of what I say they are and cheap tires too.

 

If you desire to keep them functioning, just buy them through Rock Auto........the DENSO 5500103 is available for $36 each

 

I keep a hacky sack in my glove box for if I ever get in standstill traffic, I can get some exercise... It also works well to hide the TPMS light which only comes on if I drive for more than an hour, then it goes away in a day or two. But I like the idea of eliminating that system entirely with something that's more advance and lightens unsprung weight.

 

I would wager that the TPMS senders which mount on the top of the valve stem weigh almost the same thing as the ones that mount on the bottom. Both types have the same pieces: a battery, a sensor, a transmitter, and a case which can handle the forces. So the change in unsprung weight would be negligible. The weight distribution on the wheel would be slightly different, and for the same total weight the car will do less work with more of the weight closer to the center (smaller lever arm to accelerate that mass). I doubt this effect would exceed the noise in the measurement. The wheel and tire together weigh much more than a TPMS unit.

Let's do the math with approximate values for a car plus and minus installed TPMS units. Not sure what a mounted Prius tire weighs but something on the order of 40 pounds. A TPMS unit weighs about an ounce. 40*16/1 = 640/1 = 640. You're never going to be able to measure the difference in MPG between 640 oz and 641 oz wheel/tire/(plus minus) TPMS.

 

It is not about saving weight, it is about saving money by not buying perishable sensors. Peace of mind come with that decision free of charge too lol

 

Didn't we establish that the mechanic with the Austrian (?) accent who does Prius videos on YouTube is somewhere in that neighborhood? Google search really doesn't want to work for this... OK, after some work, found it in this thread:

Map showing Prius specialists in your area | PriusChat

FOREIGN AUTO SPECIALIST - 19 Photos & 22 Reviews - 1305 10th St, Arcata, California - Auto Repair - Phone Number - Yelp

Arcata is indeed very close to Eureka.

 

Why? Tell him to just ignore the light.

 

I've had a couple experiences with TPMS sensors on my Prius(es).

I had some intermittent issues with my Gen 3 (2011) Prius on the tire sensors. I found a set of 4 OEM Toyota/Lexus on eBay for $50. I also have a friend who's got an OBD2 tool that's capable of programming sensor IDs. Before I took the car to the tire shop to get the winter tires mounted, I laid the new sensors out next to the tires and programmed the new sensor IDs into the car. After I was able to read the pressures (near 0 since they weren't in the tires yet) and temperatures from the new sensors. Then I took the car to the tire shop who installed the new sensors when they mounted my winter tires.

I also recently bought a Gen 5 (2019) Prius that had a bad TPMS sensor. As part of the deal to buy the car, the dealer bought a new one from Toyota. I think they paid $75 for the new sensor. The first thing I did after getting the car back home was to buy 4 new winter tires for it. The tire shop put the new sensor in the wheel and programmed the new ID into the car's computer. The one they took out was an aftermarket sensor.

The new (to me) car only came with one fob. I bought another one and had to take it to the dealer to get the car programmed for the new key. They charged me $80, just for programming the car for the new fob.

Don't mess around with aftermarket cheapies. It's not worth the trouble. Aftermarket sensors are usually programmed to emulate the original sensors, so the shop programs the original sensor ID into the new sensor. I don't think the Toyota sensors are programmable, so you program the ID into the car using an OBD2 scanner. Some tire shops know what they're doing, some don't (at least around here).

If you have time, get a deal from the internet and you can get all 4 for less than $50. A good tire shop would be able to install them and program them for a nominal fee, especially if you're having some other work done, like getting the tires rotated and balanced. If you're going to go to a Toyota dealer, it's probably going to run you $75 per sensor, plus the programming fee, plus the labor.

 

The original sensors are made by Pacific If there's a denso part number assigned to them. It must be for ease of lookup or something If you go to the dealer and buy the sensors they have a little green tag on them and say the word Pacific I'm not sure what part number they'll use the look them up I guess their own part number which will be a Toyota assigned part number but they don't make the sensors unless they just started here recently or have gone to well a Denso made sensor.