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Are Some TPMS Addresses Reserved?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by jimolson, Jul 7, 2019.

  1. jimolson

    jimolson Member

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    I've owned two Gen II Priuses for more than a decade. When they finally wear out I'll buy two more. They're both still rocking at 200k miles. Most reliable car I've ever owned. Also the most frustrating to work on.

    For years I suffered through TPMS warning lamps being on and inept tire stores that did not own sensor cloning tools or have the ability to change the TMPS addresses stored in the chassis computer. As the years wore on this "we don't have the tools" problem self-resolved, I suspect, because tools became cheaper.

    To deal with this "we don't have the tools" problem, a couple of years ago I acquired a Dorman Multi-Fit programmer that allowed me to program Dorman's blank TPMS sensors. Great tool. Terrible owners manual, but overall a good product for the money.

    Later I acquired a more sophisticated non-Dorman programmer (but apparently made by the same Asian supplier of Dorman's Multi-Fit programmer) that has two features that Dorman's Multi-Fit tool does not have:

    --I can read pressure, temperature, and device digital address from any given tire by pressing the tool up against the sensor's valve stem. This "read" of sensor data from a mounted tire is done wirelessly.

    --Once I know the digital addresses of all of the TPMS sensors on the vehicle, I can store them into my Prius' chassis computer using the vehicle's OBDII port.

    This later, non-Dorman tool is also good for the money, but its US marketer has deliberately crippled it in software so that it will not program TPMS sensors other than its own.

    This is my question: Has Toyota "reserved" any TPMS sensor digital addresses as its own? Are any digital addresses prohibited? Is Prius' chassis computer happy with any TPMS digital address from 0000000 (hex) to FFFFFFF (hex)?

    The digital address of a Prius TPMS sensor has 7 hexadecimal digits.

    Thanks in advance for wisdom on this topic from any Priuschat reader.
     
  2. Skibob

    Skibob Senior Member

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    I don’t even know if I understand the question. What exactly do you gain by knowing the answer to this question? You have the tools to program the TPMS sensors and you know you can use the cheap Dorman ones. I know the OEM Denso ones are not that much, around 30 bucks each on Rock Auto. They measure both pressure and temperature. I guess you could keep an aftermarket sensor in the box and just enter the code into the cars computer to see if it works. If it does not you could return it.
     
  3. eljefino

    eljefino Junior Member

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    Are dorman sensors write-once? That is, once you zap them with a serial number, are they locked in? That could be your concern, that you invent a blank number that toyota doesn't like and then brick a new sensor because there's no willingness to read it.

    The serial number field could be coordinated between Denso and the clones (like NIC MAC addresses are), or it could be assumed that the odds of being next to the same serial number are so low at to not be concerning, so they'd start over at 0000000 when they run out of combos.
     
  4. Skibob

    Skibob Senior Member

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    The Denso sensors come with id numbers. You can’t change them
     
  5. Dorman

    Dorman New Member

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    Dorman's Multi-Fit sensors are re-writable. You can override any programmed ID indefinitely, that is until you reach the end of the battery service life.
     
  6. Skibob

    Skibob Senior Member

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    So you could just clone the numbers of the sensors already in the cars computer then? All you would need to do is get the numbers from techstream.