1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Tire Pressure Light Keeps coming on...

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Juan Vinton, Nov 3, 2013.

  1. Juan Vinton

    Juan Vinton Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2013
    16
    3
    0
    Location:
    Tucson, Arizona
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    Hello All,
    I apologize in advance if this question has been brought up before. I searched in the forums to see if someone already asked about this, but found very little help.

    I just bought new tires on my 2008 Prius. The tires are the Bridgestone Ecopia's which I bought at the suggestion of many in this forum. Many thanks for your advice on this.

    My problem is that the tire pressure light keeps coming on. I have checked the pressure individually and everything seems fine there. I have also taken it back to where I purchased the tires. They have tried to reset the TPMS sensors on each only to have the light turn back on after about 20 miles. My concern is that the sensors went bad or were damaged during installation. I asked about this and was told that the batteries on the sensors are fine. Their reasoning for making this determination was that in the reset process all sensors responded very quickly. If the batteries were going bad on the sensors, then it would have taken a long time for the sensors to read their computer. The tire guy also said that if the sensors were damaged, they would not respond at all. Since all responded, they should be okay.

    He did state that the Lexus and Prius models have had issues with what he calls a "looping problem" in which the tire pressure light comes on, someone comes in and they reset it, then the tire pressure light comes on again. They have run into it a couple of times. They said it usually gets fixed after a few resets. I am on the second reset at this point. They said if the problem persists, that it needs to be evaluated at the dealer.

    My next step is to take it to the dealer during my next scheduled maintenance and ask them about it. I just wanted to see if anyone else had this problem with new tire installation. I am a little unsettled as I was told that TPMS replacements run around $80-100 a tire. If it's as simple as just getting the sensors reset at the dealer, that would be much better for now.
     
  2. JMD

    JMD 2012 Prius 4 Solar Roof

    Joined:
    Oct 11, 2012
    3,779
    1,282
    0
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    Let us know how it works out
     
  3. Juan Vinton

    Juan Vinton Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2013
    16
    3
    0
    Location:
    Tucson, Arizona
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    Okay. I might I have just answered my own question. I decided to read the owner's manual(Probably should have done that first) and I read about the Tire Pressure Sensors. The manual says that
    "When replacing tires or wheels, tire pressure warning valves and transmitters must also be installed".
    Maybe this is true, although I was not told about this at the tire shop. It also gives instructions on how to reset the Pressure Warning Sensor. I tried this and the warning light turned off. :)

    This could be a simple fix, but it the tire shop used their doo-hicky to do the same( or similar) process and it came on again after 20 minutes. We'll see. I will leave one more post after running some errands to see if the issue comes back.
     
  4. Mike500

    Mike500 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2012
    2,593
    763
    0
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius v wagon
    Model:
    Two
    If you have the original TPMS sensors on your original 2008 Prius, it is more likely than NOT that at least one of the batteries are very weak. The batteries are sealed in the sensor and are not replaceable.
     
  5. Juan Vinton

    Juan Vinton Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2013
    16
    3
    0
    Location:
    Tucson, Arizona
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    Thanks Rude person's. I was told that I would get around 6 - 7 years which equates to around 90,000-105,000. I am right around the 90,000 mark so it seems that I might need to replace them. I was told by the tire guys (Discount Tire) that the sensors seemed okay and the batteries didn't seem weak. But I don't think they can make a conclusive statement.

    I just want to get another year out of them as I might sell it soon.
     
  6. Joe 26

    Joe 26 Member

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2008
    242
    42
    0
    Location:
    Columbus, Ohio
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    If you just had tires replaced, the most likely issue is that the tire shop broke one or more of the sensors. I have not heard of may confirmed cases in GenII Prius of tire sensor batteries going bad, certainly not in a 2008.
     
    fred 90045 and Juan Vinton like this.
  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,571
    48,862
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    my '04 with 120,000 miles and 3rd set of tyres has no issue, and my '08 with 50,000 miles and second set of tyres has no issues. i would look elsewhere besides time and mileage. what tyre pressures are you using, 42/40?
     
  8. Juan Vinton

    Juan Vinton Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2013
    16
    3
    0
    Location:
    Tucson, Arizona
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    Thanks for the reply. I would agree with you, but I am hoping this is not the case. :)
     
  9. Juan Vinton

    Juan Vinton Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2013
    16
    3
    0
    Location:
    Tucson, Arizona
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    Three

    I'm using 35/33psi right now. That is good to hear and makes me think that the sensors needs to be reset again.
     
  10. Juan Vinton

    Juan Vinton Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2013
    16
    3
    0
    Location:
    Tucson, Arizona
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    Thanks all for you replies. In an earlier post I stated that I had read the directions in the manual to reset the TPMS myself. That seems to have done the trick. I have driven the car for an hour this afternoon and the light has not turned on. I am going to assume that it just needed to be reset after the tire installation and for some reason the tire shop was not doing something correctly.

    I guess if anyone does run into this issue, just reset the TPMSs and go from there.
     
  11. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,571
    48,862
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    don't forget, pressure's drop as the weather cools, even in arizona.:)
     
    Juan Vinton likes this.
  12. Juan Vinton

    Juan Vinton Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2013
    16
    3
    0
    Location:
    Tucson, Arizona
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    Very True and thanks for that reminder. We do see temperature changes. In fact right now the temperatures drop to the 60's in the morning and up to the 80's in the afternoon. On some days the differential is even more. I sometimes wonder if that big change will cause a change in temperature( and therefore pressure) in the tire.

    Thanks again for bringing that up. So far, the warning light has not kicked back on.
     
  13. dorunron

    dorunron Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 17, 2011
    3,318
    1,103
    0
    Location:
    Houston, TX
    Vehicle:
    2013 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    This might help, or it might not. Recently I replaced all four of the tires on our Prius. I have no doubt that the wheels were probably moved from one location to another on the car since all four wheels were removed and handled by more than one guy at the tire shop I used. When I picked up the Prius, the light was on. I pushed the button on the lower side of the steering column. It took two tries before the light would stay off. Since then, no problems. IIRC, I read in the manual that it can take a few minutes for the system to reset itself.

    Hope this helps and does not add to any confusion.
     
  14. Juan Vinton

    Juan Vinton Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2013
    16
    3
    0
    Location:
    Tucson, Arizona
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    Three

    Thanks for this. That is exactly what I did and I have had no problems since.
     
    dorunron likes this.