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TPMS Light flashing after swapping wheels

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Charlie DBHS, Jun 28, 2017.

  1. Charlie DBHS

    Charlie DBHS New Member

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    I have identical 2008 Priuses.... I am selling one which has brand new tires on it. The wheels are different sizes (15" on one and 16" on the other), so instead of just swapping tires, I swapped the full wheels between the two cars.

    Now, on one car the TPMS light is continually flashing... I have gone through all the manual reset steps but can't get the TPMS fully reset...

    Any hints? Should I disconnect the 12v battery and reset all electronics (not a desired act)?

    Thanks!
     
  2. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    You need to go into Techstream and swap the tire pressure sensor IDs over in each car's respective TPMS ECU.

    If you don't have Techstream, you will need to call into a tire place to have them do it for you.

    How come only one car has problem? Both should.
     
  3. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Book Cover Judge

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    ^ Yeah, my first thought. Likely just a matter of time before the second car starts flashing a warning too.

    Another, relatively foolproof, but maybe too much labour charge (8 tires remounting and balancing): swap the tpms sensors between sets of wheels, get them back where they came from.
     
  4. Charlie DBHS

    Charlie DBHS New Member

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    And yes, the other car wasn't driven far until tonight after I posted this, and yes, it now is on ..

    Are there other reasons to own Techstream? I am buying another Prius (2017-18) and will have one of the 2008's. I've never needed Techstream before... will i need it again?

    THANKS!
     
  5. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Book Cover Judge

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    It also involves procuring a windows laptop, pretty much dedicated to this task, off line always (just in case), OS such as win XP preferably. It's a OBDII cable, plus pirated techstream, and a fair bit of finangling.

    I haven't taken the plunge myself.

    Any dealership can also fix it, maybe $50~100.
     
  6. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    Not just to do this, and not if you're not really in to DIY. I'd just find a business or a friend that can do it for you. There shouldn't be a shortage of choice, it's not rocket science.
     
  7. andrewclaus

    andrewclaus Active Member

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    My Mini-VCI has paid itself off in twelve packs from friends with aging Toyotas with the TPMS issue, also reprogramming door locks. I think it's a good tool for the price--not very robust, no instructions, no service, but powerful when you figure it out. I've flushed brake fluid and engine coolant with it. I read hybrid battery parameters with it every year or so, and check the battery fan while I'm at it. I've only used it for maintenance so far. I'm sure some trouble shooting will come up soon, and it'll be good to have for that.
     
  8. walterm

    walterm Active Member

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    There is also a standalone tool you can get that just does TPMS (re)programming - search for "
    ATEQ QuickSet TPMS Reset Tool
    " on Amazon. For one-time use it might not be worth it, but those of us with 2 sets of wheels/tires (summer/winter) can do the TPMS changes ourselves and sae the dealer charge each time so it's worth it.
     
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  9. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    I mainly use Techstream for TPMS so far.
    My 2006 build date is July_2006 and so far only one TPMS has died (11-years old).

    It can take a Gen2 days, weeks or even months for the dash lights to start flashing when you change codes without telling it...the computer needs an approx. 20-min drive before it goes through the process of realizing there is a bad code, so if you just do short trips, then it never gets to that step. it reads pressure data about once a minute, but if there is no new reading from the tire, it holds the old pressure in the memory.
     
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