Tire Pressure Monitor Troubles

[Ming89FJ62]

The TPM light has come on, great. Air pressure is good on all tires including the spare. When I try to reset I only get one flash from the TPM light instead of three (per the owners manual) and it will not reset. In searching it appears that each of the valve stem TPM's could have a battery on them - and that one or more has probably failed. Can you replace the battery (and how do you access them) or do you have to replace the entire TPM/valve stem assembly? Can I pull the fuse and try to reset the computer? The TPS computer was replaced under warranty shortly after we purchased the 100 in 2007 for a similar issue. Unfortunately I don't have the FSM for the truck (the only one I've never had a manual for).

Truck is a 07 100 with around 75k miles. (Wife's DD)

 

[Dwight S]

I believe you have to replace TPM/valve stem. Discount Tire can do it. Around $70 each was what I was quoted for my wife's 4Runner. They recommend replacing them all because when the batteries start failing, the others are not far behind. So... think 5 x $70....

 

[pavieSD]

On other cars I've had, the TPMS is in fact a sealed unit, however you can still generally take them apart, replace the battery, and then reseal the unit with some rubber spray adhesive. I'm not familiar with toyota TPMS specifically, so you might have to do some experimenting. Usually the battery is not soldered onto the unit, they just don't service it because of the sealed nature of being inside of a tire.

That being said, you can usually find aftermarket sensors that are much cheaper then OEM, that do the same thing. Last time I looked, I was able to get sensors for 20 bucks a pop when OEM was 100+ each. I'd shop around. You can also test new sensors out of the tire first, to make sure they're syncing with the system properly before going through the process of getting them installed.