TPMS blinking
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bloc
SILVER Star
What does the tire pressure readout say when you select it with the steering wheel button?
I had this same thing, they told me at the place I get my inspections that this means one sensor is dead, usually due to a low/dead battery.
Then the other day I did an oil change and rotated the tires, and the light hasn't been on since.
Then the other day I did an oil change and rotated the tires, and the light hasn't been on since.
bloc
SILVER Star
Perhaps the rotation moved the weak battery closer to the antenna?I had this same thing, they told me at the place I get my inspections that this means one sensor is dead, usually due to a low/dead battery.
Then the other day I did an oil change and rotated the tires, and the light hasn't been on since.
Dunno. I have TPMS issues with 2 other cars so I'm considering getting an Autel unit so I can diagnose myself.
Off topic but relevant: a friend has a 2021 VW Passat, and there are no TPMS sensors in the tires. It is still using the old indirect method of monitoring tire pressure, by watching relative wheel speed. Really? I didn't think this was still allowable?
AFAIK they are both legal. Furthermore the speed sensor based system is gaining popularity and may become the predominant system due to lower cost for the cars to produce and lower waste created by in-tire sensors replacement. It is a lot more sophisticated than just monitoring wheel speed and with now more powerful CPU's in the cars they can better process/learn/adapt than before. Some complain that they are too sensitive.
But there is also hope for in-tire sensors with remote continuous charging them eliminating the need to replace at every tire change.
I guess in the future we'll see both systems, with the speed based one in most of the cars, and in-tire sensor based one in specific cars (sports cars, offroad).
The blinking means intermitent error. If the error persists after 1min you get the solid color.
Most likely it is caused by bad sensor, missing sensor (programming error or some reported that the system forgot the sensor ID), low battery, etc.
You do need a tool to find out what's going on and which sensor is the problem. TechStream is useful to troubleshoot it from POV of the computer (very unlikely the computer is the problem). But to actually see the state of each sensor a tool capable of talking to the sensors directly is best. I use Autel MaxiTPMS TS508 as it is a complete tool (talks to sensors and the truck and does programing) but just for troubleshooting there are many other cheaper tools.
If you do not want to spend the money, you may try identifying the sensors by changing tire pressure one tire at a time and driving around to see which one changed displayed pressure on the display, until you find the one that is showing the error.
Then you can move that one on the front left side and see it the error goes away. If it does, then you have a low battery. If not, then either the sensor is the problem (bad/battery) or the programming for that sensor to the truck needs fixing.
At this point you need the tools or go to a tire shop.
Ok thanks. Had an '04 Highlander once that used wheel speed to monitor tire pressure, it was actually pretty reliable. The only down side is that there is no direct readout on the cluster of the actual tire pressures, just the light that tells you there's a problem somewhere.
