Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire TPMS Scan tool

Currently have 2 cars with the TPMS light on - oddly enough both of them are 2010 Hondas

Was debating taking it to a shop to get it dealt with but quote prices were frustratingly high without buying a set of tires.

Anyways, I found some OEM sensors for a reasonable price. Son and I was able to replace them in about an hour with my trusty harbor freight bead breaker.

Thinking that we'd just be able to disconnect the battery for a few minutes and then drive the car for 10 minutes, the situation would correct itself. (Thats how it worked on my Acura)

Narrators voice: It did not

so I read up and realized we're still going to have to go to a shop or try to go all in on doing it ourselves. Read up on TPMS scan tools - found one by Autel that seems to do the trick, the MaxiTPMS TS501 which was $160 on Amazon. The TS501 is the lowest priced model they have that includes the OBD cable.

Got it this morning, registered it and install the updates from my computer and then had the light shut off in about 10 minutes.

Also like that I can just wireless check each sensor to see if its working or not by using this tool. In the case of the second honda, one of the sensors wasn't working and will need to be replaced, which is better than what we did before we bought the scan tool and blindly replaced all 4.

Did I save money? who knows but at least I can deal with it in the future considering every car I own except the old truck has these things now.

If you are a DIY guy and actually want to deal with turning the TPMS light off on your dash, then I'd consider this model.

In the Honda's case, the TPMS light on disables the VSA so there was another reason (not that I can say I've ever actually knowingly used VSA)

Or just inflate your tires to the proper pressure

1" electrical tape.


Works on check engine lights too.

I don't know about newer cars but on my Toyota pickup, if you want to permanently disable the check engine light (or any dash light), its about a 20 minute job to take the gauge cluster out and unscrew the light in question from the back.

I did that on a Galant about 8 years ago.

How much did they want for one sensor replacement? I think it’s about $80 here.
In my experience the batteries seem to last 10 years or so..

Reread. The OP isn't running on flat tires. His car isn't communicating properly with the tpms sensors. When you replace a sensor, some cars reqyire the new sensors to be "registered", so to speak, with the car's system. Need a tool to register new/replacement sensors. Dealing with this on my toyota right now. Put a new wheel into the mix after the son ran a flat and shredded a tire. Pressures are all good, but the truck is looking for the old sensor from the old tire.

It went in one ear and out the other.

I had a dead battery in my Toyota TPMS sensors (2010 model... so kinda old anyway).

Local Walmart guys took care of me with a replacement TPMS for about $15 IIRC each. This a service they offer, but don't really advertise. i.e. they keep TPMSs on hand just in case they break one when doing a tire job.

Went ahead and had them do all 4. Paid my $60 and tipped the guy $20. Good guys... they know me some... and generally go above and beyond when I ask for something.

I didn't ask individually, it was $300 for all 4. I don't think that is something I'd want to do individually if I am having a shop do it

Our Wal Mart will do it for probably a similar price if you provide them with the TPMS sensor. I was getting a tire replaced and I handed him a new TPMS sensor . They did the labor (which was all of 3 minutes) for free.

But our walmart is hit or miss, one day you might get a guy that knows what he is doing, the next time in you might get the woman who was working in lawn and garden the day before.

As for a scan tool... the ZR-PRO is an excellent investment...

https://www.harborfreight.com/autom...scanner-factory-reconditioned-57917.html

see alot of the DIY guys on youtube with the high end scan tools. They can do some pretty serious diagnostics.

I just couldn't see spending $600 on a OBD scanner just to get the TPMS added.

Its kinda frustrating that I couldn't find a good OBD scanner that had TPMS built in around the $200 range, especially knowing the fix is thru the OBD II port. What I end up with is 3 different scanners bought over the last 5 years that together probably cost as much as one really good one that does everything

I have winter and summer tires mounted on their own rims. When I change for the season, I get the TPMS warning. I go to the tire shop from which the tires were purchased, and they “retrain” the sensors at not charge.

Often times there is an alternative ‘relearn’ procedure detailed in the manual that does not require a scan tool. Typically you have to do a sequence of something with the key or pedal and then let air out of the tires, one position at a time until the vehicle honks. I do not know if all manufacturers have this or not.

My ‘11 F250 has this. It doesn’t work.

Our ‘01 Sienna has a KOEO reset button. Easy.

My ‘95 Taco doesn’t have those dodads.

I've been contemplating pulling the trigger on a Foxwell NT809 BT.

Here.

I have the same problem with the TPMS in my two Toyotas.... I took one to the goodyear dealer in town and they could not get the sensors to enter into my truck's computer....

So, 1' square black electrical tape and I move on with life.

What we do here is take a price of 3" pvc, glue and take other cap and put a vavle stem in it, put tops in the pvc, glue other cap on and pump it to 35 psi, and throw in the trunk, plus walmart will read the tpms for free

I was looking at Foxwell before I pulled the trigger on the Autel.

If I bought new tires at our local Sam's club to put on rims I bought, they were going to charge $25 per sensor plus $40 per wheel (2 of them) to link it to my pickup. I bought the tires from my local chevy dealer and he charge $25 for both sensors and nothing to link them. The tires were about $4 higher than at Sam's. I figured I come out way ahead.

kwg