TPMS Service - sharing experience

[avu3]

Wife's 06 (bought new in 8/06) now has 136k miles on it and the tpms light started a fast flash last week.

Reading on here I learned it was probably a system fault. Everything else on the car works, so I decided to give it a go at having it fixed before going a disabling rout.

Dealer was so expensive that I decided to try the local Les Schwab after reading on the web they have the gear to do the work.

I was pleasantly surprised to find it was no problem for them. They had the tools to do the work and even had aftermarket sensors in stock extremely affordably.

I read on here that the aftermarket ones don't work, so I made sure they would honor them under a reasonable warranty. The mount/balance was so cheap it was worth the gamble.

They found that one sensor wasn't reading at all, and another had a low battery. No surprise, given they will wear out and the car has a few miles on it.

The sensor they used is a Dill 1204a. It looked virtually the same as the OE one which came out, and the tech had no problem programming them.

I think there's some none computer way to program them. Its probably here on the forum somewhere, but I didn't find it. I read you "activate" them dropping the tire 6psi over a certain amount of time, but I don't know if that's programming them also or not. Doesn't matter since I can't dismount/mount/balance my own tire. Tech said that these are "a lot easier than doing GM ones", fwiw.

I was out the door for $147 with tax. My local dealership had them at $156 in stock (ea), not including programming or tire service.

S

[friendly_jacek]

I thought they were supposed to last 10 years?

[JuneBug]

Originally Posted by friendly_jacek

I thought they were supposed to last 10 years?

According to this document from Toyota, the battery should last 10 years on average:

http://rav4world.com/tsb/2006/PG004-06.pdf

NOTE:
• All Japan-built vehicles require the tire pressure warning valve/sensors to be
activated (”wake up”) during Pre-Delivery Service (PDS).
• Each tire pressure warning valve/sensor is equipped with a lithium battery that has an average life span of 10 years.
• If a tire pressure warning valve/sensor is removed from the wheel, the grommet
MUST be inspected and replaced if damaged.

As you can see in the pictures, the sensors use a regular 2450 lithium cell:

[njl]

My TPMS just started acting up (just over 6 years, 102k miles). Costco just told me it'd be $59.91 per sensor (parts and labor) to replace them, but they have to order the sensors. They didn't mention that there was a way to check the battery levels on them...so maybe I don't have to do all 5 yet.

[Carnivore]

Originally Posted by JuneBug

According to this document from Toyota, the battery should last 10 years on average:

http://rav4world.com/tsb/2006/PG004-06.pdf

I think someone at Toyota forgot to include the ever-popular marketing phrase, "up to..." 10 years. One of mine died this summer at 5 1/2 years old. (2007 MY)

Originally Posted by JuneBug

As you can see in the pictures, the sensors use a regular 2450 lithium cell

It sure would be nice if you could just pop it open and replace the standard battery instead of being forced to buy a whole new unit. I haven't seen one IRL but I understand they're sealed, right?