TPMS. Autocorrect ;(
I was wondering if you had to replace the entire TPMS. If I have to replace it I won’t spend the money on it.
LOL on the autocorrect. Usually I can figure them out but that was a head scratcher.
Each tire has a TPMS sensor that communicates with the TPMS unit in the car. If you don't have a solid/flashing low air light then then sensors are all okay. If the low air light is solid then one or more sensors in the tires are sensing low air. If the low air light is flashing then one or more sensors cannot be read (battery too low or sensor has failed).
Toyota uses a lot of Denso products. My TPMS sensors were all Denso. I bought new ones from Amazon and paid to have them installed in the tires. I had to buy a device to read/write the new sensor IDs into the TPMS computer. I believe newer 4Runners have this built in so you just need the Denso sensors replaced, then follow the user's manual to have them read into the ECU.
I was told by several shops that they can install the Denso sensors but they don't have the equipment and software (Techstream) to add them to the computer. Toyota shops wanted $100/tire to replace the sensors, and you do want to replace all of them if one goes bad or you'll be chasing that problem up to 5 times.
The shops are able to replace the sensors with a different brand for less than what Toyota wanted and your TPMS computer will be able to use them.
I bought the Denso sensors on Amazon, paid a tire dealer $25/tire to install them and bought an Autel MaxiTPMS TS501 for $200 to write the new codes into the TPMS computer. It was still cheaper than having Toyota replace them and now I have the Autel device that lets me walk around the car and check each tire's ID, temp, pressure and TPMS sensor battery level.
That's my experience with sensors. Does that answer your question(s) or did I bomb you with TMI?
