Write-up: How to Disable (Bypass) the TPMS

One of the posts I'd read indicated you simply needed to connect the two wires (basically grounding the pink/black) and that was it. I tinned the ends of a short length of wire to make a jumper and put it across the connector body.

Well...that didn't work. I guess the system still reads it as an error if the computer is disconnected. So...no scotchlocs handy I just stripped a short length of the insulation from each wire, wrapped them with a short section of bare copper wire to bridge the gap, and taped up the bundle.....annoying light is gone!!
 
Completed this morning on my '08 Urban Runner. Thanks for the excellent write up.

FYSA: On my year model, the wire colors are: pink wire with black stripe, and black wire with red stripe. Slightly different that what is posted.
 
Never an issue

When I went to steal Tacoma rims I just added regular old valve stems, my light never came on it's been a week and no problem at all. No sensor no signal no worries.
It's an 06 4Runner sport. Not sure if I'm under thinking this or some people are over thinking it.
 
I took delivery Feb, 2005 and tpms batteries still working, lower the pressure and the light comes on.

Those are good batteries.
 
2008 4Runner

Worked for me! The jumper wire is so much easier than cutting or splicing things.

1. Just unplug the harness from the box (TPMS box is now just riding around, unhooked to anything. Might take it out completely.)
2. Use a short piece of wire...I used a single wire from an old CAT5 cable.
3. Plug each wire end into the corresponding wire "port". For my 2008, this was pink/black stripe and black/red stripe.
4. Wrap with electrical tape to keep it stable.

Done! Took about 3 minutes.
 
Going to do this mod this weekend on my 2008 (if time permits). I do see some value in a functioning TPMS system as my wife sometimes drives the 4th gen and I'm not sure if she could tell a tire was going flat or not.

Short story that brought me here. About a month ago the TPS light started flashing so I checked it with TIS and sure enough it was showing that it was losing communication with 3 sensors. I just assumed it was the batteries in the sensors going bad so I purchased 5 new Denso sensors, installed them, and entered in the new ID's with TIS. All was good for about a week then the damn light started flashing again. Now what's weird is the light goes off in the exact same place either going or coming home from work. Checked it with TIS and it showed it was dropping communication with one sensor. I reset it, went another couple days and the light is flashing again. Went to check it with TIS again and TIS can't communicate with the TPMS system at all. All other systems communicate just fine. At this point, I just want the damn light off and I'm going to bypass it, like I should've done in the first place :redbrick::redbrick:. I was apprehensive about spending money for new sensors in the first place, there's no way I'm shelling out more money for a TPMS computer.

I would also just like to say that Scotchlocks, really easy and convenient, are notorious for bad connections and I try to avoid them at all costs. I plan to cut and solder the wires together for a secure, absolute connection.
 
Original batteries finally gave up this fall on me. Ttap worked great for me. I wonder how much money you saved all these members? I believe it was over 100 per monitor to replace, no thank you!
 
Too bad they are now required on all cars. But some do work by comparing wheel speeds rather than reporting actual tire pressure.

My 2013 Acura does report all the pressures and with good accuracy. Fun until it quits.
 
Original batteries finally gave up this fall on me. Ttap worked great for me. I wonder how much money you saved all these members? I believe it was over 100 per monitor to replace, no thank you!

from dealer yes, but generics are like $25 a wheel and most places "program" them for free. in truth i think all programming is is to turn on key and wait for the computer to find and recognize them, then save that info, which takes like 10 minutes
 
been giving this a lot of thought and just cant decide weather i should pull the gauge cluster and remove the light bulb, too bad you cant reach the bulbs without taking the dash apart or i would have removed the bulb for it already lol. or do a variation of this mod by shoving a bare stripped wire end into each wire pin then tape it in place (so i dont have to touch or tamper with the oem wiring at all)


has anyone ever bothered to list the year things changed?

i seem to recall the OP said the colors he had were for 05-06 yet someone said it worked on their 07 and then i see people with 08 said their wire colors are different? :confused:
 
Last edited:
been giving this a lot of thought and just cant decide weather i should pull the gauge cluster and remove the light bulb, too bad you cant reach the bulbs without taking the dash apart or i would have removed the bulb for it already lol. or do a variation of this mod by shoving a bare stripped wire end into each wire pin then tape it in place (so i dont have to touch or tamper with the oem wiring at all)


has anyone ever bothered to list the year things changed?

i seem to recall the OP said the colors he had were for 05-06 yet someone said it worked on their 07 and then i see people with 08 said their wire colors are different? :confused:


You could do the wire pin idea in about 10mins. The module is only one screw away from access! If I wouldn't of had a t tap on hand, I would have gone this route.
 
You could do the wire pin idea in about 10mins. The module is only one screw away from access! If I wouldn't of had a t tap on hand, I would have gone this route.

im kicking myself for being dumb because i just had the whole dash apart for the evap replacement.

it never even crossed my mind to tell the guy to pull the bulb out for the TPMS while he had the gauges out in his hand :ybrick:

i'll give this more thought, i just really really dont like messing with the oem wiring. its not from fear, hell i do wiring all the time, i just really prefer not to mess with things like wiring bundles, especially really old ones, if i can avoid it
 
Last edited:
im kicking myself for being dumb because i just had the whole dash apart for the evap replacement.

it never even crossed my mind to tell the guy to pull the bulb out for the TPMS while he had the gauges out in his hand :ybrick:

i'll give this more thought, i just really really dont like messing with the oem wiring. its not from fear, hell i do wiring all the time, i just really prefer not to mess with things like wiring bundles, especially really old ones, if i can avoid it

TPMS is lit with a LED soldered onto a circuit board, not a removable bulb lamp. Removal would require a soldering iron and some skill.

Short the two wires at the TPMS module as shown in the first few posts, and rejoice ! Just check your tire pressures regularly after doing so.
 
TPMS is lit with a LED soldered onto a circuit board, not a removable bulb lamp. Removal would require a soldering iron and some skill.

Short the two wires at the TPMS module as shown in the first few posts, and rejoice ! Just check your tire pressures regularly after doing so.

thanks, ok well that solves that question, there is no option "B" lol

just dropped the cover and man, those wires are a lot smaller then i was expecting them to be, they are tiny

had to go buy the red doo-dads (technical term) because the blues i just didnt trust to make a good connection on the tiny wires

i would suggest anyone doing this to definitely get the red ones and not trust the blues, the gap on the blue ones is for larger sized wires then these are and they are a bit big to trust them to make a really good connection

its all sorted now and no more blinking TPMS light :whoo: :cheers:

not counting the drive to the store it took less then 5 minutes from start to finish
 
Last edited:
Thank you so much. I was a little confused about how the wires needed to be connected but I was over-complicating it in my head. So happy to have that stupid blinking light off. I switched wheels to the 5th gen and I guess the TPMS aren't compatible, I don't want to spend any time thinking about it, as I have a pressure gauge and I regularly check it manually.... Great fix.
 
Removing TPMS Pins

Very good post but you left out how you removed the pins. It took me forever to figure this out, but this is how I removed the pins. If you look at the front side of the connector you will notice a line of small holes below the line of large holes. The small holes are where you have to put a pin removal tool to remove the pins. I made my own using a staple gun staple and filing it down using a dremel tool. It worked like a champ.
 
Last edited:
I just did this on my 07 and it worked like a charm. Slight variation instead of clamping the two cables together or use the same connecters to link a two way switch.

Thanks for the great tutorial now I can finally remove that matchbook cover !! :tea:
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
278,312
Messages
3,554,089
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Trending content

Back
Top