Tire pressure light blinking

Tire light started blinking today. I have the correct pressure in my tires now and did the reset a couple of times and still blinking. Any thoughts?

 

Bad sensor, aftermarket sensor or pressure to high or low. Could be the com box, but those rarely fail.

Correct pressure is 30-35 depending on model package.

Tpms sensors have a 5-10 psi over/under range depending on sensor.

 

Yeah my pressure was over on all four wheels but they’re dead on now and it still throwing the light after to resets

 

Go drive it around then try to reset.

 

What sensor do you speak of? The wheel speed Sensor? That might be a dumb ass question but I’m just curious to what you meant by that

 

TPMS

Tire
Pressure
Monitoring
Sensor/System

They are inside the tires
The com box is under the dash

 

I just did a brake pad change and I had issues with all of that but finally got all that working correctly and then today the light comes on so I can’t help but think that the two are connected

 

Put the old pads back in and see if the light goes out

I found Toyotas will accrue sensor ID codes ("sensor id not recognized") for no reason even when the batteries are still good in each sensor. Try a simple code clear of the tpms module and see what happens, couldnt hurt.

You will need a scanner capable of accessing tpms systems. I use a snap-on solus

 

Shouldn’t be. The systems are independent. Now, it might be wheelspeed sensors. 3rd gen have crawl control.

In the 2nd gens it would be ABS and TPMS only if memory serves.

Some vehicles need to be driven to get the TPMS to register new pressures and others need to be reset via scanner.

 

Check the pressure in your spare tire. It ALSO has a TPMS. Most people forget about that fifth tire!!

 

THIS

 

From personal experience, a flashing TPMS light for the first minute or so of turning the key is a indication of a connection issue to one or more of the sensors in the wheels. Mine worked for 12 years before the light started flashing. Shop told me one was dead, one was dying, and the rest were probably not far behind. The one with a dead battery was the reason for the flashing TPMS as the computer could not get a signal from it. I like having the early warning of low tire pressure so I went ahead and replaced all of the wheel sensors. 2 days later one of the sensors decided to glitch and the computer could not read it, resulting in the TPMS flashing again. Took the truck back, they reprogrammed the single sensor and the system has been running great ever since.

The SET button under the steering wheel is only to set operating pressures. In this case with the flashing TPMS light the SET button will do nothing. As stated by @Gixerkiller and @b_r_o a shop can plug in a Techstream (or equivalent) to determine what’s up and more than likely will use it to program a new sensor.

I don’t remember which years or models have a TPMS in the spare but not all of them do. My 2007 does have a TPMS in the spare.

 

Mines an 2006 DCSB. it has the sensor in the spare. and more than a couple times low pressure in the spare set off my idiot light. Simply adding air to the spare (a good idea!!) solved the problem.

 

Turned the TPMS light on solid with no flashing correct?

 

Can't remember if solid or flashing. But i checked the spare tire pressure. simple to do. Eliminates a likely source easily. (Also, confirms your spare will be okay when you need it.) make sure it is the same pressure as the other four!. They all must be approx the same pressure. then reset button again. The light should stay off. If it comes back on, then the other posters have correctly suggested the issues to chase it down.

 

Yep, I have also had to refill my spare once or twice to make the light go away. In this case though a flashing light indicates a different issue.



For using the SET button you can actually have each tire set to whatever pressure you want (while not recommended for the life and drivability of your tires, the computer will accept it). The steps to set the operating pressures is to park on level ground, set each tire to the appropriate pressure, turn key to ON (it is not necessary to start the vehicle), hold the SET button for 3 seconds or until the TPMS light flashes 3 times, then let the vehicle sit for a few minutes while the computer reads each sensors pressure and saves it to the computer. Finally take the vehicle on a drive over 20mph for a while and the light will shut off.

Again the SET button will do nothing for a flashing TPMS light.

 

All GREAT advice. I had skipped over the OP's "Flashing" comment. Sorry.
But as I recall, if he rechecked all his tire pressures and then hit the reset button won't the light flash until he drives it? I can't remember.
Sounds like he has an '06. could be as Gixxer and you have said the batteries in one (or all) of the sensors are bad. I had mine changed two years ago (last tire change) just for snicks because I knew they were already 11 years old. They weren't bad yet, but took the opportunity. I think it was about $20.00 per tire at the time (not counting the new tire costs and mounting etc)

 

If he checked all pressures and still gets a flashing light then something else is going on. In normal operation, if the tire pressure becomes low enough to trigger the light, the light will come on with no flashing and stay on until the pressures have been corrected, meaning refilling the tires.

Beginning of this last winter I drove up in the mountains (5000ft elevation gain and 20°F cooler) and it triggered the light with no flashing. Checked my tires, one of them was a little lower than the others, figured that one set it off so I didn’t worry about it since they were all within spec for my current set of tires. At the end of the day I drove back down, drove on the highway home. Tires warmed up, light turned off by itself as it was designed.

The SET button does not reset the light, it’s sets the pressures in the computer for the system to register what pressures to go off of when it decides to alert you.

One of those times where the spare turned my light on, I simply dropped the spare in the driveway and refilled it, by the time I remounted it under the bed and got back in to drive the truck into the garage, the light had turned off.

 

Yeah I priced those yesterday, I can’t understand the price difference, your chain stores are like 180 each yet online they’re like 20 bucks. I expect them to be cheaper online but that much of a difference. The O’Reillys here are ran by space cadets, it’s so hard explaining anything to them in person with a damn pic on my phone. I needed a hard brake like, the line going from calipers to rubber line and it blew their minds. The brand tools they carry are garbage but it’s close to home so I have to deal with, I think the brand they carry is called “ power torque “? Maybe idk, but f’ing garbage. Then you have the one racist/lazy fuck that won’t do a return on a broken tool. “Where’s the other broken piece? “ “ it went flying in the woods when it broke” “ oh I can’t do the return then” foh asswipe. Got to find a new store. Harbor freight seems to have a better selection but they may carry trash too,

 

Yep! Agree 100%. Had all those experiences. First cool days of winter usually sets off the idiot light. Driving for ten minutes and it goes off. One tire slightly low, refilled it and all good.

I was just mentioning the reset button because the OP stated that the pressures were all real high and he readjusted and then hit the reset button. I was just making sure his light was blinking for the first alert (as opposed to being solid) before he adjusted pressures and then hit the reset button. Didn't know if he then drove it, to recalibrate the new pressure setting to which he was resetting. I was thinking that might be the cause of the blinking, if he hasn't driven it yet.

Let's say if originally the four ground tires were at say 50 pounds, but the spare was holding 20# and the light came on solid at first. Then he adjusted the four ground tires down to 32# (and didn't check the spare) and then hit the reset button (now setting the new "norm" to 32#) I think the light will blink under those conditions until he drives it. And if the spare is then out of range (+/- 10#) the light would then revert to just solid (again). I am wondering if the original poster has completed the whole process once he hit the reset button.