For those with GS that are approaching 10 years old, this is a cheat for when the TPMS sensors fail. Super easy, all you need is a battery, stanley knife, a soldering iron, silicon and any two part glue. Battery is a BR2450A $10, TPMS service kit 0442333060 is $4.

All you need is a tyre shop to remove the sensor for you and install a normal valve, mine did it for free. I had it reinstalled free when new tyres went on.

Cut the silicon out over the battery with a knife



Use a knife to cut the welds off the old battery one by one, saving the tab from the circuit board. Just requires a little pressure.




Once the top tab is off, cut the bottom tab off too, straighten it out.




Apply solder to the both tabs of the battery and both tabs from the circuit board separately. Then solder it in place.
Once you are happy with your soldering, mix up some 2 part glue and apply underneath, squishing the battery against it and wiping up the excess. I used Araldite. It will never again be repairable!




Once that dries, fill with silicon to seal it all up!
I know new parts are cheap in the USA and you'll probably just buy a whole Denso sensor for $60 but I enjoy reusing what I can. By the time I eventually buy all 4 in AUD, shipping, GST and import tax.....that money could have bought 2x new front tyres! Repairing also prevents the need to programming a new sensor.

 

Interesting. Mine is approaching 10 years old. I may give it a try when mine starts to flake out. I like to reuse and repair if possible. People have gotten so used to use it and toss it.

 

Remember that any shop will ask $20 per wheel to get the sensor out. The TPMS sensors are $44.99 each with no other fees if installing tires at the same time at Costco. Good for another 10-12 years.

 

Does Costco have replacement TPMS sensors? I have never asked. I get my tires there, and they charge a small fee for some TPMS sensor part I think, but not the sensor itself. Haven’t purchased tires for my Lexus, just the Acura. Good to know if this is true.

 

I've heard that Costco has the TPS rebuild kits for the TPS sensors, which is probably just the stem gasket and seating nut but not the TPS sensor/battery component part.

 

Nice job man. This is cool that you took the time to figure this out and share. I personally have a fair amount of mechanical skill to fix stuff on my car but the trouble of doing this would frustrate me if after all that work i didn't work and i had to pay to break down the tire again. I understand your logic but i would rather buy new for this particular item.

 

That was a consideration but my local shop took the sensor out for free, it took them less than 2 minutes. I rolled it in so they didn't have to take it off the car etc.

 

Bam! Now that is perfect thinking man...saved yourself alot of grief that way!

 

Yes Costco sells TPMS sensors for most cars. I installed a set on my Prius together with new tires. $44.99 each with no other fees or installation charge if you do new tires. The TPMS sensor brand is not Denso like the OEM Toyota but the TPMS brand is DILL AIR CONTROL and on the factory website shows 1 year warranty. I hope they will lasts way more than a year.

 

Most of the 2013 and up Lexus sensors are $74. Toyota’s Lexus without exact wheel positions are usually $45

 

For those who have had TPMS failure, this was what I was going to buy. Programs in with Techstream. https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...)+sensor,12036
and the service kit Denso 9990602

 

I have a 2013 GS 350 and switch tires for the winter.

I purchased the Autel MX TPMS Sensor like here (with a rubber stem)


or here with a metal valve:


I also bought myself an Autel TS508 TPMS tool off of eBay. (you may be able to get your shop to do this) I programmed the sensors (which will be installed in my winter wheels) with the same IDs as my summer wheels with the TS508, had the mechanic uninstall the previous TPMS sensors (which are for an IS - which uses a different TPMS sensor than the GS - go figure ! - and the ECU can't read them) and install the new Autel ones - and bingo - my TPMS light went out, and I could read my tire pressures through the GS readout. But now I don't have to have the ECU reprogrammed every time I change tires which is nice.

Now, to be fair, it takes about 10 seconds for the ECU to read the pressures after start up, but no big deal. I purchased the TS 508 because my wife has a Lexus, as do a couple of my buddies, so we're all using it. Works like a charm.

 

It's a wonder the AWD vehicles don't have an AB switch for two sets of sensors. IIRC the older GS do have that feature?

 

Purchased this for $30 from this guy 2 years ago and they're still working fine: 4 x Genuine OEM Toyota Lexus Scion Durable TPMS PMVC010 / 42607-06020 | eBay

I was replacing my tires so I went to Jack Furrier's (with tires I bought online) and told them that Discount Tires were gonna charge me $80 ($20/each) to mount the new tires.

They matched the price and I gave them the tires with the new TPMS sensors. They took it, said nothing, and programmed them for me. I know Discount used to charge you extra for TPMS (not sure if they do anymore)

I did the same thing for my wife's IS. Hers is only a few months old so I can't speak for the new TPMS durability but so far so good! The price for the new set of TMPS went up a bit though.

 

Ok, so I planned on doing this on my car within a few weeks when I’m going to change the tires but I thought it was made to be serviceable.
not only that but it seems that, yet again, BR2450A is nowhere to be found in Europe…

Well this turned out to suck quite bad.
I truly hate the stupid TPMS system on these cars and now I do it even more.