Another TPMS problem
 

Hey guys I just purchased a 06 is250 awd today and I am happy to be joining the community. I have read more TPMS issue threads than I can count. I could not find a solid answer so hence this post.

When I was looking at the car prior to purchasing it, it had some ugly 19" wheels. I requested that the stock wheels be put back on and the seller did. With the 19" wheels the TPMS light was NOT on. When they brought the car back with the oem wheels and handed me the keys I got 30 miles down the road and the TPMS light along with the CHECK SYSTEM came on. I asked the seller and they said that they never removed the TPMS sensors from the oem wheels. So I figured I should just do the Initial tpms calibration and it would go away. However it did not. I did the process for both settings (main and 2nd) tire sets. I am not sure which one the oem tpms are programmed to. For both settings I held down the button for the initial tpms set up and it said pressure initial the light flashed 3 times but the warning light wont go away.


I am just curious what my options are at this point. I can take it into a tire shop i guess and have them scan to see if there are even TPMS in the oem wheels (although i trust the seller). Is it likely that the batteries may have died on the oem TPMS from sitting?

What do your valve stems look like? The OEM TPMS sensors have metal valve stems with a hexagonal cap.

Your thought about stopping by a tire dealer with a TPMS tool is a good idea.

The valve stems are metal but they have plastic caps, not necessarily indicative tho because the the caps could have been lost or replaced over the years. i can go get them scanned but ideally id like to try and figure it out before hand. is there a way to tell what setting on the ecu (main or 2nd) are for what tpms without having them scanned?

If you had access to a Techstream scan tool, you could find out the sensor serial numbers programmed in the car for each of the two settings (main and 2nd), but that still wouldn't help you figure it out because the only ways to find out the serial numbers of the sensors that are on the rims are to either scan them with a TPMS tool, or to dismount the tires.

Yea I think youre right im basically stuck bringing it in lol. I guess Im better off just bringing it into toyota/lexus then? If i take it to a tire place they wont have the techstream scan tool im assuming so id have to get the serial numbers form the tire place and then go to lexus?

No, if the tire shop has a Bartec TPMS tool, it's smart enough to plug into the OBD2 port on the car and set the serial numbers.

I had the same problem come up on my drive home from the dealer after they replaced tires. Luckily they did not remove the sensors (found that out after taking it to my local dealer this weekend), UNLUCKILY it was 270$ to program them. they said it was not "initialized" they did that, gave it a car wash, and 2 hrs later I was a poorer, pissed off human being. I also already made a pressurized pvc "bomb" (as it is referred in its build thread) for the extra set of tires I do not have yet :) these were programmed to the 2nd set of sensors.

- if you can avoid the dealer, do it. I went after letting firestone and a discount tire: take a look, take tire pressure, add 2 psi and tell me the light will go off... IDIOTS.