Ears

Greetings,
I write to see if anyone has experienced the same issue as me, and what, if anything, you may have done to correct the issue. Now, I believe ultimately, a Lexus-certified or similar mechanic may need to be engaged to correct the issue, but I digress...

Over the course of a 1400-mile trip, the TPMS on my 2008 (75k miles) "quit" working, for lack of a better description. The orange triangle/exclamation icon lit up, the low tire indicator light flashed for a coupl'a minutes, then turned solid, the warning tone sounded, and a message appeared, stating the tire pressure monitor system had faulted (paraphrasing), and advised me to take the car to the dealer. I have read numerous posts here about failing batteries in the sensors (transmitters) in the wheels; however, I find it hard to believe a battery or batteries can cause what I experienced. When the issue occurs, it may last for a few miles to a coupl'a hours, most of the time correcting itself (ie the warning goes away, and all sensors report in) with the passage of time. When the fault is present, I cannot see any info on tire pressure (cycling the DISP button displays all other readouts except the tire pressure)... On more than one occasion, the fault lasted long enough that, after I had stopped for a rest break and restarted the car, the system was back to normal. To the untrained eye, it appears the TPMS system looses function altogether... I have experienced occasional "Checking" message for one or more sensors, which usually clears up and reports pressure in a short bit.

Maybe associated with the TPMS is another anomaly. Twice in the past (once during this trip), when I restarted the car after a fuel/rest stop, the sat radio was cutting in and out like a repeated loss of signal. The other functions of the entertainment system functioned perfectly. Upon shutting down and re-starting the car, all was well again.

I am beginning to be concerned about the electronic-equipped automotive "marvel"...
Anyone experienced similar?

comotiger

I have experienced strange TPMS warnings in a previous LS. One potential cause for erratic TPMS warnings is low or incorrect tire pressure in the spare tire. I would check and adjust pressures in all five tires, reset the TPMS, and see if the problem goes away. Good luck!

Doublebase

I experienced the same thing last year, the batteries in two of my sensors were weak, then they finally gave out. Replaced two sensors and I haven't had a problem since. I think the computer has a hard time picking up the signal of a weak sensor.

Take it to a tire shop, they'll walk around the car with a tool that will try to read the frequency of the sensors, the tool will isolate the bad sensor.

tofu

Discount Tires will replace TPMS for $20 fee per tire, let them check first then buy OEM sensor from dealer, they tried to put their brand on mine but never work.

Lynzoid

oem sensor? no. almost any non-oem will work.

Ears

I have a problem with the weak battery theory... Logic dictates if a sensor was missing, it would be reported as "checking" (which has happened on occasion). Logic further dictates if all sensors were off-line, the system would report that all sensors were "checking"... C'Nest Pas? For the system not to report anything, and then return to work later like no issue had ever occurred seems more involved to me. While i know I am speculating, I am still wondering if the symptoms I describe have ever happened to any other owner, and if so, what was the corrective action. Worst-case scenario I envision, is an electronic module failure, and maybe more on the way (vis-a-vis, the sat radio glitch).

Thanks for the replies...

Oh, I should have mentioned, when the TPMS is functioning, all sensors report within 2 psi of one another at 30-32psi (including spare, which ever one it is )

jmcraney

What levels do you have your warning thresholds set to?

Ears

I have no idea if the button has ever been pressed since new...
Maybe I did once, but I can't recall. If so, it would have ben several months ago. I try and keep 32 in all, and specify that when serviced.

roadfrog

I get the same symptoms. One of the sensors has a weak battery. 60 dollars to replace. They are 3 years old.

1WILLY1

iTrader: (9)

has anyone found a way to delete the useless tpms system ?

tofu

I guess if you replace all non-ome sensors at the same time then they probably work.
in my case only one was replaced and the programmer kept showing sensor ID don't match, Discount Tires tried to install 2 diff. brand and both had same result.

Lynzoid

No =) I just replaced my front left with non-oem and all is well, as usual. Guy read the code (and i verified it via Techstream), programmed the new one with it, ta-da.

Htony

You have to relearn if TPMS is replaced. Thru the OBD II interface. Erase the id. of old one and store new one's id. Seems like shop did not know what they were doing or did not have proper tool.

Ears

When you say you had the same symptoms, do you mean the system would go completely off-line as I described, or that one sensor would show up as "checking"? More importantly, would the system come back online on its own accord as I described?

I fail to see how a low battery could rejuvenate... Seems like it would finally fail all together. In my case, toward the end of the (13 hour) trip, the system was functioning correctly. I tend to think that after 13 hours, if the cause were a battery, the system would more likely be off-line instead of functioning correctly. I think I like the LS430-way of TPMS... Rotational speed differences.

Maybe something to this... Found this in a recent search: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...ck-system.html

Lynzoid

no, missed again. all modern non-oem-sensors can be cloned from original key, negating the need for techstream procedure.