TPMS: What's the consensus?
 

My TPMS light came on last night and stayed on. There's no audible sound, just the light staying on (which is very annoying). I checked all the tires and the pressure was fine in all of them.

I came home and read everything I could find on CL on the subject. It looks like there's a difference of opinion on what to do about the problem. Some think it's best to just unplug the system, while others think it's a needed safety feature and don't want to disable it.

I'm in the latter group. If it can be fixed at a fair price, I'd prefer to have a working TPMS system.

We all know how expensive the Lexus dealerships are. Just wondering if some place like Discount Tire would be able to fix this problem or if it's beyond their knowledge/expertise.

Is the problem usually the sensors? What would you think would be a fair price to pay to fix a problem like this? Is there ever a simple/inexpensive fix (besides disabling the system)?

One of the sensors probably has a battery that died. What year is your car?

If that's the case, you'll probably need to replace all four soon.

I say unplug it, and check you tire pressure every month or so.

If your car is a 2002 The batterys in the TPMS sensors is a non replacable lithuim battery that is supposed to last about 6 to 8 years. If you were to take it to the dealership they may be able to try and reset the computer that tripped the light on. However if they start telling you need sensors that will require all 4 tires be dismounted then replace all sensors then remount and balance . The sensors I would guess they want 140.00 per wheel and the labor could go easily be 75.00 per wheel . If your not using runflat tires then I would disconect the tpms . Its a lot of money to pay them. Aftermarket places I am not sure if they will do it right. I have seen sensors on ebay
used as well as sometimes new but be carefull remember the batterys have a 6 to 8 year range of operation. If you get them on ebay I am not sure you will know if your getting recent units . If old stock lot of trouble to go through to then possible have a sensor go out again. I know that someone on the club lexus went with a aftermarket tire pressure as well tire temp kit as I recall the complete kit was around 250.00 and came with a gauge that you mount on the dash that give you tire presuure and temp for each tire. Pretty cool unit . Do a search in the files.

Good luck

TireRack has an aftermarket system that measures both temp and pressure for $179. The thing that bugged me about the Lexus system was you never knew the pressure was falling until it was too low. This one has nice LED readouts so you can see the pressure.

http://www.tirerack.com/accessories/detail.jsp?ID=55

My Lexus system in my '02 is disconnected. I check my tire pressure weekly and use a Black and Decker Tire Station that runs on 120 VAC ($50 at Lowes) to keep them all even. No problems to report.

I will install this new system when I change the tires and wheels in the next year or so.

Good Luck!