Friends,
I discovered something very interesting about Techstream and TPMS that I'd like to share. First, let me recap of what happened to my tires and what I've done.
One day, out of the blue, my TPMS light came on. Checked tire pressure, in cool temperature I found the passenger front little under. Inflated to 33psi, the light went off. Two days later, the stupid light came on again. Checked all tires pressure, everything was in spec. Figured out the sensor(s) might be bad, I used Techstream to find out which one. You know what? I could not, my software version did not have that option (?). So I played around with Techstream, and honestly I did not remember what I did, but the light went off and stayed off.
So far, this is what I have done:
In System Selection Menu, I clicked on Tire Pressure Monitor, and clicked on Utility. Next screen, I had two choices, ID Registration and Signal Check. I clicked on Signal Check. On Signal Check screen, I selected All Signal Check and clicked next. I noticed the tire warning signal was flashing. Next Screen Techstream told me to perform all signal check per manual and click Next. At this step, I was fumbled, asking my self, check what? How? I didn't know what to do so I just clicked on Next. After a few second, a screen came on telling me the system was failed. But you know what? After I clicked OK, the warning light turned off and stayed off.
Then I deflated the rear driver tire to 20PSI, idling the car for few minutes and drive around the block. No warning signal on dashboard.

That was few days ago. Then BGW did some experiments (posted on the sticky), he could not turn off the warning light.

To day, I went out the garage and did some more experiments with Techstream:

1. First, I deflated all tires to 20 PSI. Started the engine, few seconds later, the warning light was ON, drove around the block, the warning light stayed ON. I hooked up the Techstream, went to the signal check, selected all signal check, clicked Next, the system failed. The warning light stayed ON. (I could not turn the warning light OFF, just as BGW experienced). I clicked on Data List to find out what going on, you know what, the Techsteam crashed. I had to reboot.
2. Next, I inflated all tires to 35PSI, drove around the block, the warning light stayed ON.
3. I deflated the rear driver tire to 20 PSI. Hooked up the Techstream, went to the signal check, selected all signal check, clicked Next, the system failed. The warning light went OFF. Drove around the block with the deflated rear driver tire, the warning light stayed OFF.
At this step, I was scratching my head, so I decided to do Step no. 1 again, but this time, I only deflated the rear passenger tire instead of all tires.
4. I deflated the rear passenger tire to 20 PSI, the warning light went back ON. Used Techstream, could not turn the light off. Inflated the rear passenger tire to 35 PSI, the light stayed ON.
Now, I repeated step 3:
5. I Inflated the rear driver tire to 35 PSI, used TechStream, the warning light went OFF. drove around the block, the warning light stayed OFF.

So thru the experiments above, I think:
1. My rear driver side tire sensor is bad. Unfortunately, I could not verify this because when I clicked on DATA LIST, the Techstream crashed. This is something I have to talk to Yueku (the vendor) to figured out why?
The interesting I found out is:
2. With Techstream, some how I was able to disable the bad sensor signal (the rear driver side tire) to the TPMS ECU. Techstream cut off the communication between the bad sensor (rear driver tire) and the ECU.
With the tire(s) have (has) good sensor, if the tire pressure drops below the set spec, it will trigger the warning light ON, stayed ON, can not be disabled with Techstream.
3. The reason BGW could not turn off the light using Techstream, I guess. because he doesn't have bad sensor(s). You have to have a bad sensor for Techstream to disable the warning light.

It was weird, I could not understand this but I am sure glad that I don't have the annoying warning light on my dash. Now all I have to do is from time to time monitor the rear driver side pressure to be sure it in spec.
Cheer !!!!

 

So while it disables the one bad sensor, does it still read the other sensors? I got confused by the step where they were all at 35lbs and the light stayed on. It almost sounds like the Signal Check feature toggles the alarm enable so that when you first use it, the alarm is disabled and when you use it again, it is re-enabled.

 

......lol....I need you to figure this out Harold, so you can turn my tpms off. I know that I have a bad sensor or 2, but never bothered doing anything about it.

 

Yes, that was why when I deflated the passenger rear tire (good sensor) , the light came ON, and only be turned OFF with Techstream (because the bad sensor). Weird,, huh?

 

Unfortunately, with my current version of 8ish, I don't have the signal check feature. I can do the data check and determine which sensor is bad and I can register the new ones but don't have the ability to do the signal check. Maybe if I can figure out how to download a later version (or get help learning how to download a newer version), I can do it for you.

 

In the other long thread Techstream ...solition, around page 6 or 7, there is the link to download version 10. Look for it. I’m not home and I can not access that page using my IPhone. When I get home I will post the link again.
I'm home and here is the link to ver 10 Techstream

https://megaupload.nz/Q4Jf45k1bb/MINI_VCI_ISO

It is a disc image file and you will need software to 'mount' it so windows thinks it is a cd rom. I recommend WinCDemu, which is extremely easy to install and use.

 

OK guys, I've been thinking about this TPMS and Techstream experiments and I think I have an explanation and it's quite simple. Here it goes:
When you have bad sensor(s) or one (or multiple) of your tires is under or over pressure, it will trigger the warning light ON. To turn it off, you must replace the bad sensor(s), register it (them) or inflate (deflate) tire(s) to correct pressure.
Using Techstream to turn the warning light OFF will not work if you don't have bad sensor(s). In another words, if you just have tires under or over inflation, Techstream can not disable the warning light, until you correct the pressure.
On the other hand, If you have a bad sensor, you can use Techstream with System Check function to disable the warning light.
The reason Techstream can disable the warning light when you have a bad sensor is Techstream will ignore the bad sensor(s) but will only communicate with the good sensors, check for the correct pressure present and turn the warning light OFF. If your tire with bad sensor goes flat, under or over pressure, it will not trigger the warning light, but it will if one or more of your tire(s) is (are) with good sensors out of the pressure threshold.

So, in conclusion, I did not disable TPMS. I just turned the warning light off for the bad sensor.

 

That was the conclusion that I came to from your description also GmanSC. Thanks for running the tests and getting to the bottom of it.

 

I have an old laptop with valid windows 7 license lying around. Can i assume that the most trouble free use case most people have had is the 1.4 version firmware cable and the 10+ V of techstream? This requires no extra steps with team viewer shell etc correct? This laptop will for now ONLY be used as a toyota techstream machine if this is correct.

For some reason the V 2 of the cable can only be had for much more (50-60).
My car is a 2005 if that makes any difference.

Thanks in advance guys.

 

I have an 06 and I could not get version 1.4 to communicate with the car. Version 2 of the cable firmware communicates without issue. Others have had different experience.