I've been doing a lot of driving between northern and southern Ohio. (I travel between Cleveland and Cincinnati every weekend) I noticed that the TPMS light came on flashing and then lit solid yesterday on one of my drives, so I pulled over when I got to flat ground. Checked all the tires and none were low or losing air (no hissing sound). So I got back in my car, and the light was gone. I kept driving, and the light came on again 30 miles later, and once again tires were fine, got back in car, and light gone. Is this just a bad sensor?
After you checked the pressures, did you reset the system (push-button under the steering column)? For the Gen II see p. 377 in the destruction manual.
Bad battery in one of the sensors? Bad sensor? Bad receiver? What did the dealer say when you took it back?
It is worth using a gauge to check your tires. If the system was set in the mid 30's, all it takes is for one tire to drop to 29 lbs to trigger a TPMS light. In my experience, lost communication with a sensor converts to a solid light, rather than staying flashing.
It's going in tomorrow morning. They said it could be anyone of those things you mentioned. I actually had no idea the sensors had batteries. XT1031 ?
I always filled my tires to 38 to 40 psi. And it flashed initially then lit solid then went away. XT1031 ?
Oh god don't bring that to a dealer. They will drill you. The battery's in the TPMS sensors last 8-10 years so yours is right on time. You can buy them the OEM Denso sensors for $50 each on Amazon. Then you need Toyota Techstream Software to register each of the 4 TPMS sensors in the software or the car will not see the new units not to mention the cost of taking the tire off installing the sensor and reinstalling the tire. Any tire shop can install the sensors and you can buy the Software at Amazon its called Mini VCI. $25. Works on an XP laptop and gives you full access to all the car's software including registering the tpms's. A dealer laydown will be around $800+ for all 4 installed. Me?...I just let the light stay on. You can go into the software and zero out the register key if you have the Mini and kill the light but been to lazy to do that. I just keep an eye on the tires and when I get around to new tires down the road I'll have them throw new sensors in.
LOL. No, never the dealer. I have a mechanic I trust. The name sounds sketchy as all get out (sign just says "Auto Repair") but we have taken our cars there for years. I would just clear the light, but the only problem is, if a tire does go flat/low, I'll never know until it becomes critical. If it were a check engine light, I'd let that thing burn all day long.
The batteries went out on our 2008 not too long ago. You may want to take a look at this thread TPMS Reminder - Batteries don't last forever | PriusChat before you pay the dealer to put in new sensors
No don't let a check engine light burn all day in a Prius. In a Prius that means your out of oil. When this car throws a code it's not kidding.
I've also heard that it flashes/lights the master warning light too. I have an OBDII scanner in my car. If the CEL comes on, and it turns out to be something like an O2 sensor or exhaust leak, then it's going to be left alone.
Indeed it is. Bosch OBD 1150 | Auto Pocket Scanner & Code Readers Ended up just being a stroke of luck though as I bought it when I had a Corolla.
Our TPMS battery died at 9.5 years. So after much fiddling just leaving the TPMS light on right now. I do not know if they changed electronic logic after 2006, but once you get the light out, it can take a week or two to come back on. I have not seen any intermittent behavior, once it was dead it was dead, with the exception that you can turn the light out for a week if you feel like fiddling with it on Techstream. Best idea is to replace older sensors during a tire change if you have one coming up. Congress gave us a little pain in the nice person with these TPMS mandates, as far as when the batteries go bad, which we are about to get a tsunami of those. 2006 is the first Prius year with TPMS and those are going bad now. Haven't check mine lately but so far only 1-dead TPMS sensor after 10-yrs! So if you're lucky they keep on truckin. Believe TPMS light comes on for other spurious reasons (eg brake accuator failure) so that's possible.
