Now it was not on because my tires were low, I have an aftermarket monitor that shows my actual tire pressure. It was on because my spare was stolen out of the bed of my pickup last year, and the light was to let me know one of my TPM were not connected. I picked up a new spare off Craigslist list shortly after mine went missing, but I never got it connected to my trucks monitor, but this morning the light that normally flashes for a minute then goes solid… never came on.
1 paragraph horror stories
(Implying that whoever stole your tire is now stalking you)
👀 I never thought of it that way. And the story of how it came to be stolen makes that more worrying. I was walking my dogs out by the River and on the way home I saw two guys hunting (within the city limits) leaning out the window of their car. I yelled at them and took a picture of the vehicle. The next day my tire was flat with a needle nose pliers sticking out of it. Got that patched and tossed the spare in the bed instead of under the truck. A week later the spare was gone.
That does sound rather worrying. The good news is that those sensors only have a range of about 35ft tops, so it’s more likely that one of your neighbors stole your wheel, put a new tire on it, and are now using it on their car.
Any similarly-wheeled vehicles nearby?
Seriously? Since when are TPMS sensors reliable. They have batteries and randomly die all the time.
Yeah but when the battery dies, the light on the dash stays on. It only turns off if it has a signal from the sensors that it’s programmed to look for and they all read proper pressure.
Any similarly-wheeled vehicles nearby?
No, but the light also does not comer on when i park down at the river for morning walk (typically the only vehicle in sight), or when I am leaving work. I figured the stars aligned and the craigslist spare finally synced with my TPMS.
As far as I know, that doesn’t happen. You typically have to program the TPMS monitoring system to search for certain transmitters.
Now, I’m just a somewhat skilled shadetree mechanic; I’m not claiming to be the source of all knowledge or anything, so I could be wrong.
If there aren’t any other vehicles around and you haven’t programmed the sensor, I’m gonna guess the light just stopped working.
I’m gonna guess the light just stopped working.
I was thinking that too. It does come on during the check when I first start the truck. I was going to let air out of one tire today and see if that trips the sensor. I may also leave my spare at home when I go to work today and see what happens.
Oh, that’s interesting. I didn’t realize it was still coming on during the initial startup. Definitely do those tests and let me know what happens.
Out of curiosity, what make and model is your truck? I haven’t dabbled much with any vehicles newer than, like, 2017, so I suppose it’s possible that they’ve changed the way the TPMS works.
My last vehicle was a 2010 Ford- TPMS worked fine; took the wheels off while the car was on jack stands in my driveway, and took them to my neighbor’s shop (~1/4 mile away) to mount and balance new tires. My son started the car to mess with the stereo while I was gone, and the TPMS light came on. Even after I replaced the wheels, with the same transmitters, it refused to acknowledge them. The light stayed on until I junked the vehicle last year.
Out of curiosity, what make and model is your truck?
2015 Toyota Tacoma
I need new tires soon, they have enough tread for street use, but I live in New Mexico where we have more dirt roads than paved roads and we have had an exceptionally wet September and October, so I need to get new ATs. Hopefully the tire shop can take care of the TPMS when I get them.
I took the spare out of the bed for two day’s and nothing changed with the light. But yesterday while driving to the next town up for a vet appointment, about 30 miles into the drive the TPMS light flashed for 1 minute then stayed on like it should when a sensor is missing, it appears to be working fine again.
I would drive slowly in my area and see when it goes on/off. Then steal it back!
