TPMS Programming

How are new TPMS sender modules paired with an 09 Legacy if they need to be replaced or swapping to a set of winter wheels/tires? Are they somehow 'paired' to the vehicle or does the vehicle just listen for any four unique signals on the right frequency while going down the road?

Tire shops will have a tool scanner to pair them.

Google it.

Is there a way for the owner to do it? I am buying a set of used SpecB rims and tires and would like to reprogram the sensors to my Legacy. That is if the batteries are not out on them and need replacing. Either way looking for how to do this myself if at all possible.

You can buy the ATEQ QuickSet TPMS reset tool off Amazon for $120, seems to work quite well for people that swap their tires every season.

Yeah the ateq quickset is great, I'd look into one of them. In our cars, I think there's one main tpms module that talks to all four of the sensors. You need to tell the ecu what tpms ID's to look for. I wish our cars were like some other cars, where the car will just detect whatever sensor is in the wheel well.

 

The quickset can pull the sensor ID's that are currently stored in the cars computer, but you will need to know the four ID's of the sensors in the new wheels.

 

When I bought snow tires years ago, I asked tirerack to document the tpms id's for me with my new snow tires that they mounted on rims.. they forgot to write them down. So I ended up going to a tire shop, and paid them $20 to pull the sensor ID's from the sensors using their more advanced tool.

 

 

So to make a long story short, if you could pull the tpms ID's from the spec b's ecu, that'd be great. If not, a tire shop can probably get you the ID's without dismounting the tires. They might actually be able to check the battery level of the sensors as well, but not positive about that one.

FWIW, after putting new tires on the rims last year and having the tpms paired, a few weeks later the yellow light came back on.

 

Seems the batteries died in one of the sensors. A piece of black electrical tape over the light has worked well since then.

Thanks guys. He has had the wheels/tires off and in storage for a while so we won't be able to pull the codes from his car. Given their age I am thinking on replacing the TPMS modules with new and then having them balanced too. Do new senders come with the serial number needed to program them in with the ateq quickset tool?

If you plan on replacing all the sensors in the new set you can see if the tire shop has the option of cloning the ones that are on your current car. That way when you swap tires every season there no need to reprogram.

This is what I did for my 09 impreza and I believe I found how to do it from a walk through for doing it for a legacy gt many years ago.. I purchased a second tpms module on ebay for about $30 and plugged it in place of my original one. Then I installed my summer tires and brought it to the dealership and paid I think ~$80 to have them program it. I then would swap it in with the tire set every year. I’ll see if I can dig up the original walk through. IIRC the module is under the driver seat in the lgt whereas it is in the trunk in the impreza.

 

 

Edit: found it

https://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/tpms-ran-two-sets-wheels-no-light-108338.html

Two good ideas..

 

Some sensors have the ID's printed on them, but I don't think all sensors are like that. I'm looking at some on rockauto for my car right now that are completely unmarked.

All o.e. sensors will have the ID printed on them. The ID's can also be retrieved with a tpms tool if the battery is good. Some sensors come registered out of the box, while others are cloneable. Cloneable sensors allow you to program them using the factory ID so no need to program the tpms module each time you swap sets.

The ATEQ QuickSet Looks like what I need to reprogram the car for the other TPMS codes. The documentation mentions a separate tool (VT30) is needed to "activate" something. I am presuming that this might mean to activate a NEW sensor but not necessarily one that has already been used. There must be something here or a procedure that I am not yet understanding.

 

The local tire shop is able/willing to pull the codes from the winter wheels/tires for free - if the batteries are still working.

I'm not sure about brand new sensors right out of the box, if those need to be "activated" or not. I definitely don't think that previously used sensors need to be activated. Every year spring/fall when I swap wheels/tires, I don't have to do any sort of activation, I just use the quickset tool.

 

I had no problem using the quickset with my winter wheel/tire/tpms package when I got it from tirerack. They may have activated the tpms sensors when they installed them at the warehouse, I'm not sure. For some reason I thought centrifugal force activated the sensors, but I suppose they could still need an initial activation..

 

If you contact one of the big name tpms companies, they should be able to tell you about the "new" sensors. (if they need to be activated on our cars)

I had to activate a brand new set of sensors to get them to work with Quickset. I bought a Vt31, which allow me to see the pressure, sensor ID and battery status. It had been helpful to diagnose friends TPMS issues as well.

I had to activate a brand new set of sensors to get them to work with Quickset. I bought a Vt31, which allow me to see the pressure, sensor ID and battery status. It had been helpful to diagnose friends TPMS issues as well.

 

The quickset doesn't actually do anything with the sensors though, all it does it read and write sensor id's into the cars ecu. Do you mean, after you used the quickset to put the id's into the cars ecu, the car still couldn't see the new sensors?

Do you mean, after you used the quickset to put the id's into the cars ecu, the car still couldn't see the new sensors?

 

Yes, I had to use (buy) my VT31 to wake up the brand new sensors. The 1st set if rims I bought were used 11-14 WRX rims with the orig al TPMS and I was able to just use the ATEQ quickest tool. It was confused when I bought news sensor and once I program the car for the new TPMS Id; the Quickset alone wasn’t working.

I picked up the Ateq Quickset and the VT31 to test the sensors in the new-to-me wheels/tires. Three good and one is no response so dead battery and needs replacing. There looks to be a ton of TPMS sensors on Amazon that they say are the right one for an 09 Legacy. Mine are the rubber valve stem style. They also show a style that has a screw down neck and both are listed as correct for this vehicle. Are the two mounting styles equally compatible with the stock wheels?

 

I am pretty sure I am going to take the cheap route and just replace the one sensor for now. These snow tires won't last forever - maybe two more winters and they will need to come off anyways.

Replaced the one TPMS sensor like mentioned before. Used the VT31 to pull the other three TPMS codes from the new snow tires. Programmed it all with the new Quickset which is super easy. dash tire light is off - except that at exactly 10 minutes elapsed time (using dash E/T timer) the tire pressure light starts to blink and does so for exactly one minute and then stays on solid for one more minute. It turns off exactly when the E/T turns to 12 minutes and then stays off. There must be some event that is triggered at the ten minute E/T mark that I am unaware of. Any ideas?

Replaced the one TPMS sensor like mentioned before. Used the VT31 to pull the other three TPMS codes from the new snow tires. Programmed it all with the new Quickset which is super easy. dash tire light is off - except that at exactly 10 minutes elapsed time (using dash E/T timer) the tire pressure light starts to blink and does so for exactly one minute and then stays on solid for one more minute. It turns off exactly when the E/T turns to 12 minutes and then stays off. There must be some event that is triggered at the ten minute E/T mark that I am unaware of. Any ideas?

 

Is this happening regularly or was it a one time event?

Is this happening regularly or was it a one time event?

 

 

It has happened the last six times I've driven the car.

 

 

I guess I would not be surprised if one or more of the other sensors also needed replacement due to low battery since they are likely all the same age as the one that was unreadable and replaced. I was just going off of what the VT31 told me and three were "Battery: OK".

That means the sensors aren't programmed correctly, i.e. the ECU doesn't see all 4 sensors. Even if you remove all the sensors, the TPMS light won't turn on until about 10-15mins of driving (they only turn on after the wheels have started spinning).

 

 

Double check that the new one you bought is compatible with your car. What was the exact item you bought? The Dorman 974-029 is the TPMS sensor I bought for my '07 spec.B, and programmed with the ATEQ Quickset with no issues.

:yeahthat:I would double check to make sure they were programmed properly with the Quickset, make sure they aren't decimal/hex. You can read the addresses your car is programmed to with the Quickset when it is connected to a laptop and compare those to your VT31 addresses.

I will double check or redo the programming with the Quickset. The module I bought was the Schrader 28203 which is listed as compatible with my 09 GT on Amazon, O'Reilly, and Advance auto.

I know you probably did this, but just to double check.. I think I turn the key to the accessory 2 position, wait 5-10 seconds, plug the quickset into the obd2 port, press the winter button, wait for the led to turn solid, and then remove the plug from the obd2 port.

I checked the TPMS codes with the VT31 and checked the Quickset. They looked good. Reprogrammed the car again using the Quickset as mentioned in above post and it seems to have worked properly.

 

I also checked and filled the tire pressure on the way home on Friday since the tires were outside and cold. The local Kwik Trip has a decent pressure automated filling system. One tire was 42 and the others around 33-34. Set all of them to 36PSI cold.

 

Will report back tomorrow afternoon after the commute to/from work. Thanks all.