My Dealer-less TPMS Tire Change Story

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SamirD
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That's an interesting undocumented series of lights. Thank you for sharing them!

My guess is that the tpms system would have self-corrected itself, but only after several drives and days. I still remember some times when swapping tires that it took a few days for the car to even alert even with a different set of tires and sensors! And then there's also times when everything was relearned only for it to pop back up again after a week or more. (I think it happened to me 3 times one season and got me pretty concerned.)

The two flash with a pause sounds like the programmers did actually take into account this scenario and programmed the 2 flash pause as a way for them to know what has happened--probably 'multiple sensors of same id detected'--and this is probably the only place outside the actual coding documentation where anyone would find this as I don't recall anything in the service manual.

The sets of 3 also sounds like a specific programmed response. When you mention the rapid flash, it sounds different than the normal slow flash where the car is waiting for each tire to be triggered.

It just dawned on me--maybe the 2 or 3 flash is indicating which sensor ID in the system is duplicate?
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redmed
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Does the service manual describe some of the flash combinations?
64 Galaxie 68 Olds 442 65 Impala 70 VW Bug
74 Nissan B210 66 Chevelle 73 Olds 98 71 C20
75 Monza 82 Escort 75 E150 75 Civic 76 Accord
86 Escort 87 Taurus 83 Chevy G20 85 Ranger 4x4
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SamirD
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From what I recall it only mentions the tpms light blinking when it is in relearn mode, and that the light will blink indicating the remaining number of sensors to be relearned, but not the specific short-short sequence. It has been a few years since I've looked at it in depth, but I do recall that there was no mention of any specific light sequences outside of the relearn mode.
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redmed
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Apparently the clone did not take. I put the cloned wheels back on and I'm now getting one flash. The center screen acts normally and the ! symbol is not on, so I suspect the traction control and anti lock brake also work.
64 Galaxie 68 Olds 442 65 Impala 70 VW Bug
74 Nissan B210 66 Chevelle 73 Olds 98 71 C20
75 Monza 82 Escort 75 E150 75 Civic 76 Accord
86 Escort 87 Taurus 83 Chevy G20 85 Ranger 4x4
93 F250 4x4 95 Silhouette 95 LHS 03 Corolla 10 Kizashi S MT
17 Sienna
SamirD
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Interesting. I'd try locking up the brakes to double-check, but I think you're right that the abs and traction control should still be working normally.

It is strange how the cloned sensors work but have that light. I wonder if a simple re-learn will clear it? Or maybe just driving a few more days?
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redmed
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At this point I'm going to just drive it, but knowing myself that blinking light will bug me until I do something about it.
64 Galaxie 68 Olds 442 65 Impala 70 VW Bug
74 Nissan B210 66 Chevelle 73 Olds 98 71 C20
75 Monza 82 Escort 75 E150 75 Civic 76 Accord
86 Escort 87 Taurus 83 Chevy G20 85 Ranger 4x4
93 F250 4x4 95 Silhouette 95 LHS 03 Corolla 10 Kizashi S MT
17 Sienna
SamirD
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I'd feel the same way. Let's hope that driving it for a bit shakes it back into shape. The tpms system can be quite fickle that's for sure...
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redmed
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Well that flashing light finally got to me and I ordered a Autel TS508. Now the wait to find out if I made a mistake going with Autel stuff.
64 Galaxie 68 Olds 442 65 Impala 70 VW Bug
74 Nissan B210 66 Chevelle 73 Olds 98 71 C20
75 Monza 82 Escort 75 E150 75 Civic 76 Accord
86 Escort 87 Taurus 83 Chevy G20 85 Ranger 4x4
93 F250 4x4 95 Silhouette 95 LHS 03 Corolla 10 Kizashi S MT
17 Sienna
SamirD
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I will be curious to see how it works out. I never found a single tpms tool besides the ateq vt30 that could trigger or even read the sensors. And I had also tried a Bartec one.
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redmed
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I passed on a VT55 without the OBDII cable for $100 thinking I would never need a TPMS tool. Now I'm regretting that. I read that ATEQ stuff is the best but Autel seems to be trying to become a big player with some innovative stuff. Like the MX-Sensors I bought that are supposed to work with all vehicles. When I contacted Autel support they asked what type of sensor was the OE sensor. A day later they replied that their stuff should be compatible, so being a Kizashi did cause them to do some research.
64 Galaxie 68 Olds 442 65 Impala 70 VW Bug
74 Nissan B210 66 Chevelle 73 Olds 98 71 C20
75 Monza 82 Escort 75 E150 75 Civic 76 Accord
86 Escort 87 Taurus 83 Chevy G20 85 Ranger 4x4
93 F250 4x4 95 Silhouette 95 LHS 03 Corolla 10 Kizashi S MT
17 Sienna
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