My friend has an 05 4Runner and her "!" light kept flashing. She took it in and they told her that it was her "spare tire sensor", they told her that this "sensor" is on higher end cars. I personally have NEVER heard of this. Is there such a sensor. Or is it there just to get the car into the shop to get money? She asked me about it and i was all whats that, where is it, and what does it do... Im no noob to cars, but i have never heard of such an animal and wtf is it there for. Is it there to tell you that your spare tire is inflated enough? I am clueless!! Please help. Thanks.

 

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spare tire sensor = HID fluid?

 

tell her to

 

Tire Pressure Monitor

 

I just talked to my boss and i guess they do exist, they monitor the air pressure in the spare tire.. :ghey:

 

Id say Low tire pressure, tell her to check all of her PSI's...

 

Its in her spare tire. Not regualr tires.
It would make more sence on the regular tires. But on the spare. Just seems like a way to get you in there to spend money huh

 

Believe it or not, they are right....There is a sensor in the spare tire that works together with everything else to monitor the pressure. I had a similar problem with a customer, and the spare tire just needed a little air. No joke!
Ed

 

no shit!!! Thats amazing!

 

Blow out a tire in the middle of West Virginia at 2am Sunday morning and then find out your spare is flat, and you would wish you had one of these.

 

^^ This is true too...i mean it sounds good in theory....But come one...They are making cars so they dont need to be kept up by the owner anymore. Its like you dont even have to check your oil anymore cuz the car has a light for it..(not really but you know what i mean) Damn cars have more lights in it that a friggin christmas tree.s

 

less maintenance, more performance is fine by me

 

good point! Glad i dont have a spare tire....

 

All five tires has one not just the spare, you can thank Ford and Firestone for this one. It is part of the tire act passed after the Firestone problem. If you look at the valve stem it will look like it is metal that is were the sensor is.

 

ahhhh

 

i have an 04 4runner and that damn light just came on too. looks like this

(!)

it's because of the colder weather. just need to add some air.

 

i hate when this light comes on in my car. looks like this

(stfu)

i found out apparently my car doesn't agree with me yelling at other drivers on the road

 

TPMS valves are a great idea, my only complaint is I wish they would standardize them already. I know we are still in the early stages of its development, but it is really quite difficult to keep up with how ever vehicle is initiated and keeping proper valves in stock. Which have limited life span due to battery life or other failure.

A few quick tips for TPMS users, do NOT lose your valve cap, its a special valve cap and with out it or a different cap it may make the system function improperly. You can replace just the valve cap, but its a little expensive for a valve cap! Also do NOT buy the valve's from dealerships, they are available aftermarket at a HUGE savings. The only ones that are not are some of the Toyota valve's, which are the most troublesome for some reason, and they are around $120/valve from the dealer. Though most cost roughly half this much, but its kind of hard to grasp for most consumers that it will cost $240 plus installation and re-initiation for valves(make it $300 if you need the spare as well!).

What I feel is going to develop is a standalone, battery powered(maybe powered from your cigarette lighter), transmitter of some sort that will operate on all the frequencies of all known TPMS that will show the in-dash computer what it needs to see so the light will not come on. Because in states that have emissions testing(NY for example) when its required on all new vehicles(which I believe is by 2008) your car will not pass inspection with out the system working properly. Low, or potentially low air pressure is causing a loss of fuel economy which is causing higher emissions.

And to think, car's used to be easy!

 

Yep, reminds me of those lifetime fluids in the BMW.

PITA to cross-reference those fluids to find an aftermarket alternative, as most of those OEM fluids are overpriced and are nowhere as good as many of the aftermarkets.

I'm worried now how Honda may be incorporating the usage of tagants to check and see if you're using their OEM fluid. They can simply test with a $35 IR kit to see if it contains that dye to know whether you're using the OEM fluid. Again, don't know for sure, but its possible.

Mike

 

At least that has a purpose.
I think worse is the sensor for the gas cap on newer cars.
Stupid check engine light comes on if the cap isn't tight enough. WTF! My aunt called me freaking out 1 day cause her Mustang did this.