Disabling your TPMS sensors

My TPMS light was on roughly half the year, I would get it reset and due to the shitty roads in this area a few months it would come back on. Since I am maintenance oriented and rotate my tires on a regular basis I usually check the air pressure so I see no need in this system. Some of you might already know about this to those who don't here ya go. Under your glove compartment there is a single screw in the center, remove it and pull the panel down. Attached to that panel is a little orange box which is the TPMS control box. Locate the pink/black and white/black wires and put one of these splices on both wires. (You will have to trim the splice so both wires fit).

 

Thanks to the OP for this easy fix to a frustrating problem with my '09 4Runner. I bought new FX Pro wheels and Durotrac tires and had Goodyear install new TPMS. They work fine until I drive at highway speeds for about 30 minutes. The TPMS light on my dash starts blinking and then goes solid. This will last for a while and then go off for a while. Then the cycle starts over ....... and over again. When I reduce vehicle speed back in town as I'm heading to Goodyear to get it checked out the light goes off and stays off. Goodyear says all the TPMS batteries check out but that they can't find the intermittantly faulty TPMS unless the light is flashing or on solid (highway speeds only). Very frustrating.

So I bought a small box of RED wire connectors at Ace Hardware, drilled out the plastic stop on one wire channel and installed it in a few minutes. On my '09 4Runner the wires to connect are pink with a black stripe and black with a reddish brown stripe.

 

Totally new to this, but the splice will eliminate the light on the dash correct? Not sure I completely understand how that's working but really want that light to go away.

 

The TPMS system is in perfect working order when the system is grounded out. So you are grounding out the correct TPMS wire and tricking the system into thinking that it is operating correctly and therefore there is no light on the dash.

 

That makes sense, thanks!

 

Ok, this is driving me nuts. Supposedly this is an incredibly easy mod...but where the heck is this black plastic panel under the glove box? can someone post a pic? I'm not seeing anything that seems likely under my glove. 2005 t4r.

 

I may be a bit late but it is right there.
Btw thanks OP!

 

Does this work on 5th gen?

 

Nope but this seems to be a possible solution for you go to page 2 start at @zeindogs 1st post.

 

Thank you for the direction. I looked under the dash today and my TPMS outlet doesn't look like the one pictured in the the thread you linked. I will do more research and get it identified. When I do I'll post pics of my solution.

 

Maybe that was for the early 5th gens?

 

Perhaps.

 

I was reading further on in that post and someone with a 2018 said that their module was a different color but in the same position and had the same pin out. So this could still be a fix for you @TNToyo79

 

I appreciate the info!

 

I tried the fix on my 09 connecting the pink with black and the black with the redish brown stripe. Light is still flashing then going solid. I used one of the connectors as shown , but mayb it didn't connect right. Any thoughts? New to the 4 runner site, love my ride.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAjpYyiD6dA

Hopefully this will help.

 

Good news. After driving 12 miles to work and black beatty sitting 8 hours the light was off when I started up to come home. The color wires I used for an 09 must be correct. Stay tuned, since there may be other issues I need help with. Thanks guys.

 

Thanks for the info on this. Just got my 07 4Runner 2 months ago. The TPMS light was flashing when I bought it. Had new tires installed a month ago and the shop was able to get it to go off. They never told me what they did. It just started flashing again on the way home yesterday. Found this write up last night and stopped on the way home today for a wire splice kit. Took about 2 minutes and it was fixed. Simple fix for the annoying flashing light. Thanks again!

 

2008 4Runner - After way too many issues with resetting my TPMS light (after a flat, when changing tires, after cold weather psi drop) I put in a "tap" quick lock that jumped these wires: pink with a black stripe and black with a reddish brown stripe. The light is out! Doesn't even come on as a test. When I first put the quick lock on it didn't work! But I hadn't squeezed the cover down to engage both wires. Then I did and ahhhhhh! Goodbye light. I always carry and use a tire pressure gauge anyway!!

 

This is a complete new issue to me. So, please excuse my ignorance. We are not having this problem, I just want to understand.
While I really don't like or understand the need for TPMS sensors, I don't know why you would want to delete this feature.
Not to discount anyone knowledge on here but could one of the tires be close to the low parameter & when it warms up (temp or driving) does it go away due to the expansion of air?
Also, in our previous car (my trucks are exempt) if a tire got low it would illuminate not blink. Is the blinking the issue?
Finally, how do you reset a TPMS sensor. Every time ours came on we filled the appropriate tire & light went out.
Please excuse my ignorance! (This is an issue on both 4th & 5th gens as I see now)

This is a great upgrade for airing down & not having a light on.

 

Well.... my truck is a 2008 which means the batteries in the wheel sensors are 11 years old. Live expectancy is 10 years so you won't have to worry until 2029! Each time I've had a tire change, recently from putting on snows and once from a flat tire - it's a lot of work and time to get the sensors to communicate with the mothership. End result: blinks for a while then goes solid. Could not get it to shut off this time - even though the tire pressure was perfect (and I did a deflate/reinflate which sometimes wakes the sensors up). Not wanting to spend $400 (at least) on a new set of sensors, I opted for $2.89 to disable the light. I check my tire pressure often (Vermont winters!) and keep an eye on all components all the time. Light is now out, all else is fine.

This is my second 4th gen. Got 167K before trading in for this one (an 08 in 2015 with 50K). She's wonderful - daily driver, pull a heavy boat, skid 1/2 trees out of the woods, and she still shines!

 

I check my tires on a regular basis so this feature is not required.

 

I did the wires the OP said on his 07, that was wrong, it made the tac jump from 0-2000rpm at idle??? Weird right...but this was only an indication. I have an 08 (Pink with black stripe and black with reddish stripe). Little hiccup but it works good, just an extra butt splice now lol

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I challanged my 17 year old boy to go out and do what was shared in the video. Took a relatively unexperienced kid about 15 min in the freezing cold to do this. No issues.

 

Can’t be all wrong, it solved my problem.

 

Identical issue and lack of resolution by Discount Tire and Dealership for same reason.

Anyone know which wires to tap on a 2020?

 

Don’t know, all I know is what wires worked for mine....apparently something changed between 07 and 08

 

This is part of the reason in addition to cost I keep cars so long. Less non sense to go wrong. I sound like my Dad now but what the heck. Nobody can check tire pressure once and a while. Common sense. All government regulations can fix stupid.


Pretty soon they will out these damn start/stop starters on 4Runners.

 

I tried every wire combination and NOTHING worked.

 

Kind of digging it now that my 04 doesn't have TPMS.