JASP615

Hi Everyone,

I have a 2006 GX470 with 10,000 miles on it. I just got my State inspection at our local mechanic. When I got in to drive it home I noticed that the low tire pressure light is on. Now I know they pulled a tire to check breaks but my tires are fine. How can I reset this? My dealer is 30 miles away and they can't do my state inspection due to being out of state. Not to mention it was just there at 8500 miles for my 10,000 mile check up since my coupon expired at the end of Aug for this service. I'm also not to keen on taking it back to the dealer to do all the stuff that my hubby can do. I did look in the book but I didn't understand how to reset this and before I just pushed buttons I wanted to make sure I wasn't screwing something up.

Sami

The G Man

There is nothing to reset. I would check the tire pressure including the spare tire. Make sure they are all about 32 psi. If that doesnt work, you may have a bad sensor.

alsilverbullet

Agreed. I had the same problem and it was the spare that was low.

JASP615

I've checked the psi and it was near 40 I guess they must of put air in the tires so I've adjusted the psi to 32 on all the tires. I'm hoping that will maybe do it.

What does the sensor look like and where is it located? What do I do if it is a bad sensor will the dealer fix this under warranty?

Sami

SilverLady

I had the same problem, called the dealer after filling the tires didn't help, they said to come in - and then I felt really, really stupid when they saw the problem:

The easiest thing to check is the little switch that is located below the steering wheel (not easy to see unless you get down and look). That little switch can be set for two sets of tires (in case you use snow tires with their own sensors). If that switch somehow gets knocked to the wrong setting, it will give you a low air pressure warning for the non-existent set of tires and sensors. Just set the switch to the first set of tires.

Somehow, my switch got knocked to the other position!

I can't believe they put forty pounds of pressure in your tires - how did the ride feel with that?

wacko

Did the same thing here...switch was in the wrong position!

JASP615

Hi Everyone,

Ride wasn't great. I knew right away something didn't feel right but didn't know it was the tires until I was checking everything for this light.

Well the light is still on. I did see the little switches and I even changed the settings thinking maybe it was the problem also but it's not working. I even tried to climb under the truck to check the spare but they put the tire in the up position so I will have to lower the tire for me to check the spare's psi.

I guess I will have to call the dealer and see if they can take a look at it.

Thanks,
Sami

BurgBoxstr

Definitely check the switch SilverLady mentions as mine got bumped once too. Of course, it was the last thing I checked

it makes you feel like you're riding in a big red rubber ball. I had my GX at the dealer for service last winter and for a two weeks I noticed the ride was pathetic and just thought maybe w/ 40K on the clock the shocks were going bad. During that time I was traveling a lot and kept forgetting to make a service appt until my drives to/from airport early in AM or late at night. Finally, Sat AM came and I remembered how bad the ride was and went out to investigate. Needless to say, I found the dealer pumped 'em up to 45# all the way around

The G Man

The sensor is attached to the valve stem on the tire, the sensor itself is inside the tire. The sensors are covered under the warranty as long as you or a third party did not break them. If I remember right, there is a high / low alarm on the system, but 40 psi should not be enough to set it off. My bet is the spare tire is low. This maybe a good time to learn how to access your spare tire, its really not that hard at all. Took me longer to read the instructions than to actually do it

BurgBoxstr

G Man-
Agree w/ your concept as there should be a high and low alarm (i.e. a % variance setting). But I suspect there is either only a low. My dealer once inflated all of my tires to 45# (see post above), or the boundaries are way too broad to be helpful except when the tires are either flat or at great risk of blow out due to over inflation. 45#s (cold) is almost 50% higher than recommended pressure. I imagine while under load or warm, this should theoretically cause the alarm to go off for being too high but it did not on mine. Curious to know what the boundaries are for the TPMS, high (if there) and low.

My previous SUV (Ford Exploder) had TPMS. Twice I had the TPMS flash when the car sat for a while with temp around 0 degrees F. Obviously, tires were low as after a mile or two when they warmed up it stopped. It was a good warning / reminder but I'm not so confident in the TPMS in my GX.

The G Man

I believe the low alarm is around 28 psi and I have read somewhere someone took delivery of a new GX and the dealer had the tires up to 50 psi for shipping and he had issues with the TPMS.

JASP615

Hi Everyone,

Back from the dealer. There is a closer dealer to my house then the one we bought the truck from. I called and told them what was going on and they told me to bring it in. I did and when the guy couldn't reset the light he told me to go have a seat and he would bring it in to check all the tires. Well it was the spare that was causing the problem. The tire measured 26 psi so they put air in and checked for leaks then put more air in all my tires 35 psi is what Lexus likes them to be at in the winter? They also washed the truck and had a long stem rose in the back seat for me when I got back in to go home. All of this was done in one hour which I think is fantastic for not having an appointment and they were busy. for now on I will be going there for my service. I just didn't like their sales dept.

Sami

The G Man

Long stem rose? I never got one of those from my dealer before Sounds like a great service department and you got a free car wash out of it too. You will find that the sales department and the service department are not alway alike. I am doing the same thing, bought my car from one dealer and service it at another.

SilverLady

Good that you could get it resolved - sounds like nice service department to take care of that for you so nicely even though you didn't buy the truck there.

Maybe I was doing something wrong, but lowering the spare the time I started to do it seemed like a major project. You have to put this whole contraption together, and then try to line it up at an angle in a dark hole. If I remember, the parts would start coming apart and slipping before I could even get it going - and the tool kit was even lacking one of the tools (screwdriver??? I forget) required to put the contraption together. There is no excuse for this kind of convoluted and patched together design.

Back when I got my first cars, I would jack them up and remove the tire and put it back just to make sure I knew how to do it. It was straightforward and quick. When I got my first SUV, the 96 Ford Explorer, the drop down tire design was well thought out and straightforward - but the lug nuts were impossible for me to budge with even a large tire iron. Now I can't even get the darn spare out!

The G Man

If i have to deal with lug nuts, I usually leave it to the roadside assistance guys I lower my spare at home, so I had all the tool, but like I said, its a good idea to do it at least once so you know what tools you will need. I ended up putting a bigger screwdriver and plier in my truck cus they work much better than the tools in the tool kit.