rivec33

Had both rear tires changed on my wife’s Lexus today by a tire shop a stones throw from my house. After the change I noticed the tpms light wasn’t on but all 4 of the tire pressures on the dash were reading “- - - -“. Figured it would read after the car got moving and after about 30 feet. And It did. No light and all 4 pressures were on the dash and accurate.

Later when my wife leaves to go to work it’s back to “- - - -“ and no tpms light. The tire pressures never came back and the light is still off, after her 30-40 minute and 20 mile drive.

When she gets home in the morning and I’m going to try the TPMS reset and hope it will bring the numbers back.

Hoping one of the sensors isn’t broken from the tire change, but if there was one broken I’m just wondering how it read after driving it home and the light hasn’t come on.

Thought maybe they took both wheels off and swapped the right and left rims but wouldn’t that just make it read the pressures on the wrong side?

Just curious if anyone has dealt with something like this.

Sasnuke

Welcome to the forum!

A couple of info points about your issue.
The position of the TPMS sensor on the vehicle doesn't matter, even if they swapped the wheels side to side the car wheel just read the position of the sensor and indicate the pressure accordingly.
All the sensors are the same part number, just with a unique identifier code for the TPMS ECU...that's how it knows where each sensor is at all times no matter how much you play musical chairs with them lol!
The TPMS reset button will only reset the threshold pressure...meaning that if you set all the pressures to 36PSI and press the button, the ECU knows that's the threshold if one or more tires start to lose air.
If roughly about 5-6PSI is lost from any one, or all, tires below that threshold, the light will come on.

Normal OEM operation may have the "----" (dashes) appear initially before you start driving the vehicle.
The maximum time you should see the dashes before the pressures appear is 20 minutes (roughly) of driving as it's also based on a couple other factors as to when they appear.

The condition you describe where the pressures are gone but the light is not on is consistent with having aftermarket sensors.
Do you know if the TPMS sensors are OEM (original to the vehicle) or could they be aftermarket?

Btw...if the sensor was broken, depending on how it specifically broke, they wouldn't have been able to inflate the tire. The sensor is attached to the base of the valve stem, so if it broken clean off there would be nothing holding the valve stem on the inside of the rim, so it would just pop out of the rim from the outside.

rivec33

I think they’re all oem, they worked fine before bringing it in. My wife bought it I think with 14k miles and only had the tires changed once before at the Lexus dealer. This was the first tire change done outside the dealer. As far as we know. I took a picture of the dash in case something like this happened I’d have proof they worked. Unless one broke and they replaced it with an aftermarket they had on hand. But I pulled it up in front the shop and they pulled the tires off right where I left the car and I had the keys so don’t know how they would have programmed it.

what’s throwing me is how it read on the drive home. Waiting for her to get home to look at it

Sasnuke

With aftermarket sensors the pressure can show hit or miss on the dash.
Assuming these are OEM sensors, if the pressure isn't showing after 20 minutes of driving then the TPMS light should be on or flashing...which means there is an error code present.
With aftermarket sensors, you can drive 20 minutes and the pressures not show, and the light not be on.

It sounds like you have OEM sensors considering you've probably had the car 5-6 years at least and the pressures have been reading fine all that time.
But then again it doesn't make sense that you have no pressure readings and no TPMS light on with the OEM sensors.
Maybe one of the sensor batteries is getting low and causing this issue. The batteries should last about 10 years, but some have had them go sooner, even around 7-8 years.

rivec33

Don’t know if it was a fluke or not but she got home and I pressed the TPMS reset button under the dash and after the light flashed 3 times and started the car the pressures reappeared. Took it for a 5 minute ride around the block and shut it off and restarted it and the pressures are still there. However it originally took a few hours after sitting for the pressures to go “- - - -“ so will go out later in the day and see what happens.

Crusader

I have a 2013 Lexus ES350. Last week I had 4 new Michelin tires put on at BJ's. On the way home I noticed that there were all dashes showing for the tire pressures. he next day I did I held the reset button with the ignition on. The tire light blinked 3 times and then stayed on solid. Went back to BJ's and they checked each tire with a device and said that the right front tire TPMS battery was no good. That being said and the car 8 years old to me it makes sense to change all 4 of the sensors.
My question is: Do you have to replace them with sensors purchased from a Lexus dealer or are there other brands that are OEM ones? Any specific brand names better than others? BJ's only stocks DILL ones and does not have an OEM one for this car.
The OEM part number is: 42607-30060. Prices online range from $20 to $70 each.
Any information will be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

wthrman2

^^ wait, there is a store called BJ?!?!

Sasnuke

The folks in the ES forum might be better equipped to answer your question.
But assuming the ES has the same type of TPMS system like the IS, it's been found that the OEM sensors are the only ones that will work 100% of the time accurately without fail.
With the aftermarket sensors it hit and miss as to how much they will function.
On the scale of least functionality, you will see the dashes all the time and the TPMS light will be off.
If a tire drops low on air the TPMS light will come on...but without pressure readings you won't know which wheel it is.
On the scale of most functionality, you will get pressure readings most of the time and the TPMS light will be off.
Since you can see the pressures most of the time, you will obviously see when a tire is getting low.
On the odd occasion you will get the dashes for a random amount of time.

Crusader

My apologies for not posting in the correct forum... thought I had the right one.... Will post it there... Thanks for your help!!!

rivec33

Whelp, guess it was a fluke, worked all day yesterday and this morning, now it’s back to dashes this evening. Guess it’ll go back to the tire shop so they can tell me which sensor is causing this.