Tire Registration

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TimLee

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 20, 2011
Messages
2,823
Location
Chattanooga, TN
Bought new tires.
TPMS was previously registered.
Told Costco to put wheels back in same place, but I don't think they did.

Went back and wanted them to do the LEAF Spy Pro tire registration pressures.
They instead used their OBDII tire registration device.

Does that work?

Was the following in LEAF Spy Pro thread:
Turbo3 said:
Let me try this again. The Leaf has no ECU that can SEND commands to the TPMS units in the wheels. Note the use of the word SEND in that sentence.
...
So yes there is an ECU that receives the stream of data from the TPMS units when the TPMS units in the wheel decide to transmit data. The ECU is the Body Control Module (BCM) and is the ECU that LeafSpy requests the tire pressures from that are shown on screen 4.

The BCM has a single antenna that receives data from the wireless key and the TPMS units in each wheel.

The Consult-III plus has no capability to wake up any of the TPMS units in the wheels. When you do a tire registration from the Consult-III plus you must drive the Leaf to wake up the TPMS units in each wheel so they can send and the Leaf BCM ECU can receive that data.
...

So if Costco did this right, they had to drive the vehicle and then plug the OBDII tire registration device in?
Or do some OBDII tire registration devices have the ability to wake up the TPMS sensors without driving the vehicle first?

I doubt they drove it first.
 
There are TPMS registration devices you hold near each sensor one at a time after putting the system in learn mode through the OBDII port. The registration device causes the sensor it is near to transmit without spinning the wheel. As Turbo3 said in the Leaf Spy thread, the sensors do not receive wake up commands from the car--they automatically transmit when they see rapid pressure change and periodically (rate depends upon manufacturer).

For example, the sensors in my SUV transmit once per hour when the wheels are not spinning and once per minute when moving above 25 mi/hr. They also transmit when they see sudden pressure loss. This means the four pressures displayed on the overhead console are accurate as soon as I start the car (unlike Leaf which must be driven before pressures update and requires external device to see the pressures). I can also put the system in learn mode from the overhead console and place a donut magnet around each valve stem in sequence to update the sensor positions after rotating tires. My experience has been that most tire shops neglect to update the sensor positions after replacing or rotating tires so I make it a habit to check lug nut torques and update the sensor positions when I get home.

Gerry
 
I have and use the Autel 401 TPM diagnostic tool on various domestic and european vehicles;
http://www.amazon.com/Autel-Pressur...437323974&sr=8-2&keywords=Autel+Tire+Pressure

The tool will wake-up most all TPM sensors and display their IDs and the tire's pressure
once the vehicle type is selected. Some TPM sensors require that the tire pressure be
reduced to wake-up the sensor. The tool's major benefit results from being able to determine
whether there's a bad newly installed sensor that will prevent the TPM ECU from completing
the registration process on some vehicles, e.g. Porsche. I've used this tool on my Leaf and it
easily wakes-up each sensor when the tool is close to the sensor.

Bought new tires.
TPMS was previously registered.
Told Costco to put wheels back in same place, but I don't think they did.

Went back and wanted them to do the LEAF Spy Pro tire registration pressures.
They instead used their OBDII tire registration device.

So Tim, did Costco's tool complete the registration? Did you do a before and after test with
LeafSpy to determine if Costco's use of their tool was effective? If so, that indicates that the
Leaf's TPM ECU (in the BCM) can be commanded via the OBDII port to enter the registration
process, which possibly implies too that the TPM ECU can requested to provide the tire pressures.
 
The Autel 401 tool you referenced wakes up the sensor that it is close to. As Turbo3 noted in the Leaf Spy thread, there is no way to wake up the sensors through the OBDII port. Therefore, Leaf Spy displaying the pressures continuously has no impact on sensor battery life. The sensors should last several years unless they are damaged by running on a flat tire or by improper mounting/dismounting of a tire from the wheel.

Gerry
 
lorenfb said:
...
So Tim, did Costco's tool complete the registration? Did you do a before and after test with
LeafSpy to determine if Costco's use of their tool was effective? ...
Thanks for the info on the Autel 401 tool.

My guess is they used that or some other similar tool that had the ability to wake up the sensor with close proximity.
I was busy and doing other shopping and didn't watch them do it or find out which tool.

I haven't validated the registration.
Costco does Nitrogen.
I wanted them to put in 46 psig, 2 psig over max cold tirewall rating on Ecopia EP422+.
So I could let pressure out and equalize next morning when cold.
But they only with immense reluctance agreed to put in 44.
Sensors show between 42.75 and 43.5.
They're pretty close to the 43 I wanted.
If the cold readings today are still OK I am going to assume they did the registration as I don't want to lower pressure doing testing.
 
GerryAZ said:
The Autel 401 tool you referenced wakes up the sensor that it is close to.

I didn't state otherwise.

GerryAZ said:
As Turbo3 noted in the Leaf Spy thread, there is no way to wake up the sensors through the OBDII port. Therefore, Leaf Spy displaying the pressures continuously has no impact on sensor battery life.

You know this as fact, e.g. having all the OP codes for the TPM ECU (BCM ECU), right?

GerryAZ said:
The sensors should last several years unless they are damaged by running on a flat tire or by improper mounting/dismounting of a tire from the wheel.

Actually, most OEMs indicate that the typical TPM sensor's battery should last 7 years.
 
TimLee said:
lorenfb said:
...
So Tim, did Costco's tool complete the registration? Did you do a before and after test with
LeafSpy to determine if Costco's use of their tool was effective? ...
Thanks for the info on the Autel 401 tool.

My guess is they used that or some other similar tool that had the ability to wake up the sensor with close proximity.
I was busy and doing other shopping and didn't watch them do it or find out which tool.

I haven't validated the registration.
Costco does Nitrogen.
I wanted them to put in 46 psig, 2 psig over max cold tirewall rating on Ecopia EP422+.
So I could let pressure out and equalize next morning when cold.
But they only with immense reluctance agreed to put in 44.
Sensors show between 42.75 and 43.5.
They're pretty close to the 43 I wanted.
If the cold readings today are still OK I am going to assume they did the registration as I don't want to lower pressure doing testing.

Since all the TPM sensor IDs were known by TPM ECU, the normal registration process as with new sensors wasn't necessary.
Most likely Costco's use of their OBDII tool wasn't necessary and the Leaf system would have identified the locations within
a short driving distance. So we really don't know for sure whether the Costco tool actually communicated and facilitated
the location process.
 
lorenfb said:
Since all the TPM sensor IDs were known by TPM ECU, the normal registration process as with new sensors wasn't necessary.
Most likely Costco's use of their OBDII tool wasn't necessary and the Leaf system would have identified the locations within
a short driving distance. So we really don't know for sure whether the Costco tool actually communicated and facilitated
the location process.
Only if they mounted the wheels back in the original locations.

The cold pressures are low like I thought they would be.
Around 41 psig.
Not too bad, but lower than I was planning.
 
TimLee said:
Only if they mounted the wheels back in the original locations.

The point was that since the IDs were known, i.e. not like for a new sensor, all that was needed was to have the
TPM ECU determine the locations. That less involved than having to learn the IDs too as in a total learning process
with new sensors.
 
TimLee's 2011 Leaf has no ability to learn the new tire locations. It will just assume they have not changed. (Check the service manual if you don't believe me.)

Costco would need to have a SIGNAL TECH II TOOL (J-50190) to do a tire registration without a Consult-III Plus. That tool can wake up a TPMS when held very close to it and can read the TPMS IDs and then be plugged into the OBDII port to transfer the values to the BCM ECU or in this case update their location. But only the 2013 manual I have shows this procedure so it might not work on the older 2011 Leaf. Nissan made a lot of code changes with the 2013 model.

They run about $1300 to $1600 so are not cheap.

Learning the IDs is easy if you can wake up the TPMS units. The Leaf just needs to listen for them. The hard part is knowing where the IDs are located on the Leaf. Putting a different pressure in each tire is one simple way Nissan uses. Waking each one up in sequence is another and reading each one with an external tool is a third.
 
- My "check tire" yellow warning light is on.
- My old-school pressure gauge shows perfect readings from 4 tires.
- Leaf Spy shows that the two back tires are "N/A".

Simplest cause seems like tire guys forgot to sync/reset (I bought used from a trusted dealer who'd put on new tires, probably at Costco)

Has anyone tried these $25 ring magnets (or like this) or initiating a reset/synch?

Seems like it'd be worth a try before stepping up to one of the $120 electronic thingies.
 
Arlington said:
...
Has anyone tried these $25 ring magnets (or like this) or initiating a reset/synch?

Seems like it'd be worth a try before stepping up to one of the $120 electronic thingies.
Does not work with the Nissan TPMS system.

When I went back to Costco they had a proximity device and used it to register the sensors.
Not the same brand that Turbo 3 listed.
But it worked.
It has a OBDII wireless device that plugs into the OBDII port.

Then selected proper vehicle from a list and put it next to each wheel TPMS as instructed.
About 30 seconds to one minute for each to register before moving to the next one.

They had just failed to do it when they installed the tires initially when they were very busy.

But if you don't have a device or don't want to spend that much, the LEAF Spy Pro setting the four pressures does work.
 
Arlington said:
- My "check tire" yellow warning light is on.
- My old-school pressure gauge shows perfect readings from 4 tires.
- Leaf Spy shows that the two back tires are "N/A".

Simplest cause seems like tire guys forgot to sync/reset (I bought used from a trusted dealer who'd put on new tires, probably at Costco)

Has anyone tried these $25 ring magnets (or like this) or initiating a reset/synch?

Seems like it'd be worth a try before stepping up to one of the $120 electronic thingies.

Since Leaf Spy displays two pressures and N/A for the other two, it is possible that the tire shop damaged 2 sensors or replaced them with plain valve stems. Since the functional sensors could be in any position, you will need to check all 4 tires (you could adjust the tires to 4 different pressures and determine which ones are displaying correctly after driving a short distance).
 
GerryAZ said:
Arlington said:
- My "check tire" yellow warning light is on.
- My old-school pressure gauge shows perfect readings from 4 tires.
- Leaf Spy shows that the two back tires are "N/A".

Simplest cause seems like tire guys forgot to sync/reset (I bought used from a trusted dealer who'd put on new tires, probably at Costco)

Has anyone tried these $25 ring magnets (or like this) or initiating a reset/synch?

Seems like it'd be worth a try before stepping up to one of the $120 electronic thingies.

Since Leaf Spy displays two pressures and N/A for the other two, it is possible that the tire shop damaged 2 sensors or replaced them with plain valve stems. Since the functional sensors could be in any position, you will need to check all 4 tires (you could adjust the tires to 4 different pressures and determine which ones are displaying correctly after driving a short distance).

My Nissan Dealer, as part of scheduled maintenance, re-registered all 4 tires "for free"* (so I don't know how it was fixed, but am happy it was)

*Nothing a dealer does is really free. It was clearly priced into the overpriced brake fluid change ($100) and multipoint inspection ($60), but hey, I was getting the brake Service Campaign done at the same time.
 
Got new Ecopias a couple of weeks ago at the nearest Firestone store. On Sunday I started down the street and saw the tire pressure warning on dash after three blocks. LeafSpy shows front-left is flat. Actually, right-rear is flat.

Found drywall screw in edge of tread. Pumped up tire with Zefal floor pump and drove to Firestone shop. They replaced tire ("unrepairable" although I jammed a plug into one of my Subaru's tires in the same location on the tread and it's held for years :roll: ) Still registered to wrong location on car.

Do shops not routinely re-register after remounting wheels? I guess I'll have to call them and harass them about this.
 
When I got new tires earlier this year, they didn't put the sensors back in the same position. I just fixed it by doing a tire position registration with Leaf Spy Pro this past weekend. It was really simple to do.
 
i took my leaf to have new tires on that I ordered online.. this place had guys who knew what they were doing. I stood by and watched them, I like watching people work..anyway I saw them take the wheels off and with a tiny chalk like marker, write on the wheel to note where they came from, now that is wisdom of the job. They didn't know that in fact the wheels were all in the wrong place anyway because I messed that up a year ago when I swapped them and didn't bother to use leaf spy relearn and me re-program the locations.
 
All this worry about where the wheel should go is ridiculous. Who cares which wheel has what location pressure. As long as the car recognizes all 4 tires and the warning light is off, who cares??

The TPMS goes on when ONE of them goes below a certain point. That ALERTS YOU that a tire is below pressure, and you should check ALL of them. Without having Leafspy, no one would even care about individual pressures and just check all tires themselves with a gauge... Total time... 30 seconds. Also, the sensors are not expected to be accurate to a decimal pound figure.

I personally hate those sensors because I hate that I am obligated to change those damn sensors for $200+ when they go bad. I was perfectly happy before they invented those things.

All this computer and phone app crap is turning us into a society of obsessive compulsive pussy willows that have to get their data just the way they like it or they have an embolism. They are probably the same ones that get their meal ingredients ordered by mail so they don't have to cut their own vegetables... As proof, there is even a guy that posted he is going to harrass the shop about it.
 
I have two vehicles with TPMS and would add it to my other vehicles if I could find good aftermarket kits. The low pressure warning before the tire is flat enough to feel the effect on handling has saved me from damaging several tires which developed leaks that were repairable. Knowing the position of the soft tire is beneficial because the low pressure warning comes on before the tire is soft enough to be obvious. My SUV displays all four pressures and comes with a magnet to program the sensor positions (quick and easy with no need to change pressures)--I wish Nissan would display all four pressures on the dash, but at least Leaf Spy does.

I have not yet needed to replace sensors on my 2004 SUV or on the 2015 LEAF. The original sensors were working fine on the 2011 when it reached the end of the road.
 
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