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TPMS delete

17K views 48 replies 15 participants last post by  skramer360 
#1 ·
First off I want to state that I live in Canada, where TPMS is not federally mandated. Secondly it is my understanding of US Law that it is not okay for a shop to defeat a safety item, but it is okay for an individual.

Now I find the factory TPMS system in the Frontiers to be finicky and annoying. I would love a system that worked and was useful, but what we have is neither. If I do figure out a good way to delete or bypass the factory system, I will be installing a better aftermarket solution, that can read more than 4 tires, and tell you the pressure of the tire.

I came across a thread on a tundra site that mentions splicing a wire from the TPMS control module into a wire of the ECM to trick the ECM into thinking that everything is good in the TPMS world. Should work on out trucks as well as you need to use the OBD2 port when working with out TPMS. So does anyone know what wire that is on our trucks and where the TPMS box is?

Quoted from the Tundrasolutions thread
"I have an '07 Tundra, and I know there are a lot of solutions out there to disable the TPMS light, but I think that I have found a way to trick the computer into believing that everything is working correctly without removing the dash or having to store those stupid sensors in pressurized container in the truck. I bought $5 worth of stuff at Radio Shack and it took me about 30 minutes.

I soldered a 12 volt Zener diode, a 1/4 watt 2.2k ohm resister and a 1/4 watt 1k ohm resister together to look like this. Be careful with the diode to ensure that it is facing the correct way because it only lets the voltage flow one direction.

Behind the glove box is a small grey box with a 12 pin connector to it. You can do this mod without removing the glove box if you don't mind spending some time on your back in the floorboard.

Remove that connector and then on the left side of the connector (the side with the clip) remove the light blue wire (5th one from the top). There is a compression fitting on the side of the connector that you will have to pop out approximately 1mm and then you can use a pin to remove that metal connector out of the plastic harness from the connection side. This is fairly simple to accomplish (hard to explain) but only necessary if you think that you may want to return it to factory operation at some time, otherwise you can clip the light blue wire.

Next step is to connect the resistor end of the series that you soldered together to the light blue wire. Then reconnect the plastic connector to the computer and stick the diode end into the back of the plastic connector so it makes contact with the yellow wire in the top right position.

This sends approximately 4.4 volts from the computer thru the light blue wire to the combination meter to tell the system that there is no fault."
 
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#3 ·
That system does not alway work. If you get a bad sensor, which the nissans are prone to no good. I am currently running the spare in my rotation so the truck still has the other 4 sensors but it is throwing a code because they are not turning. I feel the best way is to disable the system just need to find the wiring diagrams and play around.
 
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#5 ·
Wheels don't need to turn for TPMS to operate. If they did, you'd be alerting at every light. There's no inertia sensor in there, it's a simple pressure switch and RF transmitter...
 
#7 ·
If by "TPMS box," you mean the control unit, it is built into the BCM. As far as vehicle owners in the US disabling the TPMS system, it is still not legal.
 
#8 ·
This was my understanding as well. It's a permanent subsystem. You can disable the LED in the dash, create a canister, or use some good ole electric tape over the bulb.
 
#10 ·
Now I find the factory TPMS system in the Frontiers to be finicky and annoying. I would love a system that worked and was useful, but what we have is neither.
I have to disagree. It's sole purpose is to light up a bulb in the cluster if one of the tires is below the tire pressure threshold... and it does just that. In fact 4 days ago my light went on, reminding me that I haven't checked my tire pressures lately, and sure enough - 2 of them were low enough to trigger the light. Nothing "finicky and annoying", and it was 100% useful because it did its job as described.

I came across a thread on a tundra site that mentions splicing a wire from the TPMS control module into a wire of the ECM to trick the ECM into thinking that everything is good in the TPMS world. Should work on out trucks as well as you need to use the OBD2 port when working with out TPMS. So does anyone know what wire that is on our trucks and where the TPMS box is?
Our trucks have the distinction of being one of few that centralize many things through a main BCM - including the TPMS system.

Looks like poster's biggest problem is he's trying to use a toyota tundra fix on a nissan frontier.
Yeah nice try, but doesn't work that way.
 
#11 · (Edited)
I'm kind of wondering what the point would be. All the TPMS does is turn on the "idiot light" on the dash. Unless a safety or emissions inspection requires that the light not be lit in order for you to legally drive, if the system is malfunctioning such that it lights the light when it shouldn't, and you don't want to spend the money to fix it, you can ignore the light, or if it really annoys you tape over it or remove the bulb or LED for the light.

On my Frontier, which is still fairly new, the system has functioned as it should. It alerted me to low pressure when I had a puncture, and has lit the light a few times when it was very cold, and turned off after it warmed up (I didn't add air on those occasions). Personally, I probably wouldn't spend any money beyond new sensors to fix it if it failed, as I managed pretty well without the system for my whole life. A system that actually displays tire pressures, as I have seen on other vehicles, would be more useful. It would also be nice if it worked for the spare.
 
#12 ·
On certain models, it does show the tire pressures, like on my 2008 Pathfinder. However, it wasn't the case on my 2006 Pathfinder LE non-navi and apparently not for the Frontiers. On the 2008, you have to work thru the menu to get to the air pressure monitoring screen, but at least it's available. Hopefully, they'll make that feature standard on the 3rd Gen. The system, itself, is pretty reliable with the single, common failure of dead sensor batteries. Better battery technology (in making longer lasting batteries), or at least replaceable sensor batteries, would improve the system, as well. It's alerted me on two occasions to low pressure caused by nails in the tires and I do check my tires pressures regularly.
 
#15 ·
I've been ignoring my tpms light for about 8 years. I find the systems that just go off the abs sensors to be less pita as it just monitors to make sure there's not a tire that's constantly doing more rotations than the others.
 
#33 ·
... I was simply stating that in 2008 TPMS was mandatory in the US and required a direct method on monitoring. ...
[/QUOTE]
Read the legislation posted above, no where does it mention "direct method". No where is a monitor required in the wheel.

I was just answering your question "After 2007 what manufacture used a tire pressure warning system that didn't use tire pressure sensors?"
 
#34 ·
... I was simply stating that in 2008 TPMS was mandatory in the US and required a direct method on monitoring. ...
Read the legislation posted above, no where does it mention "direct method". No where is a monitor required in the wheel.

I was just answering your question "After 2007 what manufacture used a tire pressure warning system that didn't use tire pressure sensors?"
[/QUOTE]

I get it, I had made the mistake and said ALL instead of MOST. That was my mistake. When you stated "Many cars produced after that used an indirect system without sensors in the tires" which is not correct, the majority of vehicles in the US use the direct system and a relatively small number use an indirect system in comparison.

When TPMS came out in 2008 it was believe the direct system was mandated in. As a Toyota Tech we saw Toyota switched from the the indirect to the direct system and assumed it was because of legislation in the United States. I'm in Canada so some of our vehicle got the system and some did not.
 
#41 ·
If the circumference of your tire is say 70 inches, it doesn't matter whether you have 3psi or 50psi of pressure in it the circumference isn't going to change, its still 70 inches. What will change is tire height ie. 50psi =30.6" height vs 3 psi= 28.0". but the circumference remains 70 inches. Unless of course you've figured out a way to shrink those steel belts embedded inside that thing, not to mention 4 or 5 polyester plys.
 
#43 ·
This one's all you now, don't say I didn't try LOL

How can the tire height change yet the circumference, not? Both are exterior measures and part and parcel. Is there something I'm missing regarding the laws of physics here
Find yourself something simple, and round - like a rubber band.
WITHOUT STRETCHING IT put it on a table and form it into a circle (like an inflated tire).
Now form it into an oval (like a flat tire).

Think about that.
 
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