MTurnbo

I just purchased a set of magnesium wheels off of a 99 that came with the pressure sensors. Before I have the wheels refinished and tires mounted I'm trying to decide what to do, if anything, about the TPS batteries. I replaced one myself to see how it would go (went fine) but don't know if I ought to do the other three. I get voltage but don't know if it really works on the car. I do not want to test it by using my car. My TPS system works fine and I don't want to screw with it. I've heard battery life of 5 -10 years. These are, of course, almost seven years old. How many of you driving a 97,98,or 99 have had sensors go bad? What do you think?

W.A.M.

I have a 98 and I just put chrome 2000 wheels and new tires on and I didn't want these sensors going bad later which would require messing with the wheels and tires.

I put in new batterys and the learn TPS to the car is very easy. Got the directions off of this forum someplace.

Just tape your rebuilt sensor to your current wheel away from the valve stem and go through the learn procedure to make sure it is OK, then remove it and relearn your current wheels to the car.

screw991le

Years are not interchangable, If I remember correctly

97-99
00
01-04

Are all different.

mrm1149

Are you saying that the new one being learned overrides the old one that is already inside the wheel?

MTurnbo

Good question. I decided to go ahead and replace the batteries. Got three done, one more to go. I probably will test them before I do the sealing.

mrm1149

Post regarding how the above works out if you would..........appreciate it...

blacksedan87

I just ordered new TPS from Fichtner for $99 each. I have one bad one and I figured I'd use the old ones to figure out how to change the batteries. How hard was it to get them open, swap out the battery and then reseal them?

Who knows - I might be willing to part with my old ones with new batteries if I figure it out for the cost of the new battery......

MTurnbo

Pretty easy. Run a search on "Tire pressure sensors". Complete instruction in one of the other threads.

screw991le

The case has to be cut open to get at the batteries

mrm1149

MTurnbo>.>. Did you figure out if the new ones overide the old ones by training them outside the wheels??

MTurnbo

Haven't gotten to that yet. I, like you would really like to know the answer to that question before I test these out. Here is what I've done so far.

Batteries replaced on all four and one has been potted with PC7. The batteries are Digi-Key and there are two problems with them.
1. The Digi-Key battery is a little larger than the stock battery but will fit with some minor effort.
2. The terminal on the "+" side (it goes down) is a little short and almost doesn't reach the circuit board connection. Again, if you're careful you can make it reach.

I'm ready to test all four and if all is well I'll pot the remaining three.

W.A.M.

I purchased the exact battery, CR2477N, from www.batterystation.com for $4 each plus shipping and received them in a few days.

mrm1149,

I would think that the car is going to learn the sensor that the magnet is being held next to. Thats why I would keep it away from the sensor inside of the wheel.

I had one of the four I rebuilt not work and I rebuilt another one and taped it to my wheel and the car learned it OK. I then had it mounted on the wheel in place of the bad one and went through the relearn procedure and everything turned out fine.

When you go through the learn procedure, make sure the horn beeps before you go to the next wheel.

MTurnbo

W.A.M. do you have to go back and relearn the sensors inside the wheel after you have tested the ones with new batteries?

mrm1149

WAM>>> good info, thanks......

W.A.M.

MTurnbo,

I did go through the learn procedure again once I had all four sensors working just to make sure everything was set up correctly.

leaftye

Did you have to solder the connector to the battery? I suck at soldering. Do you have any thoughts about the cold solder tool that Costco is selling?

MTurnbo

The connectors on the battery are already attached. You do have to solder to the circuit board but it's really easy. Just use a small soldering iron.

W.A.M.

MTurnbo is correct except not all the batterys sold by different vendors have the connectors attached.

The batterys I bought did not have connectors attached.

I understand that you can't apply a lot of heat to these batterys. I was able to break the connectors loose from the exsisting battery. This left the connector attached to the circuit board. I bought a product from www.frostfighter.com which is an epoxy cement with silver powder mixed in so it conducts electricity, its used to fix rear window defrosters. Its not cheap, about $25, but there is more than enough to do 4 sensors. I put a small amount on the bottom connector and put in the new battery and applied a little weight to it and let it set about 3 hours. I then applied some to the top connector to the top of the battery and let it set. When it was done I tested it at the circuit board connections to make sure I had 3 volts and everything was fine. You can then seal it up, I used PC7. This way I was able to put in new batterys without the need to solder.

There is a good thread somewhere here containing all of this information and more.