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How To: Reset TPMS with no learning tool

396K views 55 replies 41 participants last post by  Juicedz 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hey guys and girls. I came across a way to train new TPMS sensors. Use this if you're installing winter wheels/tires that have sensors already installed, or even if you are just doing a tire rotation. Not sure if this has been posted before. I tried searching but didn't see it posted anywhere. No need to go and buy the TPMS learning tool.

1) Make sure your tires are inflated to the recommended psi. Mine is 40psi.

2) Turn ignition to the on position. If you have a push button start, push the start button without pressing the brake pedal.

3) Push the hazard light button 6 times. The horn should honk and you should see "Train left front tire" in the LCD display between the tach and speedo.

4) Release air pressure in the front left tire until you hear the horn honk. The LCD display should now read "Train right front tire".

5) Release air pressure in the right front tire until you hear the horn honk.

6) Repeat for the the right rear tire, and then the left rear tire.

7) You should now see "Training Complete" in the LCD display.

8) Fill your tires back up to the recommended pressure.

Enjoy!


Mod Edit:
If the above does not work try this (2017+)
I had an issue with the sequence to get into the TPMS training mode (hitting the hazard light button 6 times) in the first post not working on my focus.

I did find a method that worked, I'm not sure what the reason behind it is, did they change it for the newer model years? I have the 1.0L manual, without push button start.

Here's how I did it:

1. Starting with the ignition Off, press and release the brake pedal.

2. Turn the ignition from Off to On 3 times, ending in the On position.

3. Press the brake pedal again for about 2 seconds and release.

4. Turn the ignition back to off, then turn the ignition from Off to On 3 times, ending in the On position again.

If done correctly the car should honk and you can proceed the same way as the directions in the original post.

Maybe this will help someone else who is having trouble getting into the actual training mode.
 
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#2 ·
Hey guys and girls. I came across a way to train new TPMS sensors. Use this if you're installing winter wheels/tires that have sensors already installed, or even if you are just doing a tire rotation. Not sure if this has been posted before. I tried searching but didn't see it posted anywhere. No need to go and buy the TPMS learning tool.

1) Make sure your tires are inflated to the recommended psi. Mine is 40psi.

2) Turn ignition to the on position. If you have a push button start, push the start button without pressing the brake pedal.

3) Push the hazard light button 6 times. The horn should honk and you should see "Train left front tire" in the LCD display between the tach and speedo.

4) Release air pressure in the front left tire until you hear the horn honk. The LCD display should now read "Train right front tire".

5) Release air pressure in the right front tire until you hear the horn honk.

6) Repeat for the the right rear tire, and then the left rear tire.

7) You should now see "Training Complete" in the LCD display.

8) Fill your tires back up to the recommended pressure.

Enjoy!
Whaaattt!!?!? I am so going to try this! I presume you'll need to have driven on the tires a little bit beforehand to "wake up the sensors"?
 
#3 ·
I have to swap my ''all season'' tires for my winter tires this week-end. I will give this a try. Altho I have TPMS on my steelies wich were dealer installed when I got the car in nov 2011, I guess it wont cause no harm to have the old TPMS ''relearning''...just in case.
Where did you found this information btw ??
 
#4 ·
No need to drive on them. Just put the wheels/tires on the car. Saw this on YouTube with a guy doing it to an F150 so I thought I would give it a try with my car and it worked like a charm. The TPMS learning tool that I bought from TireRack with my snow tire package didn't work at all, so I started searching the web for answers, and came across this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMkSfgyCCDI

Fast forward to about 4:20 for the TPMS part.
 
#5 ·
No need to drive on them. Just put the wheels/tires on the car. Saw this on YouTube with a guy doing it to an F150 so I thought I would give it a try with my car and it worked like a charm. The TPMS learning tool that I bought from TireRack with my snow tire package didn't work at all, so I started searching the web for answers, and came across this.
Makes sense! I took my car to the dealer for an oil change last winter and they said they couldn't get my TPMS to register (they're aftermarket) but when I ran over a nail, the screen gave me a different TPMS error than usual which leads me to believe that it was still sending signals once the pressure dropped ~25%.
 
#9 ·
Hey guys and girls. I came across a way to train new TPMS sensors. Use this if you're installing winter wheels/tires that have sensors already installed, or even if you are just doing a tire rotation. Not sure if this has been posted before. I tried searching but didn't see it posted anywhere. No need to go and buy the TPMS learning tool.

1) Make sure your tires are inflated to the recommended psi. Mine is 40psi.

2) Turn ignition to the on position. If you have a push button start, push the start button without pressing the brake pedal.

3) Push the hazard light button 6 times. The horn should honk and you should see "Train left front tire" in the LCD display between the tach and speedo.

4) Release air pressure in the front left tire until you hear the horn honk. The LCD display should now read "Train right front tire".

5) Release air pressure in the right front tire until you hear the horn honk.

6) Repeat for the the right rear tire, and then the left rear tire.

7) You should now see "Training Complete" in the LCD display.

8) Fill your tires back up to the recommended pressure.

Enjoy!

why why didn't you post this earlier, I've purchased the TPMS tool for $35 bucks damn it
 
#15 ·
This didn't work on my aftermarket TPMS sensors... :-\ I wonder if they're broken or the wrong ones or something. They're definitely TPMS valves, though because the tires shop had to rebuild them or w/e (for free [:)])
 
#17 ·
I thought that too, I just changed over to my winter rims today in the garage, and I didn't drive the car before attempting to "train" them... tried twice, no dice. So, I decided to go for a short drive (I remember before on my truck when the sensors didn't work on the winters, it took about 15-20km for the warning light to come on). So, after I came back from the drive (the warning light never turned on, since, the winter rim sensors "auto associated" with the car), I tried this procedure again, and voila! It worked, each sensor trained to BCM using this procedure, so now, at least the car knows which wheel is which, not that it really matters, since I will just get the typical "low pressure warning" if any of the 4 goes low. But, I have to say, its cool knowing you can do this without buying a tool. I think the reason it didn't work after swapping out rims is due to the fact that the car's BCM was still associating with the summer rims TPMS, so, I had to "force" it to read the "new" winter rims TPMS, and the easiest way to do that was to go for a drive on the new rims first. Kind of like unpairing an old cell phone and pairing the new one via BT.... LOL. [:D] This procedure also worked on my wife's Escape... cool.
 
#16 ·
Moved to "Wheels, Tires, Brakes & Suspension - Sponsored By Tire Rack"
 
#22 ·
Hi guys, been checking out this forum for a few things and seeing winter is on its way im looking at getting a set of winters for my 2012 focus titanium. It has currently 18's on it and for said i should put on 195/65R15's so pricing out tires and such, but im on the fence about bothering to get TPS sensors on my winter set. I love it on my truck so more then likely ill do it. But they want almost 70 a sensor. I normally look on Rockauto for all my parts and they have 7 to chose from ranging from $34 to $56. Has any one ever looked at these? dont have a specific link to the sensors because how they have their catalog set up but if some one could go to rockauto.com and take a look to give me a idea?
 
#24 ·
I think those of you that are NOT getting errors but did not calibrate the sensor might be fooling yourselves. Based on posts, it seems the system requires us to tell it what the pressure the tire is when filled all the way and zero pressure. If you do not do this, it might assume the current pressure is the max pressure (or does it not notice a new sensor has been installed - the car's computer thinks the prior tires are installed?).

Let's assume your winter tire is 20% low when we install it and we leave it that way. Since the car has nothing else to go by, it might assume the tire is filled 100%. If it falls 10% (from already being underinflated by 20%), the "dummy light" won't come on because the car thinks the tire is only 10% low.

The sensor needs to be either an absolute pressure sensor AND be told what the correct pressure is for the tires currently in use, OR we need to tell it (calibration) what the correct pressure is for the tires. Otherwise there's no way the car can know what pressure is "low" for your tires. Since (according to various posts) we need to calibrate them, it seems to me the sensor is likely not absolute.

I have barely done anything with my car yet. i bought it recently and am driving a winter rat (my 99 Contour with V6)). Couldn't pass up $4500 in incentives, $500 coupon/cash form ford, and the dealer knocked off $1640. $6640 total off. A plain SE sedan manual coudl have been purchased for $13k I think. I paid under $16k and had $3k (or slightly more) in options. I paid $16k (new) for my 99 Contour, which other than the sweet/smooth V6 has no options on it.
 
#25 ·
hey all. just saw this thread first time. I've yet to read it all, but I got a message saying "train left front tire" i've never seen before. The air pressure was okay. I guess i'll try doing the step by step to train the tires . I'm under warranty... will the dealership do it for me?

thanks
 
#26 ·
i find i dont believe this, not so the procedure but i have had 3 sets of wheels and 3 different sets of TPMS sensors of off 3 different types of cars and never once has my focus needed a relearn. i had factory 16" wheels with ford tpms. than switched to 18" aftermarkets with TPMS sensors from an ST. and currently have 19" 2014 ford fusion wheels with the factory fusion TPMS sensors installed and as soon as i switched my wheels all three times the focus automatically relearns itself like its supposed to. never once had a tire light on due to needing a relearn procedure
 
#28 ·
I bought these sensors on ebay and had them installed on my steel rims

http://www.ebay.com/itm/4X-Tire-Pre...Focus|Submodel:ST&hash=item27e96da995&vxp=mtr

When I tried resetting the sensors it wouldn't work. I started with front left tire and went from 36 psi to less than 10 (40 to less than 10 in 2nd attempt) and each time it failed. Are the sensor "location specific" meaning each sensor has to be installed in a particular spot, or it does not matter which one goes where?
 
#29 ·
Is there a risk in doing this with already "learned" sensors? I'm planning on buying Motegi MR116 17" rims and buying sensors from either titan TPMS online or ebay. My hopes are that I can verify that the process works and then repeat it with the new sensors on new rims. Any risks here?
 
#31 ·
I have to swap mine over to the new rims. I'm may just leave them on the new wheels and get normal valve stems installed on the old ones. However, if I decide to sell them I feel like this sort've screws over the buyer in more way than one. Might just throw the eBay tpms sensors in the old wheels. Is there a specific ebay set that has been proven to work 100%?
 
#32 ·
I just installed snow rims/tires from TireRack. I was unable to train my aftermarket (TireRack) TPMS sensors with this method. I was however able to use a the Motorcraft TPMS19 which I got off of Amazon for $36. This is for a North American 2014 Focus SE.
 
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