TPMS sensor position registration

[Witsend]

I Cheaped out getting a Chinese TPMS tool that works fine to view TPMS sensor information output, but it requires a capable scan tool to enter the tool's retrieved information into the vehicle to update the tire positions of the respective sensor ID's
When I entered TPMS on a 2011 KIA Optima , my Port Freight 08 ID's the existing sensors 1 through 4 and not labeled LF, RF ,RR, LR.
The function prompts the entry of the entire 8 digit ID of each sensor, and after the entry of the ID at LF (sensor 1) Scanner gives an error. Maybe existing sensor ID's can't be swapped between each other ?

[Crusty]

It's probably seeing you enter a number that is already entered and is saying you can't have two sensors with the same ID.

[Witsend]

It's probably seeing you enter a number that is already entered and is saying you can't have two sensors with the same ID.

Crusty, that's what I'm thinking. I didn't see an option to clear out all 4 sensor ID's at once and start from scratch, or better yet just erase the sensor assignment numbers of the existing ID's and re-enter 1, 2, 3, or 4. The car did not have a TPMS light and I was just playing with my new toy.Now , I can really see where not having an All in one TPMS tool (that does not require a scan-tool) in a high volume tire shop,the extra time it takes for tire buster to grab scanner, navigate and manually type in the ID's eventually the lost productivity adds up and would cost you more than the $600- $1200 for an all in one tool . This may look like a KIA fail for being able to edit positions of existing TPMS sensors with The Port Freight 08 but for a tech with a capable scan tool but for less than $200 investment you can still cover your @ss for the ever increasing number of TPMS lights you encounter now a days. If you don't do tires you can at least tell a customer which TPMS sensor is bad. Tests key less remotes too!

[Crusty]

If it were my own vehicle, and/or I had a sure fire backup method, I might be tempted to fudge the first digit of all the existing sensors, then one by one re-enter the proper numbers in their proper location, then hit OK or Finish.
It might work but I wouldn't mess with a customers' vehicle. Last week I rotated a customers tires and told her that the fronts & rears were inversed but they were on the same side as they were when they came off last fall.
Up here we don't HAVE to put sensors in the winter wheels, so there hasn't been any for the last 5 months anyway.
Hey, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if the light comes on, check the pressures of your tires....not just one, but all of them.
She has the ability to walk & chew bubble gum, tie her own shoelaces, and open a zip-top can, so she can check her tire pressures and has on her other vehicles over the last 12 years.

[Witsend]

I am starting to see cars with correctly inflated tires where the TPMS light is still on or flashing with TPMS codes for a bad sensor and wheel is not in the position on the vehicle that the module says it is. Before I got the TPMS tool I had to let air out of wheels one at a time and wait up to 5 minutes for my scan tool to eventually update the tire pressure change on one of the wheel tire pressures before proceeding to another wheel .It just takes too long to locate the inoperative sensor that way and doesn't always work and sometimes need to drive it to see the pressures updated.
I found out GM tire positions can be relearned fairly easy without a TPMS tool or a scan tool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc-xL23NSms&ebc=ANyPxKpCbY27KAnTtEi48E8DQnXrSfbSHNOlt_s2j29A0G7fZnDmUyOlleqenHNFAbAAkn_RJXs5O3gnL7DtwFZTbLwpHqQsJA

[Crusty]

Relearning the POSITION of an existing GM sensor is simply increasing or decreasing the pressure starting with the left front and working to the right side and around the vehicle.
Replacing a Dodge sensor is simply replace it and take it for a drive. The receiver sees sensor signals near to it and automatically updates the sensor ID. Most Dodges also have transponders/receivers for location in three wheel wells.
Some vehicles only tell the driver ONE of the sensors is low and doesn't identify WHICH one at all.
There are pros and cons for various systems, not just GM and Dodge. Industry standardization started with OBD-II over 20 years ago but it hasn't come very far in those 20 years.
More pids, uniformity of pids amongst manufacturers, standardized TPMS sensor replacement and location procedures, and on and on, need to happen if this industry is going to move forward faster than it has.
There have been many implemented changes but it hasn't been co-ordinated very thoroughly amongst manufacturers.
That is a major stumbling block for scan tool manufacturers to produce reliable, accurate, equipment for the entire trade.
Re-identifying TPMS sensors is just one area for improvement.
The reality of it is, if anyone with half a brain was driving a vehicle and things didn't "feel" right, try checking the tire pressures, like the owners manuals used to say to do.
It would also help if the vehicle service, often called an oil change, was actually done correctly and completely and lip service wasn't the norm in most facilities selling service to the motoring public.
The tire industry "claims" it is "normal" for tires to lose 2-psi per month-!! THAT is B/S if the tires are installed and sealed correctly in the first place.
This whole thing started with FORD having a LOW pressure spec of 26-psi in the first place, and not expecting the sidewalls to overheat (LMFAO), then people not maintaining their vehicles properly, or, service providers just paying lip service to the "oil change".
Sorry for the rant but it is incredible the number of people who can't figure out fundamentals, such as the pneumatic tire is the same as a kids' balloon in a window on a hot sunny day.

[Witsend]

Crusty , I Saw that Kia again, called customer who still had the yellow sheet I wrote the IDs down . I hooked my scanner back up and clearly see the IDs on the scan tool reads 0D at the beginning of the ID's, not OD that I wrote down from my TPMS tool. I also believe with Hex code the alpha numbers only go A-F so shouldn't be no O's in the hex Id's anyway. Entered 0 instead of O and registering the sensor IDs worked! Duh !LOL

[Crusty]

In your pics above, the first screen, it looks like a "zero" but in the second pic it looks like an O in the alphabet.
I guess their quick software writing doesn't proof out the differences.
Maybe "Chinglish" doesn't relate back to their character based language-!! LOL

That's something to keep in mind. The A to F in the sensor numbering systems. Good info to remember. Thanks

Glad you got it figured out.
Sometimes the answer is right in front of us....taking a step back helps me sort thongs out now and then. Coffee and smoke breaks.....great thinking time. That turtle beat the rabbit...LOL