Another TPMS Question for 5+ Tires - Conflicting Information

I'm interested in adding one or two spares into my tire rotation for my 2014.

Question 1: The OEM spare does not have a TPMS installed, correct?

I'm receiving conflicting information about having more than four TPMS sensors programmed to the vehicle w/o triggering the low tire pressure light:

1) I believe Hockster said (recited from a Ford tech manual) that the vehicle could only have four sensors programmed to the vehicle at a time.

2) Albeit a small store, my friend owns a tire store and confirmed what Hockster said. He told me that if I added a TPMS sensor to my spare, that the vehicle would have to learn the new sensor every time I rotated the the 5th or 6th spare into the four drive tire rotation.

3) Yukon Joe says that he has 9 TPMS programmed to his Raptor and they all work fine with the.

So what's the story, can I have 5 or more tires with TPMS sensors installed and put them through the rotation without a low pressure light or relearning every time? If so, how do I do it? My buddy with the tire store has a programming tool, but he made it sound like it only gives you an option for four tires.

NOTE: I originally thought that if there were 4 TPMS sensors on the truck, even if the 4th was in the spare tire, that the vehicle would read them. Come to find out, the TPMS sensor is battery powered and only turns on when the tire is rotating at approximately 20mph.

BAJASVT said:

I'm interested in adding one or two spares into my tire rotation for my 2014.

Question 1: The OEM spare does not have a TPMS installed, correct?

correct, unless they changed something within the last model year that I don't know about.

I'm receiving conflicting information about having more than four TPMS sensors programmed to the vehicle w/o triggering the low tire pressure light:

1) I believe Hockster said (recited from a Ford tech manual) that the vehicle could only have four sensors programmed to the vehicle at a time.


correct, when you go to program you only get to register four sensors

2) Albeit a small store, my friend owns a tire store and confirmed what Hockster said. He told me that if I added a TPMS sensor to my spare, that the vehicle would have to learn the new sensor every time I rotated the the 5th or 6th spare into the four drive tire rotation.

true, if you put one in your spare, when ever you rotate that tire with the others, that tire and the three others will need to be programmed. The tire you just took out of rotation will not be programmed at this point.


3) Yukon Joe says that he has 9 TPMS programmed to his Raptor and they all work fine with the.


not sure on that one, I don't think Joe is lying but not sure how its possible to program nine. Did he say what procedure they used to do it?

So what's the story, can I have 5 or more tires with TPMS sensors installed and put them through the rotation without a low pressure light or relearning every time? If so, how do I do it? My buddy with the tire store has a programming tool, but he made it sound like it only gives you an option for four tires.

NOTE: I originally thought that if there were 4 TPMS sensors on the truck, even if the 4th was in the spare tire, that the vehicle would read them. Come to find out, the TPMS sensor is battery powered and only turns on when the tire is rotating at approximately 20mph.

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Yeah the sensor have an inertia switch. The truck will randomly search for the sensors when its parked and also run a check while its driving. If the truck sees that its moving but the inertia switch says otherwise, the light comes on.

Thanks, Pirate. Let me see if I can dig up the post from Joe.

---------- Post added at 07:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:42 PM ----------

Yukon Joe said:

Ok, here is the skinny...
The TPMS work only when the tire rotates. So when you add the TPMS to the spare tire it is only read by the computer when rotating on the truck. Ever notice that it takes a few miles for the low tire light to go out one you've aired up when leaving the beach?

The truck will automatically learn the spare TPMS. If it doesn't, then you only need to go through the learning sequence once. After that it will know it.

I purchased the TPMS for the spare tire from Amazon. It was about $37. When the truck was into the dealer for some work I had them install the TPMS and rotate the tires.

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Yukon Joe said:

I have never needed to relearn the TPMS. even when I put on the new to me wheels and tires I got from McManus.

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Yukon Joe said:

My truck is familiar with 9 TPMS. No issues yet

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Here's the whole thread: http://www.fordraptorforum.com/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=559579

Maybe Yukon will chime in here. It would be nice if I could program the additional 5th and 6th TPMS sensor to the vehicle and then it would just figure out that I'm using them when I rotate them into one of the four drive tire locations.

Tried to click on the link but it was no good.

Only thing I can think of to register more than four sensors is after you register a new sensor, the old one is still saved. But that just doesn't sound right to me. I've never heard of the ford tpms automatically learning the sensors. Otherwise as the trucks sat on the lot at the dealers they would be trying to register every other ford tire sensor on the lot.

I had at one time a commute to work that was about 12-15 miles both ways. My original wheels and tires with the registered sensors sat outside the garage. The wheels and tires I had on the truck did not have sensors of any kind inside them. I could go a whole month or longer driving my truck to work and back without the tire light ever coming on.. Why? When the truck sat at night next to the registered unused mounted tire sensors, it ran its check and was satisfied it saw my aired up tires. When I dove it to work the next day it no doubt called for the sensor but didnt see them. The tpms gives a time/mile period before it calls for the light on the dash. By the time the period was up, the truck was already home reunited with its tire sensors and happy again. This process lasted several years, and unless I took the truck on a road trip or drove it more than usual, the light never came on. When it did come on, all I did was park the truck next to its tires and in the morning all was well again. If I didn't know any better, I'd think my truck didnt need tire sensors the way it acted.. But I understood what was going on and why it acted the way it did.

I bought 4 stock tires and rims with tpms. I put two on the back and two in the bed rack. The light came on for about 10 miles then went off. The tpms seem to work fine, I have a slow leak in two tires (1 old 1 new) and about every 2 months have to add air or the light comes on. Not sure why but I never had to program any of the new ones.

Well it looks like I may just have to try it and see what happens.

Is there an inexpensive tool that I can buy to relearn the sensors on my own if necessary? I generally rotate my tires every 2nd oil change, so I don't want to bother anyone to do this for me.

Yeah you can get the reprogram tool of the Internet for like 40 bucks. I think most get them off eBay.

I have 6 TPMS sensors in all 6 tires. When I rotate the tires I have to relearn the TPMS sensors for the 4 tires that are physically on the truck and are not in the spare location.

There is a procedure (listed in the manual) to allow you to relearn the TPMS sensor positions but it involves driving and then airing down the tire till the TPMS system notices the drop and sounds the horn and repeating that process on all 4 tires. Then when your done you have to go back and air up your tires.

Also like pirate air said you can pick up a tool for about 40bucks online. I also know that SNAP-ON will sell you a tool that will work for many models of vehicles but it costs a lot.

OrangeAddict said:

I have 6 TPMS sensors in all 6 tires. When I rotate the tires I have to relearn the TPMS sensors for the 4 tires that are physically on the truck and are not in the spare location.

There is a procedure (listed in the manual) to allow you to relearn the TPMS sensor positions but it involves driving and then airing down the tire till the TPMS system notices the drop and sounds the horn and repeating that process on all 4 tires. Then when your done you have to go back and air up your tires.

Also like pirate air said you can pick up a tool for about 40bucks online. I also know that SNAP-ON will sell you a tool that will work for many models of vehicles but it costs a lot.

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So do you need to do this every time you rotate your tires?



Yukon Joe
www.RUNRAPTORRUN.com

Yukon Joe said:

So do you need to do this every time you rotate your tires?



Yukon Joe
GREAT LAKES RAPTOR EXCURSIONS

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Yup, everytime I rotate. Since I am rotating in the spares. Good thing that Firestone Sells lifetime Rotations and Balancing.