Steve-Indy
10-07-2022, 04:42 PM
Attention 2003-2006 and 2008-2010 Owners...Replacement of Tire Pressure Sensors
There has been an evolution of the Tire Pressure Sensors used in 2003-2006 and 2008-2010 Vipers...as well as the programming needed to make them functional on a Viper.
Many Gen III and Gen IV owners have had little to no success either obtaining the correct Tire Pressure Sensors (TPS) or finding a shop technician ( often times including those at Chrysler dealerships) who can successfully program the TPS's to their Viper.
As some may recall, unless a tire shop successfully clones your old sensors, the standard tools at their disposal will not program the new sensors to the Viper's Tire Pressure Module. It takes a Chrysler DRB III scan tool to program these sensors...and thus extinguish the "Low Tire" light.
The OEM Gen III and IV TPS were made by Schrader. They consisted of a small, black, square plastic box attached to a stem at a 20° angle.
Aside from many numbers on a white tag, mine had a number molded into the unit...52088996AC.
By 2009, one TPS was dead on our 2003. The Schrader replacement TPS obtained through Chrysler was the same shape and numbers as found on the 2003 OEM TPS noted above.
Things were similar in 2017 when a friend needed to update his 2009 Viper...and again in 2021 when another friend updated his 2005 Viper's TPS's. ALL of these sensors came from Schrader and carried labels marked 20028.
In all of the above cases (and dozens of others), I was able to program the new TPS's to the Viper using the standard magnet on the sensor stem while in "Program Module" mode on the DRB III. The "Low Tire" light would then go out within 1.2 miles of driving.
Soooo, this week when a friend got new tires for his 2004 Viper, we started the search for sensors. Chrysler has none, with 40 on back order ( who knows IF they will ever be available ??!!!). I called my old friend Luke Pavlick at Tire Rack and he promptly sent 4 new Schrader sensors to the tire shop. These new Schrader sensors looked quite different...still square and black, but had a flexing stem and were numbered 29227. BEFORE having these installed with the new tires, I tested them by trying to program one to our 2003 and another to our 2010 using magnet activation and the DRB III. It DID NOT WORK...being totally unrecognized by the DRB.
So, I tried a new spare 20028 sensor and it programmed fine to the 2003 and later to the 2010. I hauled out my Autel tool and confirmed that the new 29227 sensors were good. I called Luke who relayed that these 29227 had "the same electronics" as the older 20028's and should be fine according to his contact at Schrader.
I then tried a home-made air pressure chamber for the TPS to simulate a mounted tire, used the magnet and the DRB III...and failed again.
After sleeping on my failures and allowing my aging mind to reboot ( yes, I was passed off!!), I decided to use a trick we had employed on a set of cloned E-Z Sensors sensors for a 2010 Viper that would not program to the car. So, I placed a new 29227 on the ground at each corner of the Viper and once I had the DRB III in "Program Module" mode ( skipping the magnet step) and pinged each TPS in the prescribed order using the Autel. One by one the new model sensors programmed to the module. The "Low Tire" light went out and all worked well. The shop then mounted these carefully labeled, position-preprogrammed ( LF, RF, RR, LR) TPS's on the wheels, added the new tires, and it all worked out quite well.
LUKE PAVLICK of TireRack was CORRECT about these new sensors !!!...however a slight adaptation in programming is necessary in the case of a Viper.
While this was time consuming and a bit frustrating...it sure beat finding out that incorrect sensors had been installed (as has happened in many cases around the country)...which required finding the correct sensors, unmounted the wrong ones, mounting and programming the new ones, paying for same AGAIN, and HOPING that the wheels or tires were not damaged.
I also recently had the occasion to attempt to program new DENSO TPS's ( 5502505) found on RockAuto by an owner with new tires on his 2004 Viper. We used the standard magnet activation and DRB III and these DENSO's performed nicely.
FYI: the 2013-2017 Viper TPS's will not work with Gen III or IV Vipers...regardless of what the parts guy says or which tool the tech tries to use.
If YOU plan to try the clone route, call Dan Lesser at Viper Specialty as he can save you a ton of grief.
P.S. If you are thinking that this post is too long and boring... I won't disagree. BUT, it does spell out a few pitfalls on a long journey. :)
There has been an evolution of the Tire Pressure Sensors used in 2003-2006 and 2008-2010 Vipers...as well as the programming needed to make them functional on a Viper.
Many Gen III and Gen IV owners have had little to no success either obtaining the correct Tire Pressure Sensors (TPS) or finding a shop technician ( often times including those at Chrysler dealerships) who can successfully program the TPS's to their Viper.
As some may recall, unless a tire shop successfully clones your old sensors, the standard tools at their disposal will not program the new sensors to the Viper's Tire Pressure Module. It takes a Chrysler DRB III scan tool to program these sensors...and thus extinguish the "Low Tire" light.
The OEM Gen III and IV TPS were made by Schrader. They consisted of a small, black, square plastic box attached to a stem at a 20° angle.
Aside from many numbers on a white tag, mine had a number molded into the unit...52088996AC.
By 2009, one TPS was dead on our 2003. The Schrader replacement TPS obtained through Chrysler was the same shape and numbers as found on the 2003 OEM TPS noted above.
Things were similar in 2017 when a friend needed to update his 2009 Viper...and again in 2021 when another friend updated his 2005 Viper's TPS's. ALL of these sensors came from Schrader and carried labels marked 20028.
In all of the above cases (and dozens of others), I was able to program the new TPS's to the Viper using the standard magnet on the sensor stem while in "Program Module" mode on the DRB III. The "Low Tire" light would then go out within 1.2 miles of driving.
Soooo, this week when a friend got new tires for his 2004 Viper, we started the search for sensors. Chrysler has none, with 40 on back order ( who knows IF they will ever be available ??!!!). I called my old friend Luke Pavlick at Tire Rack and he promptly sent 4 new Schrader sensors to the tire shop. These new Schrader sensors looked quite different...still square and black, but had a flexing stem and were numbered 29227. BEFORE having these installed with the new tires, I tested them by trying to program one to our 2003 and another to our 2010 using magnet activation and the DRB III. It DID NOT WORK...being totally unrecognized by the DRB.
So, I tried a new spare 20028 sensor and it programmed fine to the 2003 and later to the 2010. I hauled out my Autel tool and confirmed that the new 29227 sensors were good. I called Luke who relayed that these 29227 had "the same electronics" as the older 20028's and should be fine according to his contact at Schrader.
I then tried a home-made air pressure chamber for the TPS to simulate a mounted tire, used the magnet and the DRB III...and failed again.
After sleeping on my failures and allowing my aging mind to reboot ( yes, I was passed off!!), I decided to use a trick we had employed on a set of cloned E-Z Sensors sensors for a 2010 Viper that would not program to the car. So, I placed a new 29227 on the ground at each corner of the Viper and once I had the DRB III in "Program Module" mode ( skipping the magnet step) and pinged each TPS in the prescribed order using the Autel. One by one the new model sensors programmed to the module. The "Low Tire" light went out and all worked well. The shop then mounted these carefully labeled, position-preprogrammed ( LF, RF, RR, LR) TPS's on the wheels, added the new tires, and it all worked out quite well.
LUKE PAVLICK of TireRack was CORRECT about these new sensors !!!...however a slight adaptation in programming is necessary in the case of a Viper.
While this was time consuming and a bit frustrating...it sure beat finding out that incorrect sensors had been installed (as has happened in many cases around the country)...which required finding the correct sensors, unmounted the wrong ones, mounting and programming the new ones, paying for same AGAIN, and HOPING that the wheels or tires were not damaged.
I also recently had the occasion to attempt to program new DENSO TPS's ( 5502505) found on RockAuto by an owner with new tires on his 2004 Viper. We used the standard magnet activation and DRB III and these DENSO's performed nicely.
FYI: the 2013-2017 Viper TPS's will not work with Gen III or IV Vipers...regardless of what the parts guy says or which tool the tech tries to use.
If YOU plan to try the clone route, call Dan Lesser at Viper Specialty as he can save you a ton of grief.
P.S. If you are thinking that this post is too long and boring... I won't disagree. BUT, it does spell out a few pitfalls on a long journey. :)