Attention 2003 2006 and 2008 2010 Owners Replacement of Tire Pressure Sensors

[Steve-Indy]

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.

[Viper Specialty]

As pointed out above, we can clone the old sensors from a DRB3 read, or I can pull the info from the TPMS module & clone, or simply program the sensor set and TPMS module and archive the data for the future.

Also, as the available & compatible sensors dwindle, I now technically have the ability to replace batteries in TPMS sensors.... but that's a big hassle for current market conditions.

[Crit]

@viper specialty Where is the tpms module located on the Gen 4?

[Steve-Indy]

The Module is behind the gauge cluster.

Check your email for info/diagram.

[Steve M]

Steve, as always, a wealth of knowledge. Thank you for taking the time to share...it is not an easy task to write something up with enough detail to matter, yet not so much as to overwhelm.

The Viper community continues to be in your debt.

I've had great luck with Dan Lesser's pre-programmed/cloned TPMS sensors, and I've also had success cloning my own. I hate idiot lights on the dash, and this one is especially bothersome since it also puts a message on your odometer screen.

Since you've already hit the high points, I'll at least throw out this reminder: if you need to replace your original TPMS sensors, DO NOT THROW THEM AWAY until you write down all of the info. The codes you'll need for cloning are written directly on them. Otherwise, you'll be stuck looking for a functioning DRB III along with someone that knows how to use it. So far, I've managed to avoid that, but my luck may run out one of these years.

[ViperSRT]

Thanks Steve-Indy for the continuing wealth of knowledge.

I guess I was lucky as a little over a year ago I had new tires installed on the Gen3 at Discount Tires (purchased elsewhere - sorry Jon these were from the closing of Bondurant, and really cheap!) and Discount Tire broke several of the sensors during tire removal. Without asking they cloned and replaced 3 of the 4 without incident. I did have a DRBIII in the trunk just in case, but it was not needed. So at least some installers are able to do it correctly.

[Steve-Indy]

That is certainly good news!

[Item 7]

As pointed out above, we can clone the old sensors from a DRB3 read, or I can pull the info from the TPMS module & clone, or simply program the sensor set and TPMS module and archive the data for the future.

Also, as the available & compatible sensors dwindle, I now technically have the ability to replace batteries in TPMS sensors.... but that's a big hassle for current market conditions.

Dan is the Man, as pointed out by Steve. I just recently had my TPMS hex codes successfully read by a "Hamaton" hand-held reader (www.hamaton-tpms.us.com) used by my go-to independent Mercedes-Benz shop. Probably equivalent to a Snap-On TPMS reader. Didn't want to fool with unknown inexperienced / indifferent techs at my local Dodge dealer. Sent the codes to Dan via email and - voila - received new TPMS sensors programmed with current / existing codes lifted from my OE TPMS sensors by the Hamaton reader. Now good to go.

[Old School]

Yes, I would encourage anyone with a with a functioning TPMS system in a Gen3 to read their sensor ID's while they are still functioning. That will keep you from having to dismount the tires just to read the codes.

I used this tool to both read (with a magnet) and clone new sensors.

https://www.autelsale.com/wholesale/...8aApPuEALw_wcB

[Brian E]

Great info as always Steve!
I think the tpms sensors in my 2009 are original. They "are" currently still working. If you are going to be at Ray's this weekend, any chance you can use your DRB III to read my sensors so I can get the info I need so I have it when it's time to replace them?

[Steve-Indy]

Certainly, Brian...IF I can make it to this great event. FYI...you can read your current sensors with a standard TPS reader such as a Bartec of Autel found in tire shops. If you go that route, write down the ID's.

As pointed out above, you can avoid the necessity of the DRB III by having your old TPS's cloned before the switch.

[Rocket]

I also used Discount Tire within the last 2 months and they were able to clone the old sensors and program the new sensors I purchased from them (not sure what kind/brand) when I changed rims and purchased new tires.

[Steve-Indy]

Good to hear that, Rocket !!

[Brn N Rubr]

For the last nine months I've just dealt with the damn light being on. I got my 20028 sensors from JonB. I still have the old sensors (that were working) in the boxes, but have no idea which corner they came off of. One dealer here on the SW side of DFW said they could do it but want almost $200 to do so. Any suggestions before I go that route? A friend of mine has a Snap-On tool that was able to see the module, but was unable to put it into programming mode.

[Steve M]

Which corner they came off of won't matter for most, and it would only matter if you were trying to clone the old sensors.

If your new sensors are already programmed (and I'm pretty sure they are), you will assign them to their corners when you reprogram the vehicle's TPMS module.

Cloning sensors only works if the sensors are blank/programmable. If that's the case, and you are able to successfully program them, then you do not need to do anything to the vehicle's TPMS module.

And I'd be leery of any shop that thinks or says they can do it - the words you need to hear out of their mouth are "Yes, we've reprogrammed Dodge Viper TPMS modules successfully before." Just because they can do other Dodge products does not mean they can do a Viper.

Hopefully that makes sense more than it confuses.

[Old School]

For the last nine months I've just dealt with the damn light being on. I got my 20028 sensors from JonB. I still have the old sensors (that were working) in the boxes, but have no idea which corner they came off of. One dealer here on the SW side of DFW said they could do it but want almost $200 to do so. Any suggestions before I go that route? A friend of mine has a Snap-On tool that was able to see the module, but was unable to put it into programming mode.

If you want to make those new 20028 sensors work the only option is with a DRB.

[Steve-Indy]

Brn R Rubr, if you come to Indy in your Viper, I'll do it for free.

[Brn N Rubr]

That is very kind of you. Thank you so much for the offer. Might be a bit of a drive from DFW, but never say never!

[Steve-Indy]

Believe it or not, there have been a couple of occasions when folks have come to Indy in their Viper for business or fun from hundreds of miles away, and while here, we did program their TPS's.

[Siciliano15]

Can this be done with a StarScan by any chance or is it DRB3 only? I have a starscan that I used when I programmed my Mopar Pcm so was hoping I could use that.

[Steve-Indy]

When I tried to do this with a StarSCAN, it did not work. Several techs who I know well were unable to get the job done with the StarSCAN.

I do realize that my observations are somewhat limited. If you get it to work, please inform us.

[Siciliano15]

ok will do