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I don’t think you need to program the new sensor, in fact I see no reason why you can’t transfer your old sensor from one car to the next, it’s just fastened on via the valve stem then you can remove it from the rim after the tire is removed, I believe it’s an 11mm.
Each sensor has a unique ID, that’s how your car knows whether the tire pressure low signal is from your vehicle and not someone else’s next to you. When you get a new sensor the car isn’t looking for it’s ID so it gets ignored until you re-teach the TPMS system.
Looks like the ’08 Civic isn’t one of the cars that simply learns the new sensor ID automatically:
http://www2.otctools.com/otctools.com/n … aCivic.pdf
From this documentation it sounds like the process requires more than just the sensor activation tool, it requires a scan tool to put the TPMS system into the right mode.
I think you are on the right track of getting an independent shop to do this for you. The only problem with reusing the old sensor is these things have permanent batteries in them and when they run out you need to be replace the whole sensor. If it’s getting close to 5 years, I’d replace it with a new one.
There is also a few versions of the TPMS sensors also. The most common being the one Eric described.
The 5 year battery life night be why both Honda dealers I contacted insist on on installing a new TPMS instead of swapping the old one over. There is a chain of tire shops- Town Faire Tires that advertise that they can program most TPMS sensors. I might call them to see if they are much cheaper than labor charge of $109 total from the dealer.
I already wasted $40 for a tire shop to attempt to hammer the rim straight.
I did find one tool for $150 available that is supposed to work with my Civic but I’m not sure if it would be cost effective to buy it:
[url=http://www.revolutionsupply.com/quickset.aspx:1ny6bjtc]http://www.revolutionsupply.com/quickset.aspx
T[/url]hanks for the replies, I will keep you posted on what I end up doing.
You can just swap the old sensor into a new wheel, if battery life is an issue I’m sure it will be at some point in the future so I wouldn’t worry about it, besides I believe all you have to do is drive it if you have an OE sensor and it will recognize the new sensor automatically, I don’t think it needs to be programmed.
I talked to the Sam’s Club tire department as I bought all 4 of my current tires from them and they told me to go ahead and bring the rim in and they would swap it in for me. Since road hazard comes with the tire installation package, this will give them a chance to inspect the tire itself to see if I damaged the tire internally.
I ordered the rim online which will cost me $83 including shipping for an OEM Honda steel rim. I’m not going to worry about the battery anyway. When it’s time is up, it will be time to change the TPMS sensors in the other 3 rims also.
I suspect that the reason the dealer insists on a new TPMS sensor is because they do warrantee their repairs for 12 months I believe, and if the old TPMS sensor happens to need a new battery in that time frame then they are faced with a call back that’s not their fault.
Update:
The nice guys and gal at Sam’s Club swapped the rim for me moving the tpms and tire to new rim. No issues and my TPMS system is working fine. NO more vibration from that oblong rim..
The tech did mention that he would have been more comfortable installing installing a brand new grommet instead of re-using that but they they don’t stock it. He told me to buy a TPMS service kit in case I needed it later and he would put it in for me.
I found the service kit on Amazon for $5, schrader brand which I will keep in my parts bin if needed. The “kit” is basically a grommet, valve core, nut and washer.
Thank you for all your advice.
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