After the battery died in my car, I got to thinking about whether that “maintenance required” light could have been trying to tell me the battery was about to go. Yesterday I got the owner’s manual out to see what I could find out, because I still had not re-set the light.
Nope . . it has only to do with changing the oil. There is absolutely nothing I can find in that manual about how to re-set that light but I found it on the internet and it’s now off . . til next time!
While I had the owner’s manual out, I did see that there’s a separate heater control for the third row seat. I never knew that! We keep the third row seat down because we need that room for groceries, the dog crate, etc.
Cilla in NH says
Guess I should read my manual. I know the front seats are heated but no idea where that button is. Best to find out before winter. Oh, it went down to 42* last night, but beautiful day today…74*.
Tony Bogusz says
The Maintenance Required indicator is oblivious to your battery. It knows NOTHING about battery condition.
Toyotas turn this indicator light on “solidly” after 5000 miles have transpired since an oil change. There is a procedure to reset this “mileage counter” if you change your oil more often and the oil change place doesn’t reset it for you (like they should). The number of times this indicator blinks upon engine start-up increases from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 as the 1000 mile counters increase until the light stays continuously on while driving if you go beyond 5000 miles without a reset. Please note that this is a “dumb counter”. The indicator has no idea about the condition of your oil.
I like to use fully synthetic oil which allows more than 5000 miles between changes, so I have to do resets prior to when I know the oil needs changing.
The Maintenance Required light also DOES monitor various sensors to tell you something more serious may be wrong with your car’s engine or exhaust system. On my wife’s Altima the light came on concurrently with a steady miss on one cylinder. A repair was required before the light could be reset a code reader. One other time the Altima’s light came on, but the car was running fine. My code reader found out that a relay (electrical switch) was somehow stuck on the emission system’s carbon canister and I was able to cycle and reset this relay with the code reader (fixing the detected issue) and then reset the Maintenance Required indicator.
So, if your vehicle is a Toyota and you have your oil “religiously changed”, try the reset procedure in your owner’s manual. (It’s in there under General Maintenance-Oil Change Interval.) If that works…then not to worry. If it doesn’t go out, have Vince or a shop read the diagnostic codes from the connector under the dash with a code reader and give you an opinion.
My son needed to replace a catalytic converter on his truck when an oxygen sensor died and he kept driving for many more months. That was expensive. A quick check with a code reader would have immediately found the bad oxygen sensor.
But the lack of a mileage counter reset after an oil change is usually the most often reason the light goes on (in Toyotas) for no apparent reason.
Judy Laquidara says
According to the local Toyota dealer (I just called), the maintenance light on my car has NOTHING to do with anything except the oil changes. Yes, it starts counting from the day I reset it. If I reset it 5,000 miles after the last oil change, it has no idea that I didn’t actually change my oil, and it goes off again 5,000 miles later (meaning I’ve gone 10K miles since an oil change . . which I would never do).
Yes, it stays on longer, blinking, as it gets near the time to reset it. The place that does our oil changes puts a little sticker on the windshield that tells me what the mileage will be when I need to get the oil changed again so I never look at the dash light.
I’ve already reset it. By the way, there is no procedure in the owner’s manual as to resetting it. I think they assume everyone will be getting their oil changed at Toyota. The oil change place in MO, which I use about half the time, does reset the light but the one n TX does not. Neither are Toyota dealers.
I have it all under control. 🙂
Twyla says
Thanks Tony for the info.