Maint Req Light Lit but no codes

This question drives me crazy... I get people texting in a panic claiming dash warning lights are on no matter how many times I explain to them what this light really means. To turn the light off, set your odometer screen to total vehicle miles, not trip miles and the turn the car off. Then when turning the car back on hold down the odometer button and watch the odometer screen count down till the light turns out.

 

Just be aware that the light will trigger again in 5,000 miles (starts flashing at 4,500) but you will need to do your next service in 4,000 miles, so the light will not flash until you're 500 miles overdue. You'll need to do the service on miles on the odometer and do the reset again to get back on track.

 

Maintenance required light is just what it looks like; a reminder that it's time for your next scheduled maintenance. There is no trouble, so no trouble codes.

In the owners manual:




A few pages later is the description and the silly, non-intuitive chicken dance to reset it. This is the 2007 manual. I'm sure the 2004 says the same thing.

 

Or you can just put a smiley face sticker over the light and be happy forever as long as you remember to change your oil on time.

 

Faults on a Prius will give either a check engine light, a master warning light (red triangle), a brake trouble light, a check hybrid system warning, or some combination of those or others. Maintenance required just means it's time for maintenance. Maintenance isn't the same as repair.

 

That being the case, I'd forget about the hundreds of miles and make your next booking for 165,000 +/- 100 miles, then it is easy to remember. It is not like if your engine is a mile or ten overdue it's going to blow up. With it now being due on the even 5,000-mile mark, you are not dependent on the light (which we don't even have in NZ/AU/UK/JP, btw) if someone at the dealer forgets to reset.

Interestingly, it just occurs to me, that if the light reset was overlooked, it would have still been illuminated when you left the dealer. So with it off (I'm assuming, you would have noticed if it was on), then it comes on at 161,xxx means something else is at play here.

 

Can I text you phone numbers of people who need to hear this so you can call them and I don't have to get upset anymore because someone wrongly claims their car I fixed have warning lights again? Lol!!!

No matter how many times I explain what you explain they do it again...

 

Yeah, Toyota Canada did that for us: no maintenance light up here. Somehow we muddle through.