Oil Maintenance required soon message

What interval are you changing oil? 5000 miles? 7500 miles? 10,000 miles?
That message pops up at 5000 miles, well a little less than.
If you are changing it, or having it changed at 5000 miles, the extra 1000 miles won't hurt it.

 

The Maintenance Required Soon message appears after 4500 miles since the last reset. Then after 5000 miles the message changes to Maintenance Required.

SM-G781V ?

 

This is what I understood too.

If you are driving highway miles, especially on flat ground and in warm weather, then Toyota says in the manual that oil changes can wait until every 10,000 miles.

But, since most of us drive in winter, don't drive on road trips every trip, and some of us live in the mountains, every 5,000 miles is recommended.

If you're on a road trip, however, that isn't going to be that hard on the engine. If it's too much of a bother, then wait until you get back. You probably won't hurt anything. Just don't drive it to work and back in cold, stop and go driving for the next 1,000 miles.

 

Don't be afraid to drive the car anyway you want, anywhere you won't.
If you are really concerned about the oil change, go to a Toyota dealership and have
them change the oil.

 

True, but don't expect me to buy your car if you've only don't yearly or 10,000 mile oil changes. I bought one Toyota Prius driveway ornament once and I'm not doing it again.

 

???????? What?????
Where did you get the idea my Prius was for sale?
I NEVER change the oil in it. I just add WD40 when It gets low. That stuff keeps it clean!
I don't even have to change the oil filter!

I've never seen a Prius Ornament. That would be kool to see in my friends Christmas Tree!!

 

Well good for you. That doesn't help me get an engine for my Prius that I never have been able to drive since I bought it three years ago.

 

You're in the wrong section if you're looking for an engine.
Try the hybrid pit. They have them for sale.

 

It's not a ticking time bomb, just use the dip-stick to check your engine oil level on your next gas fill-up. At that age, those cars tend to burn a bit of oil, so you don't want it to run low on your road trip and seize the engine. If it's low, at the add line - give it 1/2 quart, not touching the dip-stick it'll take a quart or more. That engine has a 4 quart sump. If you don't know how to do that, you should probably google it or stop by a repair shop.
I was traveling cross country, delivering my best friends daughter to college on the east coast. We got to Michigan before checking the oil on the engine - it was down 3 quarts out of 5 quarts. It was full when we left, but running 80 mph down the highway in an old car that had over 200K miles on the engine, that's kinda expected. The car was new to us and I did give it the "once-over", replacing timing belt and tires. Checked brakes, flushed the brake system and ATF - so it was ready for four years of abuse by a student. She got a good education on what to check and look for before and during a long road trip. I just pointed her in the right directions and didn't just give her the answers - figuring things out, like an adult. It was funny when she asked me what kind of oil does it take - told her 'I don't know it's your car'. After 5 minutes of googling she finally figured it out, then I pointed to the oil fill cap and told her sometimes it's just easier to look first. That's how us old timer do things....

Hope this helps...

 

The Prius has a timing chain, not a belt.

 

it wasn't a Prius, Lexus RX300. The 3 out of 5 quarts should've gave it away.

 

Welllllll, my fault, I "assumed" since this is a PRIUS chat, and we've been writing about a Prius....
And since you didn't state a vehicle, it would only be normal for you to be driving a Prius.....

 

Apology accepted, since you also assumed that I don't know the difference between a timing chain and a timing belt.
I am driving a Prius, it in my bio.

 

Yeah, someone here is being a smart aleck. Anyhow, I'm not looking for a Prius engine. I've given up on that a long time ago. I'm protecting my future car purchases. Sure, go ahead, do whatever you want to your cars. Run them on WD-40, I don't care. All it means is that I will have a harder time finding a good used car. As if it weren't hard enough, used cars are still 10 times the price they were before the pandemic, and I'm finding way too many with engine damage because nobody cares to change the oil properly.