About three weeks ago I purchased an 05 Prius with about 38,000 miles on it. So far just having fun learning what it does and why. I did have one question though. i asked the former owner what the maintenance required light meant (hadn't read the book yet). He said the light comes on to indicate oil change needed but his local mechanic nor himself could ever figure out how to cancel the light once the oil was changed. I didn't think that should be too hard so I read the book. I tried to follow the directions but I'm doing something wrong. The light is still on. Is there an easy 1-2-3 step or should I follow the former owners pattern and just ignore the light?
:cheer2: First item: :welcome: Second item: MY standard caveat: this info is for my '07 Camry Hybrid w/ NAV, so YPMV (Your Prius May Vary): For my car: 1) display the "A" tripmeter. (I believe your car will use another display (odometer?). 2) Turn hybrid system off. 3) Press and HOLD the mileage RESET button, then press the POWER switch. 4) A message "OIL MILEAGE RESET MODE" 5) Hold the knob for at least 5 seconds, until "COMPLETE" message appears and "OIL MILEAGE RESET MODE" goes off. Background info: An alert (MAINT REQD SOON) will start to appear at 4500 miles after the last reset of the "timer". This alert will come on for a few seconds every time you start the car. At 5000 miles, the MAINT REQD will be constant. The alert is ONLY mileage driven and DOES NOT mean there is a problem! Just time to change oil, filter, etc. You are lucky. You can disregard the alert. On the Camry, it is a high priority alert and due to the way it is displayed, it hides the small MFD data (Outside temp, Battery/energy data, etc.):frusty:
I'm not sure of the specific instructions you used but here is how it is done in my 2005 Prius. Press the POWER switch to the OFF mode with the odometer reading shown (not the trip odometer). Press the POWER switch twice to select IGN-On mode while holding down the trip meter reset button. Hold down the button for at least 5 seconds. The odometer indicates "000000" and the light goes off. Try that and let us know how it works. IMO I would turn the light off. One of the first things people do when they get into their first Prius is look around at EVERYTHING and they will always ask you about that light because to them a "Maint required" light indicates your car is broken and people are always looking for reasons to say the Prius is junk. lol
Sorry to be a bit dense but not sure of the 1, 2 procedure. With the car off, can I just go to step 2 (foot not on the brake as to start the car)? This may be where I'm goofing up. If so, I am assuming I start the car, make sure the odometer reading is showing, shut it off, then go to step 2?
I changed my oil myself, around 5400 miles. Never saw the MAINT REQD light. Even now it is not on, except, when I start the car, it flashes on for just the first few seconds I have the car running. Is that the normal display or should it be solid on?
mine comes on every 5,000 miles. Actually it flashes for 10 seconds or so each time I power up at 4,500 mile increments, then as the miles close in on 5,000 it will stay lit while the car is on. Now that I'm on 10,000 mile oil change intervals, when it does it's thing at 4500-ish miles from the last reset, I wait 'till it stays lit at the 5,000 mile mark, reset it then change oil the next time it blinks at me. I do have to check my maintenance log book, to see if it the blinking is for the 1st 5,000 mile reset or the second one (indicating 10,000 miles), not remembering something I did 5,000 miles ago! not sure that made sense...hmmmm...
As Finman suggests, that's normal behavior for the light at the 4500-mile mark since the last reset. So it's been somewhere between 4500 and 5000 miles since the reset.
Check out John's site. It answers these and so many more questions. It is an excellent resource. John's Stuff - Toyota Prius and more
So it's based on the last time it was reset, not the actual odometer reading? See, I got my car new and have never reset it myself and it only started the flashing in the last 100 or so miles, and I have over 6000 now. Like I said, I changed the oil at about 5400 miles. But the car had only 22 miles when I test drove it. So I'm not sure why it wasn't solid before I even changed the oil.
That's correct. Or that's what it's supposed to do. I've seen no reports of it misbehaving, though I suppose it's possible. You might try resetting it now, making a note of the mileage, to see if it comes on again in 4500 (short display on startup) to 5000 (steady display) miles.
I suppose I might have inadvertently reset it when I was trying to do the sequence for the seat belt warning beeping.
UPDATE: My light went solid this morning. After I was home I reset it, as per the instructions in this thread, it was easy. Now when I change the oil at 10K Miles, I will just reset it at that time. Then I should be good for the 15K warning, correct?
