Maintenance Required Light

welcome to priuschat! it's set to come on at 5,000 mile intervals from zero, not 5 or 10,000 miles after you change the oil. you can reset it per the manual to get rid of the message, but it won't change the interval.

 

Yes, that is the tire rotation interval, so that is the minimum service interval.

(Mine starts at 4500 miles after the last service, and gets more and more adamant)

 

That's a really poor design. If you change oil at 4500 miles then it should come on next at 9500 miles and not at 10,000.

 

couldn't agree more. funny thing is, try going in for an oil change at 4500 miles, they fight you tooth and nail. it's 10,000 darn it, now get out and don't come back until then! and these are human beings who have the ability to reason (or should have) not programmed software.

 

bisco, are you saying they don't want to change your oil even if you are paying for it?

 

The 4500 mile message is a warning to let you know that you are approaching the 5000 mile mark. This message comes on for a short duration and then disappears each time you start.

At the 5000 mile mark the message stays on continuously each time you start until you change the display screen. It will not go away until you reset the message.

It is really easy to reset the message. No big deal.

 

Back in the day when the Gen III's first hit the market, the official word from Toyota was that oil had to be changed every 5,000 miles. And it was this synthetic oil, to boot.

However, Toyota had been doing some tests on how well the oil lasted; I believe the results of these tests had to go to some government agency or other as well. So, about two months or so after buying my 2010 Prius in December of 2009, it was decided that 10,000 miles was a better interval. As a result, all of us who owned the cars at the time got a special letter in the mail informing us of the fact, along with a brand-new maintenance and warranty book with the changed intervals.

If memory serves there was some push-back from the dealers on this; they wanted their money. Toyota actually sent a general letter to the dealers (it's immortalized somewhere here in Prius Chat) saying, "All is not lost - you should be able to charge something for the tire rotation, we're not turning off the reminders." Or something like that.

If you look in the maintenance book (available on-line from Toyota, if you've misplaced yours) you'll note that the 5,000 mile intervals are mainly, once you get past the Extreme Usage section, an inspection of the car making sure nothing has fallen off (or that the carpet has become unlatched), and a rotation of the tires.

I rotate my own tires, mostly, but sometimes take the car over to BJ's where I bought the last set of tires; they have tire rotation for life, but it's probably not worth the 45 minutes hanging around while they do it. Unless the snow and ice has piled up, in which case it is. The rest is a matter of eyeballs and a dip stick. And, of course, knowing how to reset the maintenance indicator, which is in the car manual.

KBeck