I am getting the maintenance required message thinking it's for an oil change

Yes the Maintenance Required light is for oil changes.

No there is no difference between your car and other cars. There is a flimsy plastic flap that generally breaks off. If you're not doing it yourself, you'd probably never know (monkey sure isn't going to tell you!).

And the maintenance light is not automatically reset. The car does not know when the oil has been changed. So you have to reset it yourself or make sure the shop does it.

 

The oil filter is a cartridge type that goes in a plastic housing. They need the right size filter wrench for it. It seems like half the shops overfill the oil, which is not good for various reasons. And how do you really know they are giving you the right oil and not something cheaper? It's always best to do your own oil change. Lay on your back. Look around. Get to know your car.

 

??

 

in ?not so nice way? saying shop/grease monkey...aka the person doing the work.

 

Maybe not.
My C lights the light every 5K miles to indicate a tire rotation is due.
Oil change is 10K.
I compromise and do both at 7K.......or when I get tired of my wife yelling at me because the light comes on.

 

actually, the 5k reminders are for service. look in your maintenance manual, and it will tell you what services are required by toyota at each one.

how many miles on your car?

 

Nevermind. Misread first post.

 

1) The service required reminder is a simple 5,000 mile counter--it repeats 5,000 miles since the last reset. 2) It can only be reset manually, so you should familiarize yourself with the simple procedure. 3) The oil change interval is 10,000 miles if you last filled with 0W-20 oil. Otherwise, it is 5,000 miles. 4) It's up to you to remember/keep track of when and what grade of oil was last used. 5) Toyota recommends a tire rotation and additional fluid level and brake checks at 5,000 mile intervals.

 

This is soo high maintenance, like being married and having kids. That settles it, I ain’t having neither.

 

If you did, you’d never be able to keep your car the way you have it now.

Removed the passenger seat yet?

 

Haha. Not yet, that seat will stay after contemplating. Rained couple days ago and wipers were put back on, almost decided to put new plugs in before that but held off. Late next week I’m headed to the bay for my competition so the rear seats have to be put back in for my traveling needs.

 

do you know when it was last changed? i would poly do it at 40k, along with the other recommended services

 

I’d do it now you’ll never know if the previous owner said “What maintenance light? No change, I’m selling it anyways.”

 

^ Some simple strategy. Getting a used car, it's best to assume past neglect, do a bit extra maintenance/inspection for the first while, then get back on the schedule. And bear in mind: all the maintenance intervals are miles or months, whichever comes first. For what it's worth: Canadian Prius don't have that maintenance light, and somehow we muddle through.

Do you have the maintenance booklet? Google "Toyota Tech Info", input the car info in the "Manuals" tab, and you can google a pdf. Even if you have the physical booklet, the pdf is very handy. And then: read through it.

Just take it to any old place? Maybe yes, maybe no. It's hard to generalize. Are you interested in DIY'ing some of it?

Here's a summary of the US schedule. The aforementioned booklet lists maintenance event by event only. Converted to graph format, it's easier to read. Beside what's listed, I would also consider transaxle fluid change, and brake fluid change. Do note: I've just transcribed the schedule as presented in the booklet, am making no judgements about the importance of some items (checking driver's floor mat, for example...), or revising it any way:


Also attached, some of the basic maintenance instructions.

 

Check the dipstick, see how it looks, for starters. Prius oil tends to stay very clean looking, but just to get a feel for it's condition.

 

Don't be cheap on your new investment, change the oil, and don't follow the 10,000 mile oil changes, change the oil every time the maintenance reminder comes on. Also, if you don't reset the reminder it will remind you by saying service do now.

 

Some people ignore or wait on maintenance service and it became the most frustrating and expensive car ever owned. Get acclimated to EGR circuit cleaning and catch can install soon.