Toyota Prius Warning Light?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Cody M
  • Start date Start date
C

Cody M

Guest
I drive a 2007 Toyota Prius with the highest package. My maintenance required light has been flashing and now is solid. It has always done this before it needed service. RIght now i am three thousand miles away from an oil change. I think something is wrong with the system, and am going to take it to today.

My Question is.... Is the maintenance required light the same thing as the Check Engine light? Am i still ok to drive my car to the dealer?
 
First off, great car. Sorry to hear about your position.

Regarding your question. The Check Engine light and Mantience Required light have different meanings.

Check Engine usually means something's urgent. Like your radiator fluid is low so your over heating. It's usuallly pretty obvious what's wrong when it pops up. If you ever see that, go to a mechanic. They have a machine that can detect the problem and why it came on. It can be anything from a misfiring cylinder due to a bad spark plug, to a bad O2 sensor, to an air fuel ratio outside the optimal parameters.

The mantience light means something can be better. It usually comes up when any kind of liqiud is low. Brake, Oil, Raditator, powersteering, ETC. It's never as urgent, and your car will perform fine with it on. It's just a handy light telling you to get something checked out. Once it gets really bad where you've ingorned the light for some time, the Check Engine light will come on.

And yes, you can drive your car to the dealer. It will be fine. Just be careful on it. A 2007 don't have serious problems so soon. It can be a glitch maybe. You never know.

I hope this helps
 
Check Engine light is not the same as the Maintenance Required light in the Prius.

Check Engine light is usually indicative of a problem (which would cause your annual state emissions inspection to fail, by the way).

The Maintenance required light is a reminder for an oil and filter change. It operates on a 5000-mile counter. And you don't have to go to a dealership to get an oil change-- You can go to any mechanic who knows how. Just keep the receipt as proof you have been keeping up with the required maintenance.

If you just had the oil changed and the Maintenance Required light pops up because the 5000-mile counter wasn't reset during the last change, you can reset it yourself:


-- Make sure the car's odometer is on the cumulative odo reading (Make sure it's NOT on TripA or TripB).

-- Turn off the car.

-- Hold down the TRIP/ODO button, press the power button twice, don't let go of the TRIP/ODO button.

-- Wait for the MAINT REQD light to shut off.

-- Let go of the button.


Voila. :-)

Hope this helps.
 
it is not the same light..Maintenance due is the light the dealer sets to bring you in to make more money off of you.

After I found out about this, I sold my Prius and bought a VW diesel...better MPG and less crap to go wrong!
http://www.transmitmedia.com/golfTDI/
 
Back
Top