Hello house,

I drive a Toyota solara 2007. Recently I noticed 'MAINT' blinks for about 8 times on my dashboard cluster. This happens only when I turn in d ignition. Please Wht does this implies. But The check engine light is off. Thanks for your contribution

'MAINT' - Maintenance due aka service your vehicle
You are approaching your vehicles maintaince schedule. When you hit the appropriate mileage, the maint light would not disappear and would remain on.

Your oil service date is drawing closer. Oil life is approaching 0%

mayor2013:
Your oil service date is drawing closer. Oil life is approaching 0%

Thanks

Lexusgs430:
'MAINT' - Maintenance due aka service your vehicle
You are approaching your vehicles maintaince schedule. When you hit the appropriate mileage, the maint light would not disappear and would remain on.

I will go for service immediately... Thanks

rinw:


I will go for service immediately... Thanks

Not to forget the oil life needs to be reset if not the " maintenance required" light stays on permanently

rinw:


I will go for service immediately... Thanks

Also ensure the mechanic has the tools to reset service light.

Lexusgs430:


Also ensure the mechanic has the tools to reset service light.

No tool is required.

Kashif:


No tool is required.

Using the ignition nah work, when a single tool connection does it!!

Lexusgs430:



Using the ignition nah work, when a single tool connection does it!!

Using tool na work, ignition does it.

kingreign:


Using tool na work, ignition does it.

Ok. Better put, I prefer using the tool (personal preference) !!!!

rinw:


I will go for service immediately... Thanks

It depends.....

You need to have at the last oil change used Toyota recommended oil or equivalent and the 'Maint' light reset for the counter to be valid.

The light works with your mileage counter which is preset to a particular distance traveled after reset. Say 10,000miles is the 'Maint' light preset distance to stay on and 7,500miles to start flashing, that may have been set with the consideration that the car will be serviced with Toyota motor oil as recommended or its equivalent. Toyota motor oil is say synthetic 5w30 but when you use oil such as Mobil XHP or Total Quartz 5000 which are common and mineral 20w50, oil life counter is no longer valid.

What i do.....

My car 2003 Honda accord has Honda Motor oil as recommended and Maint re'qrd light set to flash at about 7,000miles and stay on at 7,500miles. Since that oil is hardly affordable and the engine is aged with leakages, i have been using Mobil XHP recently. My research shows 3,500miles is appropriate for it. So on oil change i take a pic of the mileage as record then add 3,500 to gjve me next due oil change. At that next oil change, i dont reset the counter, so after that the next due oil change is exactly when 'Maint r'qrd' light starts flashing. That means i change oil mid way of my Maint re'qrd counter.

You can keep a log, thats the best way to go if you are not using recommended oil.

adanny01:


It depends.....

You need to have at the last oil change used Toyota recommended oil or equivalent and the 'Maint' light reset for the counter to be valid.

The light works with your mileage counter which is preset to a particular distance traveled after reset. Say 10,000miles is the 'Maint' light preset distance to stay on and 7,500miles to start flashing, that may have been set with the consideration that the car will be serviced with Toyota motor oil as recommended or its equivalent. Toyota motor oil is say synthetic 5w30 but when you use oil such as Mobil XHP or Total Quartz 5000 which are common and mineral 20w50, oil life counter is no longer valid.

What i do.....

My car 2003 Honda accord has Honda Motor oil as recommended and Maint re'qrd light set to flash at about 7,000miles and stay on at 7,500miles. Since that oil is hardly affordable and the engine is aged with leakages, i have been using Mobil XHP recently. My research shows 3,500miles is appropriate for it. So on oil change i take a pic of the mileage as record then add 3,500 to gjve me next due oil change. At that next oil change, i dont reset the counter, so after that the next due oil change is exactly when 'Maint r'qrd' light starts flashing. That means i change oil mid way of my Maint re'qrd counter.

You can keep a log, thats the best way to go if you are not using recommended oil.

Thanks for the info
..I used 20w50 for my last service

rinw:


Thanks for the info
..I used 20w50 for my last service

adanny01:


It depends.....

You need to have at the last oil change used Toyota recommended oil or equivalent and the 'Maint' light reset for the counter to be valid.

The light works with your mileage counter which is preset to a particular distance traveled after reset. Say 10,000miles is the 'Maint' light preset distance to stay on and 7,500miles to start flashing, that may have been set with the consideration that the car will be serviced with Toyota motor oil as recommended or its equivalent. Toyota motor oil is say synthetic 5w30 but when you use oil such as Mobil XHP or Total Quartz 5000 which are common and mineral 20w50, oil life counter is no longer valid.

What i do.....

My car 2003 Honda accord has Honda Motor oil as recommended and Maint re'qrd light set to flash at about 7,000miles and stay on at 7,500miles. Since that oil is hardly affordable and the engine is aged with leakages, i have been using Mobil XHP recently. My research shows 3,500miles is appropriate for it. So on oil change i take a pic of the mileage as record then add 3,500 to gjve me next due oil change. At that next oil change, i dont reset the counter, so after that the next due oil change is exactly when 'Maint r'qrd' light starts flashing. That means i change oil mid way of my Maint re'qrd counter.

You can keep a log, thats the best way to go if you are not using recommended oil.

I BEG TO DISAGREE with u on this one my bro. I dnt thinks the maint required light is set to any mileage. There's a system in d car dat detects when the oil no longer has its required viscosity and thats when the light comes on. Check this .....I was using milemaster 5w20 and about 2500 miles the maint required light came on, when I switched to Mobil 1 5w30 the maint required light only comes on when I have exceeded 5000 miles or more.

senator2k9:
I

BEG TO DISAGREE

with u on this one my bro. I dnt thinks the maint required light is set to any mileage. There's a system in d car dat detects when the oil no longer has its required viscosity and thats when the light comes on. Check this .....I was using milemaster 5w20 and about 2500 miles the maint required light came on, when I switched to Mobil 1 5w30 the maint required light only comes on when I have exceeded 5000 miles or more.

so you created a viscosity/oil ware sensor in the engine?

senator2k9:
I BEG TO DISAGREE with u on this one my bro. I dnt thinks the maint required light is set to any mileage. There's a system in d car dat detects when the oil no longer has its required viscosity and thats when the light comes on. Check this .....I was using milemaster 5w20 and about 2500 miles the maint required light came on, when I switched to Mobil 1 5w30 the maint required light only comes on when I have exceeded 5000 miles or more.

What ever i say on cars may not be 100% correct but may have considerable percentage of truth. Probably thats why i mentioned my type of car. Other cars i know up to 2008 Honda accord operate in the same way but i did read some where about some form of adjustment by the ECU to the oil life in recent cars. These adjustments have nothing to do with a viscosity sensor like you claimed. I am not aware of any oil viscosity sensor in cars. Please confirm if you are sure it exist.

Older cars with oil life or maintenance minder are based on purely mileage counting just like in my car. On these cars service manuals encourages those with harsh driving conditons to service their cars sooner. So newer cars are designed to automatically monitor your driving style and adjust the oil life by means of normal car sensors such as temperature, speed, engine revolution, engine load etc. The history of these sensors is what the ecu uses to adjust the oil life from the oil life that would have been if relied on mileage.

Irrespective of type of oil, my maintenance re'qrd light starts flashing at about 7,000miles.

senator2k9:
I BEG TO DISAGREE with u on this one my bro. I dnt thinks the maint required light is set to any mileage. There's a system in d car dat detects when the oil no longer has its required viscosity and thats when the light comes on. Check this .....I was using milemaster 5w20 and about 2500 miles the maint required light came on, when I switched to Mobil 1 5w30 the maint required light only comes on when I have exceeded 5000 miles or more.

with my corolla, it's set with mileage. Mine flashes from 4500miles

senator2k9:
I BEG TO DISAGREE with u on this one my bro. I dnt thinks the maint required light is set to any mileage. There's a system in d car dat detects when the oil no longer has its required viscosity and thats when the light comes on. Check this .....I was using milemaster 5w20 and about 2500 miles the maint required light came on, when I switched to Mobil 1 5w30 the maint required light only comes on when I have exceeded 5000 miles or more.

Perhaps you might want to compare your experience using the same viscosity i.e 5w-30 milemaster vs 5w-30 Mobil 1.

adanny01:


What ever i say on cars may not be 100% correct but may have considerable percentage of truth. Probably thats why i mentioned my type of car. Other cars i know up to 2008 Honda accord operate in the same way but i did read some where about some form of adjustment by the ECU to the oil life in recent cars. These adjustments have nothing to do with a viscosity sensor like you claimed. I am not aware of any oil viscosity sensor in cars. Please confirm if you are sure it exist.

Older cars with oil life or maintenance minder are based on purely mileage counting just like in my car. On these cars service manuals encourages those with harsh driving conditons to service their cars sooner. So newer cars are designed to automatically monitor your driving style and adjust the oil life by means of normal car sensors such as temperature, speed, engine revolution, engine load etc. The history of these sensors is what the ecu uses to adjust the oil life from the oil life that would have been if relied on mileage.

Irrespective of type of oil, my maintenance re'qrd light starts flashing at about 7,000miles.

yes u are right ,late model cars use some other algorithm other than mileage to calculate engine oil lifespan.