Toyota, like every other automaker, recommends that owners regularly service their vehicles. This is to help ensure everything from the engine to the brakes, suspension and other components all operate smoothly, especially as the car ages.

Depending on the exact model, you should be having your Toyota car, truck or SUV thoroughly serviced every 5,000 miles or six months so you can continue a relatively problem-free ownership experience. Exactly what should be done each time by the technicians is laid out in the official Toyota maintenance schedule, which a reputable shop can and will reference and follow exactly.

If you so choose, you can perform the maintenance work on your Toyota by yourself. Just like technicians, you need to follow all of the prescribed items for each service interval. A number of different servicing items need to be attended to at the different intervals. Your owner’s manual lists them out for the specific model, or you can go to the Toyota Owners official website and pull up the documents there.  

An oil change is always required, as well other items that could be of varying degrees of difficulty to perform, depending on the model and the exact service interval. Whether you should try taking on this kind of a task on your own really depends on your mechanical abilities, so read through the requirements before making a decision. Performing the servicing work yourself can be a way to save some money, but if you do not take the vehicle in for servicing at a shop, that maintenance light won’t just turn off magically. That is why you need to know how to switch it off yourself.

The light is set to turn on at the set intervals, or actually a little before then, so you have time to set up an appointment and take care of it. The car’s electronic sensors can’t tell when you have the oil changed or other specific maintenance items addressed, which is why the light must be purposely turned off by you or a technician. Just keeping the light on is a bad idea, because you as the vehicle owner won’t have that reminder to get the car serviced again later, which can lead to some bad consequences.

Because the light just comes on based solely on mileage and time, drivers should not panic when they see it. The light does not mean there is something wrong with their car, truck or SUV, only that it is time for the scheduled maintenance.

How To Reset Toyota Maintenance Light

While it is true most DIY mechanics have no idea how to reset the maintenance light on something like a Toyota Tundra, Prius, Sequoia, etc. the problem can also crop up when owners take their rides to a quick lube shop or even a smaller mom and pop mechanic. Sometimes those locations simply have no idea how to reset the light either, so it’s still on even though the work has been properly done.

Fortunately, it is really not that hard to reset the light, turning it off until you get near the next service interval. Before you start, have on hand the ignition key, which you obviously should have pretty easily accessible.

1. Start by inserting the key into the ignition and turning it to the “On” position. If your vehicle has a start button, push it but do not put your foot on the brake pedal. The gauges and “dummy” lights should come on. Depending on the vehicle, you want either the odometer or the trip meter to be showing, which are digital and only display once the car is powered. Press the button on the gauge cluster until the “Trip A” number is showing, not the odometer or “Trip B” readout.
2. At this point, you want to turn the key back to the “Off” position. With the start button, push it twice rapidly, still keeping your foot
   away from the brake pedal. Don’t turn on the engine before doing this, otherwise you might need to start over. Next you will want to push down and hold the button that you normally use to reset the trip meters. Depending on which Toyota model you own, it could be the same button that helps you cycle between showing the odometer readout and the two different trip meters.
3. Keep your finger on the button, pushing it down as you turn the key back to the “On” position again. Like before, you don’t want to start up the engine, just illuminate the gauges and other dash lights. At this point, the odometer should not be showing any numbers, but instead will just have several dashes that go away one at a time. Once the last one disappears, keep holding the button down while zeros appear where the dashes were. You can let go of the button once the zeros go away as well and the odometer numbers are back.

After you go through these steps, the Toyota maintenance light should have turned off. This is when the vehicle will begin counting down to the next 5,000-mile service interval, so you will see it turn on once that time rolls around.

This procedure should work on virtually all 2005 to 2015 model-year Toyota vehicles. If you find that it didn’t work the first time, go through the steps again, making sure to follow them closely.

T3 Atlanta

For any of your Toyota servicing needs, T3 Atlanta is available to take care of them. With a clean facility and professional technicians, you will enjoy the best experience possible. Contact us today to make an appointment.