Hello all, 2010 prius, I changed my oil 5k miles ago and I'm getting the notification for oil maintenance, 3 questions. 1. Does the light go off automatically after a period of time and needs to be reset manually? 2. Does the car's system actually know when the oil is worn and needs to be changed? 3. Right after I last changed the oil I drove about 2,000 miles round trip and have been driving it since about 3,000 miles (regular city commute) on top of the long trip. Is it advisable to change out the oil after a long hwy drive or am I g2g? Oil looks fine not black or burnt. Thanks!
1. no, you need to reset it. Procedure in owners' manual. 2. It is a simple odometer countdown. The car is not equipped with anything to test oil quality, but MPG tells you a lot. If you are getting normal MPG or higher, then chances are you are only contaminating the oil at the expected rate. 3. there is a minor improvement in drainage when the oil is at normal operating temperature. Highway use not required but won't hurt.
just change the oil and filter around every 5k and you're g2g. warming up the engine first is adviseable, don't burn yourself on the oil. btw, it's not an oil maintenance reminder, just maintenance. check the maintenance schedule that came with your car. every 5k is usually different. toyota recommends 10k oil changes, but 5 is better. have you cleaned the egr circuit?
That first "reminder" is for tire rotation at 5K miles. The oil change reminder likely is for a slightly longer interval but they share a common "reset". Given your car's age, 5K oil changes might be a good idea. Or just reset it and keep track yourself.
It's set to come on every 5000 miles. You reset it by putting trip meter on the "A" reading. Turn the car off, press and hold the kph/mph button, press and hold the brake pedal and press the start button. You'll see it reseting on the display, and then finish, 5 seconds??? Then you can turn the car off. Unless you were planning on driving it. The idea of maintenace is to replace the oil and filter BEFORE they break down so they can pretect the engine.
Skip the brake pedal step and press the Start button twice. No need to enter Ready mode that way. After the display shows completion of the reset process, press Start one more time to turn everything off.