I try my best to keep maintenance up. That light illuminates to a constant-on around like 5000 miles. I know how to reset it but i dont. I put Mobil 1 synthetic in it EVERY time. So I know its easily good for over the 5000 mile marker when that light sticks solid. But after just having service at the 10,000 mile mark, I think that gave me enough driving time with that orange light turned on, where I think the car computer decreases its performance. I just got service done and it feels like a rocket compared to the past 5000 miles. Any of you experience this?
I have 38K+ miles. I have seen the maintenance light between 25-26K miles when I was on a trip. I don't remember any performance decrease. As I understand it, the maintenance light is triggered solely by mileage. The only required maintenance for warranty preservation purposes is oil/filter change every 5k miles, with tire rotation recommended. (With full synthetic, YMMV, ) However, if you're not careful, virtually every dealer will sell you their "recommended service package" which gratuitously adds a whole bunch of usually unnecessary stuff that can raise the price from ~$60 to $3-400 -- lots of dealer profit. So the question is, What was done at your service visit? It is possible that this time they finally got the oil level right after overfilling in the past. If you live/drive in a particularly dusty area, it might could be that improved ICE performance/mileage is due replacement of a very dirty engine air filter or cleaning of the throttle body and MAF sensor. (In this case, these services would not be considered unnecessary, but a sign of a good service/tech crew at the dealer.) Possible but unlikely would be a new 12V battery. (Service depts very rarely understand how much a weak 12V battery affects MPGs.)
The "Maint Reqd" light is just a reminder. It isn't an error code, and it does not affect performance. It just sits there and irritates the driver. Tom
Yeah, my MAINT REQUD light actually came on and flashed a few times today at the park. I'll have to look up on how to reset it.
