Why did my "Maintenance Required" light come on at 14,000 miles?

"Maintenance Soon" light came on around 14,000-ish miles. "Maintenance Required" light came on a couple hundred miles later. Why? Service intervals are 5000 miles.
I bought my truck used with 11,700 or so miles on it last summer. They did an oil change for me, so I'm not due until at least 16,700, but I may do it sooner just to get on the normal 5k interval schedule (but not in the middle of winter when it's cold as hell in my garage). But why would the light come on at 14k? Could it be that the previous owner did a service at 9k, reset it, and now, 5000 miles later it's coming on again?

BTW... dealer I bought it from was a Ford dealer, so maybe they didn't reset anything internally when they did the oil change.

Should I just reset the light now and do my oil change in the spring when I'm closer to 15-16k?

Just a little confused here. Just to clarify, the Maintenance light is just a timer/reminder, right? Like, it doesn't mean there's a code for an actual problem... as that would be the check--engine light?

 

They most likely didn't reset

 

Is it possible to reset it early? Like, If I reset it now to get rid of the annoying orange triangle on my speedometer, will I be able to reset the 5000 mile timer again when I do the oil change in a couple/few months? I like how on my wife's Honda Pilot, it actually says the oil life percentage that's left, and I can reset it at any time.

On my previous car (dodge charger) the light was totally out of sync with my actual maintenance. Like, I'd change the oil every 5k, but the light was set to come on every 8k, so I just ignored it at kept track of my maintenance by hand in the back of the manual.

 

This message will appear every 5,000 miles. Once for tire rotation at 5k and once for oil change and tire rotation at 10k. You can reset it now and you will be just fine. You can reset it again when you change the oil or rotate the tires without it reminding you again.

 

That's what I would do. Reset now and put a red zip-tie on your dipstick to remind you to reset it again at 15k. Its in your dashboard menu system under settings.

 

The maintenance reminder light in your center dash is just a mileage based notification- its not indicative of any need for actual service - its not your check engine light. You can reset the center one using your steering wheel controls - just navigate to the little gear logo for settings and maintenance, and then reset it.

What's funny is the maintenance minder in your center dash is NOT related to the ones you can set alerts to on your infotainment which are also milage based and also not indicative of any problem. But, you can set specific milage for reminders of each type - oil, tire rotation, transmission, etc.

Ultimately none of them are check engine lights, and you can turn them off, reset them, or ignore them entirely as long as you are still servicing the truck at regular intervals.

 

Mine came on the other day and I just reset it. I change the oil every 4k or so, so the reminder doesn't mean much of anything to me. Just navigate through the Driver Info Center I think to the selection all the way to the right, and it's in one of those menus.

I don't believe it triggers any code for anything, simply a reminder.

EDIT: Eeeeeeeeeeveryone beat me to it

 

You can reset it everytime you you start the truck. It simply counts 5000 miles after each reset and gives you a warning.

 

I do all my maintenance stuff every 5,000- ... well the dudes at the shop do it -
I reset it then myself.

Every 5k is an easy number to remember, I don't drive a lot and it's pennies on the dollar as far
as money out of the wallet goes.