Maintenance Required Indicator for oil change

When the maintenance required indicator comes on for an oil filter change, does it come on after a set amount of miles or is it sensing "dirty" oil? I am using Royal Purple oil and K& N filter, both for synthetic oil. My light came on at about 7000 miles after last reset. Recommendations from Royal Purple are around 9-10,000 miles.Do I need to change oil now?

 

Just reset the light and continue with your preplanned maintenance...

 

It is pre-set from the manufacture. Just take notes when you last change it.

 

Nothing monitors the oil. Usually the MR light comes on at a set interval (I believe the Tacoma does this but I could be wrong). Some vehicles it monitors the types and conditions of driving and modifies the interval based on that (my Honda does this). But none of them are actually monitoring the oil itself as far as I am aware.

If you want to know what is happening with your oil you can send out for an oil analysis for around $20 or so. Or you can just turn off the MR light and use your planned maintenance interval.

 

just got my Blackstone lab analysis back and I'm looking at extending mine