Maintenance Required Light

Yesterday, the Maintenance Required light came. It's never came on before and honestly I didn't even know it was there. According to the manual, it is there to notify me it's time for a oil change. Since I change My oil every 5k and never seen this light, it's about 125,000 late to the dance. Has anyone else have this light come on?

 

Yup. It's standard. Easy to turn off/reset

 

No idea why it waited so long to come up, but that’s how you reset it.

 

On my 08 it comes on like every 7,500 I have to reset it or ignore it.
It doesn’t know anything about the oil just the mileage since last reset.

 

At 4,500 mile mark from the last reset it will flash when the truck is started for a short time then turn off. That is a reminder that you are getting close to the 5,000 mile oil change interval.

At 5,000 miles from the last reset it will come on and stay on when the truck is started. It will do this until it is reset using the procedure above.

** Exception to the procedure above is that the early 2011 ( Red Faced Combination Meter ) and older you have to be on the Odometer and not Trip A.

Late 2011 and newer ( White Faced Combination Meter ) you have to be on Trip A.

 

You've apparently been taking your truck somewhere to have the oil changed and at less than 5000 miles. They've been resetting it for you. This time you went a bit over 5000, or it wasn't reset last time.

I did 10,000 mile oil changes for the 1st 9 years I drove my truck. I averaged about 20,000 miles per year. When the light came on the 1st time I'd change the filter only. Next time it got a complete oil and filter change. But for the last 4 years the Tacoma doesn't see 10,000 miles in a year so I just change every 6 months now regardless of miles.

 

I'm glad you posted the CORRECT method to reset the Gen 2, there are several videos and instructions on the web which say to use the "Total milage" trip ODO setting which is incorrect! Thanks

 

Just so we are getting the correct information out there for all second generation Tacomas. Both answers are correct depending on when the truck was made.

Early 2011 with the red gauge face and earlier do use the Total Odometer setting to reset the Maintenance Required Light.

It changed in Late 2011 when they went to the white gauge face to use the Trip A setting...

 

Thanks for clarifying, I find it odd that Toyota would use different procedures for this simple task, any reason you are aware of?

 

Nothing specific other that they changed the Combination meter from red face to white face. Anything other than that would just be a poor guess.

 

I’ve had an 08 and 09 Tacoma before this 15, always remembered it being the ODO. Saw that in the manual for the new rig and saved it to remind myself.