Maintenance Required - Visit Dealer

Very likely it has reached the number of miles for another oil change. It might have been quite a while since her last oil change, or the mechanic forgot to reset the oil change reminder on the dashboard after the last oil change.

Thanks for looking up the RAV 4 where I apologize I didn't make it clear it's a message on her nav screen - it's not a colored light on the dash.

I only know this because she called me during lunch and I asked her if it was yellow or red or blinking yellow or blinking red and she said it was white and writing on her screen.

None of my cars is new enough to have a nav screen so I don't know how to reset it but it's not a dashboard light but a message on her nav screen.

It's time for scheduled service. She can take it to a competent independent mechanic to do the job, or she could take it to the dealer if she prefers. If it doesn't include transmission and differential fluid changes, she should add that onto the list. Not flushes, just changes.

--scott

As they say, RTFM.

The owners manual will describe the meaning of such a message. If there isn't one in the glovebox, you can download it from the Toyota website.

Usually it means it is time for a 5000 mile oil change. Has she ever seen it before?

I have seen similar message in my car before.

I think my car's user-manual recommends oil-change every 15,000 km, but the dealership recommends oil-change every 5,000 km. The oil-change mechanic is supposed to reset the oil-change reminder after performing the oil-change, but everybody can make mistake, so if the mechanic forgot to reset the oil-change reminder, then the message will pop up automatically at the factory-preset number of km/mile since the last time the reminder was reset. There is no other way the car can know the oil has been changed, so the oil-change reminder must be reset manually after each oil-change.

If she has never seen the message before, then she must have sent her car in for oil change regularly. If the car is not due for an oil-change now but the message has popped up, then the auto mechanic must've forgotten to reset the reminder after the last oil-change.

I don't think the maintenance reminder is programmed to do that. Those maintenance schedules, other than periodical oil-change, are published in the manufacturer's handbook for the particular vehicle model.

The maintenance reminder basically counts how many km/miles the vehicle's odometer has registered since the last time it was reset. When the owner brings the vehicle back to the dealer then the dealer's computer will spit out a list of other recommended work to be done.

It has happened to me only once that the oil-change reminder came up a couple of months after I had my oil-change. I thought the mechanic ripped me off by charging me oil-change but didn't change the oil (I had other scheduled maintenance done at the same time). I used the dipstick to check the oil and it was new oil inside, so apparently the mechanic forgot to reset the oil-change reminder. I didn't know I could reset the reminder myself in those days so I had to drive my car back to the dealer to get it reset.

Most cars now have a lot of settings. When you first buy the car, take a half hour or so and play with all the buttons. Change settings as you see fit.

Three months later, do it again. Now that you have experienced many situations, you may find a different setting is better and you find one or two missed the first time around.

You should learn to do that as it has been my experience many dealers suggest oil changes at twice the frequency the manual requires.

Years ago before all the computerization a dealer had the nerve to come out to me with a chart where he had put in dots showing the need for more frequent service. He said the manufacturer had changed the manual. I told him I would believe it when the manufacturer sent us buyers the new manual.

That's for sure, Compare with my wired home phone which I've had for 15 years and just found a feature I didn't know about. Usually I answer the pphone or I just look at whose calling, but I paid attention while my message was playing and/or the caller was leaving a message, and it had an option called Screen. Of course it has a screen, I thought, but it meant you can listen to the caller without interrupting his leaving the message. I read the manual when I got it 15 years ago, but I missed that.