Monday, November 26, 2007
tweaking the car...
I have finally gotten my new car to where it needs to be. As of last Friday I now have a state inspection sticker to go with my WV license plate and I even took it in recently for an oil change and tire rotation. So it pissed me off last weekend when I saw my "maintenance req'd" (or whatever it says) light come on and flash at me for longer than it's supposed when I started my car Sunday. Kay has almost the same car that I have, a Toyota Camry that's not quite as fancy, and her maintenance light has been on for more than a year since they keep forgetting to reset it when she gets her oil changed (at least I'm assuming she gets her oil changed). Anyway, I just got an oil change with a synthetic blend so I did not want to have to look at that light for the next 5,000 miles so I dug out my trusty owner's manual to see if there was anything I could do myself so I wouldn't have to take it back for just that. I found the page and then I found out how I can reset the indicator all on my own!According to the manual. The light comes on if you have a problem with your emissions or when you need an oil change. The light flashes for 10 seconds after ignition if you've driven something like 4,000 miles and the light will stay on if you've driven something like 8,000 miles since the last time the indicator was reset. If you have a different problem it also will come on and stay on. The book told me how I can reset the light myself and I was amazed when it actually worked! I was so excited that I realized I had forgotten to take a picture of it before it winked out so this is after the reset when the car first starts up and the light promptly goes off afterwards. I tried the same trick on Kay's car and it also worked. I'm such a geek sometimes!
Update: for instructions on how I reset my light look at the comments.
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Now if I could just figure out how to kill the never-off lights on my car. I hate those things. I think they're just a conspiracy between the car makers and the bulb makers to make my bulbs die faster (so I have to buy more often).
Aren't you going to share the "how to do it" part of this?
Afterall, there could be readers who have the same light on...hint hint.
If it works for one car, maybe it will be a similar step for other cars.
How did you know where to look in the manual? I don't have a manual for my car.
Afterall, there could be readers who have the same light on...hint hint.
If it works for one car, maybe it will be a similar step for other cars.
How did you know where to look in the manual? I don't have a manual for my car.
We drove my dad's Buick to the beach one year and the service engine light came on. He told us to check the gas cap. Apparently, if you don't have it on properly, that light would come on. Well, that wasn't our problem, but we drove it home with the weird light on and all was fine. Dad took it to the dealership and they turned it off.
Um, nothing dear ....
As far as how I turned off the light. Well, I looked in the owner's manual in the section about warning lights because I remember reading that there was a way to reset them without having to go to a dealer. What I had to do was to turn on the car to light up the odometer which I set to the regular milage rather than the trip calculators. Then I had to turn the car off. Then I had to hold in the reset button for the trip odometers while the main odometer was showing and turn the car on (but not starting it). I had to hold the rest button in for about 5 seconds till I saw zeros appear and then let go. When I turned the car on again the light was reset!
As far as how I turned off the light. Well, I looked in the owner's manual in the section about warning lights because I remember reading that there was a way to reset them without having to go to a dealer. What I had to do was to turn on the car to light up the odometer which I set to the regular milage rather than the trip calculators. Then I had to turn the car off. Then I had to hold in the reset button for the trip odometers while the main odometer was showing and turn the car on (but not starting it). I had to hold the rest button in for about 5 seconds till I saw zeros appear and then let go. When I turned the car on again the light was reset!
Thank you. I'll check to see if mine has that option, but I have a feeling the car is too old. However, it may work on my mother's, which is much newer.
hey you could have been an engineer
or at least advertise yourself as
helpful ...
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or at least advertise yourself as
helpful ...
# posted by 
: 11/27/2007 3:48 AM
: 11/27/2007 3:48 AMLinks to this post:
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