Sojourner9

Is there a way to turn off the "maintenance required" light in a 2008 GX470?

Thanks.

andreys

Depends what the maintenance required is for. Usually it is for the oil filter. You can refer to owner's manual on how to reset it (turn the ignition on, hold odometer reset button).

If there is other maintenance involved, you can locate it on DVD screen under maintenance. I'm not sure if those trigger maint. required light though.

Sojourner9

I took it to Autozone when the light first came on and they plugged in this instrument that gave a readout that indicated nothing was wrong. Maybe I should just just go and have the oil changed.

Thanks.

andreys

You haven't changed your oil yet? I would strongly suggest you do!

The "maintenance required" light has nothing to do with "check engine" light:

maint. required light = change your oil and oil filter
check engine light = take your car to AutoZone

The maint. required light will go on every 5,000 miles. It will be reset automatically when you change engine oil (removing oil filter resets the light).

Sojourner9

Thank you very much for the information. I did take the vehicle to the local Toyota dealer here and the light has gone bye bye after they changed the oil.

Another question I have is this: would it be wise to have this vehicle's 60K mile service done at the Toyota place or would I be better off taking to a Lexus place? I am frankly reluctant to take it to the Lexus place after reading some rather unflattering reviews online about their service.

Thank you every body for your responses.


Henry.

andreys

Service at Toyota will be the same as far as maintenance goes, they change the same fluids and check the same thing. However, it will be much CHEAPER than at LEXUS.

Items you'll be missing

- no free cofee or soda (Toyota charges for soft drinks)
- no flat screen TV while you wait
- no car wash and detailing
- no loaner car

Up to you whether 30-40% savings are worth the above goodies.

Good luck!

Kermee

iTrader: (1)

I think you meant, "No Baristas"... The Toyota Service Departments usually have free coffee

Cheers,
Kermee

jrbyrn

The local Toyoata dealer says a full synthetic change will last 10K. The Lexus dealer says a full synthetic change will last 5K. I get a free wash at both places

Sojourner9

For 30-40% savings, I will be cool with no loaner car, no free coffee, no free soda, and no car wash. Car wash at the local service station is just $8.00. Jrbym, you are correct: before this oil change, I ran the car for just about 10K and the oil still looked clean when I check it before the oil change. I have used Mobil 1 Extended (15k mi) in a 2002 4R SE (daughter drives it now) since it had only 3 miles on it and it is still going strong @157k miles.

Thanks people.

Henry.

RCsGX

Sounds like your Toyota dealer sucks.

Kermee

iTrader: (1)

My local Lexus service guy said to me, even at 100K+, as long as you're following the maintenance schedule, full-synthetic is... And I quote verbatim, "A waste of money."

I concur with him. -- Though I do agree with what your Toyota dealer stated if you want to go to 10K oil-changes, blend or full-synthetic is a good idea.

Cheers,
Kermee

jrbyrn

Somewhere in the official Lexus website, it says that if you have a synthetic change, you should stay with synthetic and not go back to regular oil. I think I will stay with synthetic but stretch it out to closer to 10k.
One of my concerns is that the Lexus extended warranty stays valid, but I think the Toyota dealer can do extended warranty work

FLLEXUS

My maintenance indicator light is still on. I just recently had my oil changed too. Since the indicator light resets itself when the filter is changed, do you think they skipped out on changing my oil filter?

Lmcqueen

Just gave my (wife's) GX a 'first' oil change. The dealer I bought the truck from had changed oil just 2000 miles ago, but I wanted the dealer oil/filter out.

Changing the oil myself, I paid 25$ for 5 quart bottle of Mobile 1 extended range synthetic, (plus little over 1/5th of the next bottle), my local Lexus dealer gave me drain plug gasket for free, and I think I paid like 8$ for the filter. (I get a box full of oil filters from amazon, I usually use Denso, but trying Mobile 1 filter this time)
If I go with conventional dino oil, I would only save about five bucks. For the extra five bucks, I go synthetic all day long.

So 38$ for doing it myself and I think last time I checked the dealer, it was like 90$ for full synthetic oil change... multiply by 4 cars and It's worth about 2-3 hours of my time to do all 4 cars in my garage. Besides, I rather do it myself than trust the 'lube specialist' at the dealer, I actually use the torque wrench for the drain plug, lol. I change oil 2x per year, once in spring, once just before the winter, no matter what the mileage is. (most miles we put in one car in the 6 month period is about 5-7k miles, the garage queen Supra gets one oil change per year in spring since it sits over the winter and I only put on about 3k miles in the past 10 years)

By the way, I needed a breaker bar to get the bolt loose to take the skid-plate off. Slight touch of grease would have been nice on the bolt... Little things others don't do, when it's not their car.