How reliable is the maintenance light?

Hi. First time poster. I have a 2006 4Runner. Bought it at 100k. Has 113k now. Been taking it for regular oil changes at a place I like. The MAINT light went on about 1500 miles after the place I like said they changed the oil. This equates to 4500 miles since the previous oil change which aligns with what the manual says about the light. I have now established that I can count and read. Haha. I went ahead and changed the oil already myself today and it was super dark. Not what I expected half way through a oil change cycle. How reliable is this MAINT light? How does it work? Do you think the place I like actually changed the oil? Any insight would be appreciated. This is my second incident in a year, the first being my daughter’s wheel not being secured properly and coming loose. I am about to call the owner about it so that he knows what’s going on.

 

Depends. They may have changed the oil but not reset the maintenance data, especially if the maintenance light wasn't on when they changed it. If thgat is the case then the light would come on at the regular 5,000 miles after last reset.

 

I just change my oil once a year since I never hit 5k in one.

But I do follow it on the wifes which does come out to about every 5k. Some stretch their oil longer but I'll just roll with the light so I don't forget when to do it.

 

I felt like it was reasonably reliable. I changed the oil when the light came on, it was usually at a time when I was thinking about doing an oil change, anyway.

 

Meefzah. That makes sense. Light has never been on since I purchased it. Thanks.
4x4Runner. I am having trouble resetting the light myself and haven’t seen the info you posted about the series of lines disappearing. Maybe the place I like had trouble, too. Thanks.

 

Quick follow up. If the oil was changed and they forgot to reset the light, than is it reasonable for oil to be black after 1500 miles when I have been changing the oil every 3000 miles and even did a sea foam treatment 6000 miles ago? Love this vehicle and wants to make sure I am not screwing it up.

 

A seafoam treatment will definitely darken the oil. And will take a few oil changes before all the gunk its released to filter out. Probably still has some residual that continues break things down in the motor too.
I just ran across this video on YouTube recently, guy did a full seafoam treatment on a high mileage farm truck. Pretty impressive results, and he even did a 1 year follow up. I was always on the fence about seafoam treatments. My thought was always, yeah it cleans deposits and gunk, but just releases it to circulate the motor. Potentially making things worse. Pretty no non sense video by a guy who is not sponsored by anyone and actually wants to keep it that way, started browsing some of his vids, good stuff.