Whats really going on here with maitnence light??

[la_scanner]

first off. im new to the site. so hello.....

Okay, so it was around the end of january when my sister ended up calling home saying car pooped out on freeway. i go and see if i can get it going. i cant.

car gets towed to house. im wondering what it could be. since car turns over. 2 times the car has not started in the past and i had to jump it. finally we got a new battery through toyota. so i knew it wasn't that. in the morning my grandma is asking well now what the hell are we going to do. i have a friend of a friend who is one of those all around do it yourself guys. but he mainly is into cars, racing, etc. i have seen him do many miracles, tricks and what not on old chevys and fords. so im keeping him in the back of my head. i then go out to car again to try and get it going thats when i find the reciet that states $10.22 was filled into car last night. and oh my gosh, what does it say? diesel fuel. almost 5 gallons total. so i call toyota to see what they could do. im debating if i should state that there is diesel fuel in car. well i told them and they say that well that voids the warranty, at least for that repair. so basically $90+ an hour for mechanic. and all these other things he is naming off they would have to do. looking over 5 or $600. okay, no way. thats when i call that guy. he comes over, taste fuel says oh yeah its diesel. we empty all the fuel into a 5 gallon bucket. goes right to the very top. im thinking cool, lets fill it and were done. he says no, spark plugs may be shot. now keep in mind i dont know too much about mechanics of cars. he looks at them says i can try cleaning them i think he said, but then decided no, lets get new ones. there cheap. so we get AUTOLITE Part # XP3924. now we fill with premium fuel. try starting and nothing. he then says lets go back to auto zone. we buy a can of ether. im getting a bit worried, becuase i know my grandma is used to the "normal" or whats normal to her. taking to toyota and paying bucks and thats it. anyway. spraying ether into if i remember correctly the air filter or vent, something like that. intake i forget honestly. that gets it going. something else while thats being done is someone else has the fuel line going to the engine unplugged and is holding it and letting that fuel go into a 1 gallon empty thing of oil. thats when he was pretty certain all the diesel was out of it. car had lots of white smoke coming from the exhaust, it was a bit funny feeling and shaking. but after drive around block a couple times. it was perfect. now is when i notice maitnece light on. engine light or the oil light was already on. i ask him whats up. says its probably because there not toyota plugs in. 2 weeks later grandma decides to take it to toyota to see whats up with it. and they say it will be about 1000 bucks to fix it. she for some reason has no print out of what they were going to do. she took it to local mechanic we have used for years. charges 301 dollars to what he says is a basic tune up. was able to get the yellow maitnece light off and says no, spark plugs are no problem. then a few days later light is back on, says bring it in. now he says oh yes, it is the spark plugs. wrong spark plugs and they should have never have been installed. very bad! $138.00 for install of 4 new toyota brand spark plugs. well guess what, now its a few days later again and YELLOW MAITNENCE LIGHT is back on. so any of you out there who may have the slightest clue even, please....inform me. it would be much appreciated.

[UTVitz]

If it truly is the "Maint Light" it is just an automatic reminder every 5000 miles to change the oil. If it is any other light then it's tripped a code in the computer. Yes the Yaris uses four Iridium plugs that can last up to 120K miles. Any other plug would probably set of a check engine light. If it is the Maint. light you can reset it by making sure you are already on trip A when you turn the key to the on postion while holding down the reset button. You'll get 5 dashes that will start to flash and disappear after a few seconds.

[la_scanner]

Originally Posted by UTVitz

If it truly is the "Maint Light" it is just an automatic reminder every 5000 miles to change the oil. If it is any other light then it's tripped a code in the computer. Yes the Yaris uses four Iridium plugs that can last up to 120K miles. Any other plug would probably set of a check engine light. If it is the Maint. light you can reset it by making sure you are already on trip A when you turn the key to the on postion while holding down the reset button. You'll get 5 dashes that will start to flash and disappear after a few seconds.

well isn't the yellow maitnece light the one that means malfunction of some sort in the engine. the red light, dont remember what they call that one, but i know that one is the one that means replace oil. now as far as the plugs go. the AUTOLITE Part # XP3924....could they be an issue. you mentioned the iridium. well i remember on the box those had iridium written all over the box.

[b_hickman11]

The "check engine" light is the one that means there is a malfunction with the engine or some other part that has a sensor that is connected to the ECU. The maintanence light is just a reminder to change your oil and it must be reset manually after each oil change.
Look in your owners manual to see how to reset it. You must reset it completely otherwise it will come back on in a short amount of time. Sounds like you need a new fuel filter and possibly a new fuel pump.

[rningonfumes]

We need you to pull the codes for us unless you already know them. Go to autozone or something and have them read the codes for us. With out what the computer is telling us what is wrong, you're just stabbing at the dark.