Technical Reset 'Change Oil' Warning Light

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Technical Reset 'Change Oil' Warning Light

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Aug 25, 2011
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Hello all,

My '08 MJD started flashing at me yesterday requesting an oil change, so I bought a new filter and some Mobil 1 ESP 5W/30 and changed it today.

The problem is, the ECU doesn't know I've done this, so it's still flashing at me! Will I need to take this to a local FIAT dealership, or can any garage with decent diagnostic equipment reset it?
 
Got it reset at the Kwik Fit round the corner on Bosch equipment for £20. May be useful for future reference, as 500's get older and more people start to service them themselves :)
 
Got it reset at the Kwik Fit round the corner on Bosch equipment for £20. May be useful for future reference, as 500's get older and more people start to service them themselves :)

My OHs Mito had to go out to the last service dealer to have that oil light reset even though it was only just recently serviced. I take it that you've done your research work on the oil you have used and that it is the correct one.
 
My OHs Mito had to go out to the last service dealer to have that oil light reset even though it was only just recently serviced. I take it that you've done your research work on the oil you have used and that it is the correct one.

It's a bit of a pain if i'm honest that you need to give the dealer (or any other garage) money to turn off the service light. How do they know you've actually changed the oil and don't just want to turn the light off? If I knew that before buying the car it would have put me off, although I don't know if it would have put me off enough to look elsewhere. I personally like to service my own cars where possible for piece of mind, and for more specialist jobs or for a 'big' service I would choose an independent specialist over an Arnold Clark or other chain/dealership every time (unless there was one local to me that had been recommended by someone).

I did plenty research before taking my first 500 oil change on! There was a very helpful thread on here about safely jacking the 500 up which meant I got the trolley jack and axle stands under the car quickly and without damaging the sills! The correct oil for the 1.3 Multijet is fully synthetic 5W/30 - I chose Mobil 1 ESP because it's one of, if not the highly rated on the market (and Halfords had it for a tenner cheaper than it usually is :yum:)

I don't know how much FIAT charge for an oil/filter change and diagnostic reset but all in this oil change cost me £72 and I know that it's been done right! I'll also keep the reciept and note the mileage and date I did the change, and stick it in the service folder with the rest of the history :)
 
Got the air filter and pollen filter changed today. Inexpensive and easy to do, and it's made a massive difference. Judging by the state of them I'm skeptical as to whether or not they've ever been changed, and the car has nearly 28k miles on the clock with a FFSH up until 25k...
 
Got the air filter and pollen filter changed today. Inexpensive and easy to do, and it's made a massive difference. Judging by the state of them I'm skeptical as to whether or not they've ever been changed, and the car has nearly 28k miles on the clock with a FFSH up until 25k...

At least you have peace of mind knowing you have changed them:),some places just give them a quick look without removing them which is wrong ,i tend to change these items myself also(y)
 
The correct oil for the 1.3 Multijet is fully synthetic 5W/30 - I chose Mobil 1 ESP because it's one of, if not the highly rated on the market (and Halfords had it for a tenner cheaper than it usually is :yum:)

It's a bit more involved than just being fully synthetic and 5w-30. It needs to have a low ash content and meet ACEA C2 standard, especially for DPF-equipped vehicles as oils with the incorrect spec will affect the filter. ;)

Fortunately, Mobil 1 ESP does. :)
 
It's a bit more involved than just being fully synthetic and 5w-30. It needs to have a low ash content and meet ACEA C2 standard, especially for DPF-equipped vehicles as oils with the incorrect spec will affect the filter. ;)

Fortunately, Mobil 1 ESP does. :)

That mobil 5W30 ESP oil also meets ACEA C3 spec so I was wondering if it could satisfy the petrol engine. Looking at the spec sheets for the 2 oils Mobil 5W30 ESP and Selenia KPE 5W40 the only difference that I can see is that at 100 deg celcius the cSt is 12.1 verus 14 which means there there is probably slightly more wear at 'running temperatures'. ACEA C2 spec is deemed to be an 'economy' oil but meeting C3 is a 'bonus'. There appears to be no difference in density at 15 deg celcius.
 
Turtle, I tried the kwik fit route charged me 30 quid took 3 hours and gave up - told me they would contact their uber tech who has "superdouper" software - Not impressed - dont know if anyone except fiat can get rid of this message
 
Hello all,

My '08 MJD started flashing at me yesterday requesting an oil change, so I bought a new filter and some Mobil 1 ESP 5W/30 and changed it today.

The problem is, the ECU doesn't know I've done this, so it's still flashing at me! Will I need to take this to a local FIAT dealership, or can any garage with decent diagnostic equipment reset it?

Sadly, this is just one of the 'perks' of modern car ownership. Most (I believe) new cars have service indicator lights to remind owners to get their motor serviced and yes generally the easiest option is the dealer resetting the service indicator using their diagnostic equipment. Like you, I prefer to service my own vehicle, trouble is as we all well know, those first two or three years of ownership from new or nearly new effectively forces you to to go to a main dealer (or a good independent able to carry out service work conforming to warranty under block exemption rules) just to get the required stamps in the service log. I'm lucky, following a bit of research on 'tinternet' I discovered a way to reset my service indicator light on my own (non Fiat) motor, by carrying out a simple set of procedures involving the ignition and foot brake which then allows resetting of the service indicator in the settings menu. (This won't work on Fiat's by the way). I also bought a Scangauge II, which I use to monitor engine performance and it will also display any trouble codes and allow me to clear them, but again, I've not used it on the 500 yet. You can however from reading other posts on the forum, buy diagnostic hand scanning tools specifically for Fiat which can apparently reset the indicator. If your intention is to keep the car for years and carry on doing your own servicing, It would undoubtedly be worth investing in such a tool.

Alternatively, you could just do what one of my mates has done for the last couple of years and not bother getting the service light reset. He does his own servicing, knows his own car and looks after it and he certainly isn't bothered about a constant reminder flashing on his instrument panel.
 
Sadly, this is just one of the 'perks' of modern car ownership. Most (I believe) new cars have service indicator lights to remind owners to get their motor serviced and yes generally the easiest option is the dealer resetting the service indicator using their diagnostic equipment. Like you, I prefer to service my own vehicle, trouble is as we all well know, those first two or three years of ownership from new or nearly new effectively forces you to to go to a main dealer (or a good independent able to carry out service work conforming to warranty under block exemption rules) just to get the required stamps in the service log. I'm lucky, following a bit of research on 'tinternet' I discovered a way to reset my service indicator light on my own (non Fiat) motor, by carrying out a simple set of procedures involving the ignition and foot brake which then allows resetting of the service indicator in the settings menu. (This won't work on Fiat's by the way). I also bought a Scangauge II, which I use to monitor engine performance and it will also display any trouble codes and allow me to clear them, but again, I've not used it on the 500 yet. You can however from reading other posts on the forum, buy diagnostic hand scanning tools specifically for Fiat which can apparently reset the indicator. If your intention is to keep the car for years and carry on doing your own servicing, It would undoubtedly be worth investing in such a tool.

Alternatively, you could just do what one of my mates has done for the last couple of years and not bother getting the service light reset. He does his own servicing, knows his own car and looks after it and he certainly isn't bothered about a constant reminder flashing on his instrument panel.

Be careful not to confuse the Service Interval Reset (which AFAIK is common to all 500's) with the Oil Change Interval Reset (which is only found on diesel versions). Just because a particular piece of software or equipment can reset the former does not necessarily mean it can reset the latter.

I'd heartily agree that the whole business is a right royal pain in the posterior and IMO is designed into the cars by FIAT in part to make third party servicing more difficult.

I believe manufacturers should provide owners with the ability to download FOC all the necessary software needed to properly update, service and maintain the car - just as you would get with most laptops & smartphones.
 
Be careful not to confuse the Service Interval Reset (which AFAIK is common to all 500's) with the Oil Change Interval Reset (which is only found on diesel versions). Just because a particular piece of software or equipment can reset the former does not necessarily mean it can reset the latter.

I'd heartily agree that the whole business is a right royal pain in the posterior and IMO is designed into the cars by FIAT in part to make third party servicing more difficult.

I believe manufacturers should provide owners with the ability to download FOC all the necessary software needed to properly update, service and maintain the car - just as you would get with most laptops & smartphones.

Yup, good points, well presented. I felt my own self getting carried away (as usual) and definitely confusing myself between service reset indicator and oil reset indicator. Trouble is, I've never had an oil warning flash up, so it just didn't register.

To be fair to Fiat, as we all know, it aint just them who build so much into their cars that can appear to make them a 'frightening' prospect to carry out any work by their owners thus literally forcing them to 'run to the dealer' every time something crops up. Certainly the whole software and service interval thing is a right 'mare for some people when their dash starts flashing certain messages at them.

Sadly, I suspect that 'Joe Public' will never be able to fully access the information some of us crave due to intellectual property laws and thus those dealers and independents who subscribe to the manufacturer software and diagnostic licenses, will continue to reap some financial benefit. Ho hum!
 
To be fair to Fiat, as we all know, it aint just them who build so much into their cars that can appear to make them a 'frightening' prospect to carry out any work by their owners thus literally forcing them to 'run to the dealer' every time something crops up.

Sadly that's largely true these days :mad:. Even more sadly, I suspect that much of this new technology is also a 'frightening' prospect for the dealer technicians.

I have a friend who's a retired independent autosparky who was sometimes called in by franchised dealers to sort out difficult problems. One example was a BMW which would sometimes, but not always, release the boot lock when the passenger's window was lowered. The symptoms would suggest an intermittent fault in the loom, but the car showed no fault codes & IIRC every single wire in the loom was plain black (for security!) - just where are you supposed to start?
 
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Yesterday was the first time that I really got to compare the advances of a T-jet engine against an older turbo charged engine. Getting an average 40mpg despite some of the 'bursts of acceralation' was amazing. The 'new' Twin Air would be in a different time zone to the simple 1.2 engine. If a software update was made that allowed the Twin Air to run incorrectly it could have more serious consquences than with a NA engine. I would be slow to apply updates or upgrade to a new operating system preferring others to 'make than jump'. The costs to a business or even simple car ownership is higher if you're 'leadiing edge'. I would be of the opinion that only fix what's broken unless of course it was a safety related critical update.
 
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Sadly that's largely true these days :mad:. Even more sadly, I suspect that much of this new technology is also a 'frightening' prospect for the dealer technicians.

I have a friend who's a retired independent autosparky who was sometimes called in by franchised dealers to sort out difficult problems. One example was a BMW which would sometimes, but not always, release the boot lock when the passenger's window was lowered. The symptoms would suggest an intermittent fault in the loom, but the car showed no fault codes & IIRC every single wire in the loom was plain black (for security!) - just where are you supposed to start?

My Dad worked in the automotive industry for 20 years actually building wiring looms for some of the major marques. He's been retired for 9 years now, but I remember when he took me into the factory he was working in, I was utterly gobsmacked at what goes into these wiring looms. Utterly incredible. They build them on a board (or they used to). I just couldn't understand (not being an automotive electrical technician) just how they did it.

Of course we now have cars that can 'self park' and cars with radar on them that prevents it from getting too close to the motor in front. I feel for the technicians who are being constantly trained in new diagnosis procedures and they undoubtedly deserve the wages they earn so I suspect any of them reading my some of my posts must think I'm a bit of an ass for whinging about the cost of dealer servicing! I make no apology though, I'm an ordinary bloke with ordinary pockets who doesn't like paying through the nose for anything. Still, to stay on tack, I wish the OP well in resolving his issue.
 
I've got a registered version of FiatECU Scan and the proper connectors. If you fancy having a go let me know.
 
I've got a registered version of FiatECU Scan and the proper connectors. If you fancy having a go let me know.

With the freebie it 'looks' the same except that it's for personal use and it's 'time limited'. Where did you get your connectors ? Web site mentions that the pins are different on some cars. Also can you pick specific updates a bit like not allowing microsoft doing a 'blanket' update of the OS ? Are the updates the exact same as the ones that Fiat have ?
 
Just out of curiosity, would anyone be interested in service whereby I bought an appropriate service reset tool and perhaps lent it out to others on here for a small fee?

I have to be honest though and say that I'm the sort of person who would want a deposit of the whole cost of the tool.

I suspect that would put a lot of people off though.
 
I've got a registered version of FiatECU Scan and the proper connectors. If you fancy having a go let me know.

Jason, what cables and stuff do you actually need and how much did they cost?

Thinking of getting myself a tablet/laptop when Windows 8 lands.
 
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