I've just had an oil change but the oil light on the instrument panel is still flashing. I have heard that FIAT dealers charge a lot of money to reset it. Can it be done without the electronic equipment?

A forum in USA suggests turning engine on to 1st position and pumping the 'gas' pedal 5 - 7 times. I've done this but it didn't work. Any suggestions?

Bella Gallese said:

I've just had an oil change but the oil light on the instrument panel is still flashing. I have heard that FIAT dealers charge a lot of money to reset it. Can it be done without the electronic equipment?

A forum in USA suggests turning engine on to 1st position and pumping the 'gas' pedal 5 - 7 times. I've done this but it didn't work. Any suggestions?

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Welcome to the FF Bella Gallese.

On the USA Forum they have the petrol Multi-air 1.4 so it's different to the European 500 models.

I'm assuming that you have the Multi-jet (diesel) engine. It can be done by yourself with a licenced copy of FiatECUScan (even it has not had the updates) and the right cables (Click here).

Fiat seem to charge around £40 to reset the oil light it but you would need to demonstrate that the oil & filter was changed and the right spec oil was used. (Click here).

Thanks for the reply. It looks like I'm going to have to bite the bullet and pay FIAT. I do think that this is a licence to print money for them. My mechanic who changed the oil used some sort of electronic box of tricks and mananged to reset whatever was in the engine, but could not reset the light and notice on the instrument panel.

The red flashing light is very distracting and at the moment I have a piece of sticking plaster stuck to the speedo so I don't have to look at it.

Bella Gallese said:

Thanks for the reply. It looks like I'm going to have to bite the bullet and pay FIAT. I do think that this is a licence to print money for them. My mechanic who changed the oil used some sort of electronic box of tricks and mananged to reset whatever was in the engine, but could not reset the light and notice on the instrument panel.

The red flashing light is very distracting and at the moment I have a piece of sticking plaster stuck to the speedo so I don't have to look at it.

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How is it a license to print money? You expect them to do it for free?

If you took it to Fiat for the oil change then they would have done.

You need it reset ASAP if you have had the oil changed, as its for the calaberation of the DPF if you have one, and could potentially damage it.

Hi Bella Gallese

I had the same problem a month ago. However, I decided to download the free version of FiatECUScan (now called MULTIECUSCAN) to play around for a while to see if I would be able to use it. It looked fine so I registered it, (£40) bought an ELM327 interface from ebay (£12)
I plugged the interface into my laptop and the other end into the OBD socket on my Fiat 500 Multijet and in less than five minutes, I'd turned the light off! Easy. I say 'easy' so long as you make sure that the interface is ready for Fiat cars. A lot of sellers on eBay state this, or if you're brave, you can modify it yourself, following excellent instructions elsewhere on this forum. You don't need the extra cables (Yellow, Red or Green) if you are switching of your 'Change Engine Oil' warning.
So, the process that will cost you £40 pounds at some garages, costs you about £52 if you do it yourself. But, of course, you can do it again and again!
Not all garages are rip-off merchants. Most are very well aware that the reputation has taken a bashing due to some unscrupulous dealers! Most of us just don't know if we are dealing with an honest and reasonable dealer untill we try or get a good referral from someone who's already been through the searching.
I hope this helps! Let me know how you get on.

Bella, If you need acurate details on how I did the job, please let me know!

Simon - I'm delighted you have now found a solution to your reset problem. Did you discover yet if you could also reset the oil degradation light?

Panda - I think the OP was indignant re the dealer charges as this is an avoidable process. For example, my previous A class had a routine to reset the service light. I could therefore do a free reset after changing my oil. But to make it an exclusive and chargeable service is just naughty, imo.

snes said:

Simon - I'm delighted you have now found a solution to your reset problem. Did you discover yet if you could also reset the oil degradation light?

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Thats exactly what has been reset isn't it? The flashing oil light, which is to do with the oil quality and degradation.

Panda - to be honest, I'm not really sure. And as this will be an issue I will come across in the coming months, could you clarify?

With a 1.3 mj diesel, I think I will eventually get a service interval warning. But a diesel also has the oil degradation warning which isnt necessarily linked to the service warning light. I think .....

Could any one give me the lowdown on the above - single syllable words in capitals have been rumoured to penetrate my brain. On a good day.....

snes said:

Panda - to be honest, I'm not really sure. And as this will be an issue I will come across in the coming months, could you clarify?

With a 1.3 mj diesel, I think I will eventually get a service interval warning. But a diesel also has the oil degradation warning which isnt necessarily linked to the service warning light. I think .....

Could any one give me the lowdown on the above - single syllable words in capitals have been rumoured to penetrate my brain. On a good day.....

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My understanding, assuming its similar to my Bravo MJ, is that a service warning (a message on the matrix display saying 'service due') comes up after X miles or X number of days, and is reset at every service.

The oil change is a seperate proceedure to your 'regular' annual service. I suspect the durations are lower on the 500 - but the Bravo the oil is changed every 2 years, or when the oil degradation light comes up. If the oil degradation light comes up, you change the oil, and your 2 year period, or until it comes on again restarts, once the light has been reset. However the car doesn't tell you every two years to change the oil, only if the oil becomes 'degraded'.

Hope this helps

Reset oil light after service... that is very important. And don't skip the oil change either.

1-turn on the ignition key,
2-press the gas pedal and hold it,
3-press the brake pedal 7 times without relesing the gas pedal,
4-keep pressing the gas pedal for 60sec.
5-Release the gas pedal and turn of the ignition key,
6- Wait for 60sec.
Then turn on the ignition key and start the engine. Check if the service/oil change light turned off.
That's all! The vehicle is Fiat Doblo, works on Linea, Qubo/fiorino also vauxhall combo.

2012 forward...

Moderators's note: When changing the oil on a diesel 500, there is a specific software reset procedure (for the oil degradation counter) which must be performed correctly or serious damage could result. This is in addition to resetting the service light. At the time of writing, there is no evidence that following the procedure in this post will properly reset the oil degradation counter. Use it at your own risk.

shaggy1970 said:

Reset oil light after service... that is very important. And don't skip the oil change either.

1-turn on the ignition key,
2-press the gas pedal and hold it,
3-press the brake pedal 7 times without relesing the gas pedal,
4-keep pressing the gas pedal for 60sec.
5-Release the gas pedal and turn of the ignition key,
6- Wait for 60sec.
Then turn on the ignition key and start the engine. Check if the service/oil change light turned off.
That's all! The vehicle is Fiat Doblo, works on Linea, Qubo/fiorino also vauxhall combo.

2012 forward...

Click to expand...

Just did this in my Alfa Mito (changed the oil in April, don't have MES) and can confirm it works!

Can confirm this has also worked on my 07 plate Multipla jtd.

Handwriting the date and mileage on the sticker in the engine bay worked on my 1965 Austin 1100.

Seriously, how does knowing what works on a completely different car help someone with a current generation 500?

The only posts from folks who actually own diesel 500's have all indicated that a licenced copy of MES (or equivalent software) is needed to reset the oil service light.

Well ideally someone with a 500 (the OP) would've tried it by now and reported back. But it seems very likely that if it works on 2 FIAT family vehicles, it's probably going to work on all of them. Mechs aren't going to want to try to remember various different techniques for resetting simple things like this.

The dibber-dobber doing the monitoring/flashing is likely to be the same component across several different models, so it's worth a punt that the procedure *might* also work for the diesel donkey.

As I understand it, the oil degradation light comes on when the ECU thinks the oil has had a hard enough time and it's time to change it.

It works out how many miles the oil has done and also how many cold starts, then plugs the numbers into an algorithm. It doesn't physically monitor the oil condition, so a very good oil would set the light off at the same time as a cheap and nasty oil.

I agree with the posters above who think it's a bit feeble (or cynical, depending on your point of view) by Fiat that you need specialist equipment to turn off a service light. What happens in 10 years time when all the dealers no longer have the dibber-dobber?


Ralf S.

Ralf S. said:

I agree with the posters above who think it's a bit feeble (or cynical, depending on your point of view) by Fiat that you need specialist equipment to turn off a service light.

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I'd agree also, though I can understand Fiat's concerns from a warranty perspective. They will want to protect themselves against an unscrupulous person resetting the light without actually doing the necessary work.

They may also want to steer as much service work as possible toward their franchised dealerships; this is the part of it that is, to my way of thinking, unethical and unnecessary.

If Fiat wanted to make it easier for end users to maintain the car, they could easily provide a simple reset facility for the service light. They could protect themselves against warranty claims by recording the use of this facility in the car's firmware and making it clear that using the user reset facility voids the warranty.

I believe a similar facility exists on some Android 'phones, whereby manufacturers provide a means of unlocking root access to the device but make it clear that using this voids the warranty. Contrast this with iOS devices, where everything is securely locked down.

Eklipze3k said:

Well ideally someone with a 500 (the OP) would've tried it by now and reported back. But it seems very likely that if it works on 2 FIAT family vehicles, it's probably going to work on all of them. Mechs aren't going to want to try to remember various different techniques for resetting simple things like this.

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Need to be careful here. The original (old) post was about a flashing OIL light, not a service light. This indication relates only to diesels fitted with a DPF. These cars require TWO resets at a service / oil change. One resets the service indicator (the pedal pumping may work I don't know) but this does not matter, it's just a reminder and is controlled by the body ECU. The second is the oil degradation counter in the engine ECU. There is no light to tell you to reset this but if it is not done (even Fiat garages have been known to miss it) eventually the flashing oil light will come on and the DPF will stop being regenerated. If this is ignored you eventually get limp mode and a blocked DPF. Only Fiat specific software can reset the degradation counter. It' related to fuel getting into the oil during DPF regeneration.
shaggy1970's post is a little misleading as it says "that's all" without mentioning diesels or DPFs.


Robert G8RPI.

Worked for me on a Doblo multi-jet 2011 model_thank you ,much appreciated.

Thom69 said:

Worked for me on a Doblo multi-jet 2011 model_thank you ,much appreciated.

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Hi,
Welcome to Fiat Forum.
I assume you mean the pedal pumping reset the service light? Did it reset the oil degradation counter? How do you know?


Robert G8RPI.