My daughter's '97 Honda Accord has a "maintenance required" light on the dash that's in the red. Does this mean there's something serious wrong? Or just scheduled maintenance is overdue? The milage is high, like 179,000. Thanks! Marty

most likely means a service is required , to check get the OBD codes read , this will tell you what the maintenance required is , i presume you've checked all the levels oil, coolant ,brake fluid,power steering fluid even washer bottle ?

Insert your ignition key all the way, straight into the slot next to the 'light' on the dash. That will reset the maintenance minder to green, and if you haven't yet maintained the car, do it now. That should keep your engine from blowing up, again.

maintenance required lights in hondas come on at set intervals set by the factory. usually it just mean an oil change, but no one usually goes by the light. under the dash behind the plastic where your legs are there should be a little button. feel around for it, hold the button in and turn your key on until the light goes off. Or any honda dealer will do it for you and show you how to do it the first time. No worries

This is just a reminder to have the maintenance done. It changes color based on mileage driven. To reset to green, just push the cars ignition key into the slot in the dash just to the left of the maintenance 'light'.

No the maintenance light comes on at a set mileage interval to remind you that your vehicle will be do for oil or some other scheduled maintenance. Low brakes will not trigger the light. If there is a serious problem with the braking system it will trigger the red brake light on the dash.

THE LIGHT COMES ON TO LET YOU KNOW WHEN MAINTENENCE IS COMING DUE OTHER THAN OIL CHANGES. SUCH AS, TIRE ROTATIONS, TRANSMISSION SERVICE, ETC. ROUTINE MAINTENCE ACCORDING TO APPROXIMATED MILAGE. IT SHOULD HAVE A BUTTON ON THE DASH TO THE LEFT OF THIS LIGHT THAT CAN BE PUSHED IN WITH A PEN TO RESET. REFER TO OWNERS MANUAL FOR SCHEDULED ROUTINE MAINTENANCE ACCORDING TO YOUR OVERALL MILEAGE

Maintenance Required is a light that comes on after a predetermined number of miles. For example, if the maintenance schedule Honda set for the car calls for an oil change at 3000 miles, a new fan belt at 6000 miles, and another oil change at 9000 miles, then the maintenance required light will come on every 3000 miles and stay on until it is reset by the dealer. Some people, especially those that do their own regular maintenance but don't have a way to reset the light themselves, find this an annoyance. But others find it useful and take their cars in to the dealer every time the light comes on, and they rest assured that all of the regular maintenance is always done on time.

What this light does NOT do however is signal that there is anything immanently wrong with your car. It is not a "Check Engine" light (that's the one you should worry about if it ever comes on), but merely a reminder for you to do preventative maintenance. That doesn't mean you should *ignore* it, per se, as you want to make sure you have your car on some kind of maintenance schedule, even if yours is not as strict as Honda's. But there is no need to panic.

Use a narrow object(like tip of a pen) and push the 'red' build-in button around the instrument panel and the button will turn back to green and the maintenance required light will go off.

it comes on after a certain amount of miles
look it over check all belts hoses brakes fluids
and check the timing belt if all looks good put your key in the slot next to orange light and it will goto green again if you don't reset it will goto red in a few miles but it is not the check eng. light just a reminder

Simple way to check if anything goes wrong is to go to Autozone store (if you are in US) and scan for trouble codes (if there are any of them). They do it free of charge. If you get any codes you can get the explanation of them here
http://www.troublecodes.net/honda/
Good Luck