robnjen515

The thread below this is very similar to mine, but may be different.

I was on my way to the store when I had a problem taking off from the light. I thought I must have put it in 3rd instead of 1st and didnt think anything of it. Then I noticed it wasnt running right, it was shaking. A light started flashing, I think the radiator light, as I pulled into the store. Since I was less then 1/2 mile away from home I thought I could make it back. I turned the car on and the same light was ON, on, not just flashing and the car was shaking violently. Checked oil, it was low, added oil, everything seemed ok for about a block, then part way home it started shaking again horribly, I lost power and then it just shut off on me.

Plenty of coolant in it. The light looked to me like the radiator light, but maybe it was a motor light? We didnt get a manual with the car and Im a city girl so Im not 100% sure if was an engine light or radiator. It was a symbol, it didnt say Check Engine.

I had to add a different oil (we normally use royal purple) because the hardware store didnt carry royal purple and I thought I needed something NOW, so I got a synthetic moble 1, same weight as the royal purple. Noticed when I checked the oil after filling that it was all yellow and brand new. should have been a funky mix with the royal purple+the mobile 1 yes?

Help!
Jen

Silver_Surfer

What thread below? I had that light flash on me twice yesterday afternoon driving home from work. I'm running Lucas Fuel/Cleaner/UCL and was reving my 8 to the redline a couple of times before shuttin her down. The nasty red light flashed twice but went off. My car runs great(Praying ) but want know if any others out there had this happen. I'm changing my oil this weekend maybe I'll try 10-40

BTT

SilverStreak

If the light was on the Tachometer side, red and looked like a radiator or even a bit like the front of the White House. That is the low coolant light. As you noted the other thread, likely it is just a bad sensor in the coolant overflow tank. Mine has just recently started doing the same thing. If your overflow tank coolant level is within the full/low indicators, then you can bet on the sensor being bad. I just disconnected mine until I have time to try cleaning the sensor. Heck, until this car I never had a level indicator before and never had a problem with coolant.

As far as the idle, I assume that you are running the AC in this weather. Again, mine has started idling rough when the compressor kicks in. It is disconcerting but probably not a problem. I'm planning on changing sparkplugs soon (about 35K miles on the current set), to see if a better spark helps the idle. Also being in too high a gear at too low speed can cause some pretty violent idle/shaking. The only thing you didn't mention was whether or not you got it restarted and how it ran after. This would be the main concern, loss of power and shut down should be checked and don't forget the 8yr/100K warranty on engine components now applies.

You did the right thing in topping off the oil as it should be kept up. Adding synthetic to synthetic is fine but even regular oil would not have made a major difference for the amount added. Some folks seem to have issue with Mobil 1 but again, you haven't added that much.

You can find the owners manual online and it would be worth doing so. Hope that this helps.