I have a 2009 RX8 with 26,000 miles. I bought the car a year ago for my son so it is driven daily to school and his friends houses but not very far. I have had no issues with it and the previous owner records just show regular maintenance completed. Last night after starting the car to go put gas in it the check engine light came on. His father had just added oil and coolant to the car. Neither were low to the point of having issues but since he was visiting he checked them. He was thinking that it was possible that my son had let the gas run low causing it to come on per the manual. (He does have a habit of waiting until the gas light is on or about to come on) I filled the car up and when I got home he disconnected the battery. The light is not currently on but when I went to Autozone they said it was a mistake to reset the light and now they can't tell me why it came on. Would the Mazda dealer be able to help me or do I have to just wait for it to come back on. I would prefer he not drive it if there is a chance he could be doing damage to the engine. I am not sure if there is a issue how long it takes to come back on. Car seems to be running fine. Thank you for any help in Advance!!

 

It's not a good sign if your son's father is doing the maintenance for him on this particular car. The RX-8 has quite a few quirks and needs to be taken care of by its driver in unique ways, the most common 2 things being A: needs oil top offs very often (the engine consumes oil, in addition to requiring a change every 3-5k) and B: needs to be driven hard regularly. But the problem could be a number of things, I would recommend taking it to a Mazda dealer.

 

If the battery was pulled, the dealer won't be able to say much more that Autozone. Wait for it come back on. It is possible to have the light come on for a loose gas cap, but obviously it could be more serious. Have there been any other symptoms?

 

Welcome to the forum! As said before it is a very picky car. I would suggest you give your son and his father access to the following link. It will be very helpful.

RX8Club.com - Announcements in Forum : New Member Forum

IMPO a temporary CEL is not too much of an issue. If it is engine damage the CEL will only come on far after the damage is done. Could be a lot of things really. I personally keep the car above 1/4 tank to avoid fuel starving during performance driving. I change my oil NO MORE than 3,000 miles. My guess is the CEL could be a misfire, or maybe a dying catalytic converter.

 

Curious, I can understand the adding oil, but why did you have to add coolant? Was it just low to begin with, or does the car have trouble maintaining coolant levels.

 

I had a mechanic changed the terminals of my battery , and fix a short/ground on the bottom of the car ,when a protector piece of metal rubbed on the snow and broke loose kinking the wire.
Since then the engine light is on...how can I reset it , or should I be worried about it?
Thank you for your responses.

 

You should have someone use a code reader to see what the code is and go from there. It's not the 'everything-is-ok' light