Stupid low-coolant light.
 

It turned on for a minute or so during a couple highway drives in the past week, and I'd completely forgotten what it was so I topped-off the oil. Twice. (I didn't notice the oil was already nearly full, because I'd just pulled off the highway and the oil level in the pan was still low.) Fortunately not by a lot, because I only had two partially-filled oil bottles in my trunk. Meanwhile, I noticed that the coolant level was a bit low, and I made a mental note to get around to topping that off too, when I have some distilled water handy.

Why the hell didn't they just make that light look the same as it does on other cars? Could've saved me untold seconds of worrying and research.

The coolant light looks nothing like the low oil light

One is an oil can and the other is a radiator

Why the hell can't they teach what dash lights mean in school?

The low-coolant light in the RX-8 looks nothing like the low-coolant light in other cars. The low-coolant light in other cars looks like rippling water with a thermometer sticking out of it. This light looks nothing like a radiator to me; what it looks like is a side cutaway view of a rotary engine block.

speaking of I'm kinda pissed the check engine light isn't a rotor

Posted From RX8Club.com Android App

That's exactly what I thought! The first time I saw it (after reading many dead engine horror stories on here) I thought "F&*@& my engine is blown!?"

Just to help you out

https://www.rx8club.com/attachments/...ng-lights1-jpg

https://www.rx8club.com/attachments/...ng-lights2-jpg

Yeah, I found that already, thanks.

Do you see the symbol in the center of the coolant gauge? Every other car I've ever driven (including at least 4 Mazdas) used that same symbol as the low-coolant indicator light. There is no good reason why the RX-8 should have a separate symbol that I've never seen before to serve the same purpose, when the same symbol would've gotten the message across much more clearly.

It makes even less sense for the low-coolant indicator light to have a different symbol, when you consider that the OTHER critical fluid, oil, has a low-level indicator light that DOES use the same symbol as the accompanying gauge.

I know it may seem like a trivial issue to you, but I'm a software engineer and I specialize in user interfaces. The dashboard control panel is the primary method of communication between the engine computer and the driver, and it needs to be as consistent as possible to ensure the driver always knows what's going on.

Yeah it is different from other cars but it looks nothing like a low oil light lol.

I don't understand why you added oil that's all

The S2 doesn't have an oil pressure gauge, and I mistakenly remembered that there were two separate lights for low oil level vs. low oil pressure. I knew one of them looked like a normal oil can, but for some reason I mistakenly remembered that was only for oil pressure. I haven't seen the oil level light in over a year, because I normally top it off on a regular basis. I've had personal shit to deal with lately and I haven't kept up with my car like I normally do, so when a red light turned on, I figured it was telling me the oil level was low. The fact that the low-coolant light looks like the side-cutout view of a rotary engine block reinforced that mistaken assumption.

I've never seen the low-coolant light on this car before, and I just assumed it looked the same as the low-coolant light on every other car, because why would someone be dumb enough to change such an important light? Silly me.

My coolant light makes un announced appearances all the time. Level is good. Air pocket I think but no bleeder cap. Any help on this?

The sensor is most likely buggered. Very common issue. Get in contact with mazmart. They are a vendor here

is it the coolant temp sensor?

That's funny, One day my wife came in and said your car has a light on that looks like the colliseum.

Heh. That's a new one. I guess I can kinda see it.

People have been saying it looks like a Colosseum for years. It's not a "new one" lol

It's new *to me*. You know perfectly well what I meant.

If you really want to be objectivist about it, nothing anyone says is new, because Pi has an infinite number of non-repeating decimal digits, which means the decimal digits of Pi already code for every possible combination of letters that could be strung together into a sentence.

I win.

What did you win mate?

Because guess what? IDGAF

Cool it, Slider.

Low tolerance for bitchy comments in a tech thread....

This is a fun thread :)

I do agree with the OP, this one is not as obvious as it should be.

I also always thought the one that looks like a sail boat meant the coolant temp is too high, but the first thing I would do about that is check the coolant level anyway... I'm pretty sure I would have had to go check the manual on the RX-8 style one if I ever saw it before reading this thread. There is also a 3rd style which I have seen, one that depicts a radiator with a low water level. All 3 are here: Low Coolant Level Warning Light
So I guess it does follow some kind of convention even if the other two are more obvious in what they picture...

Also, on most cars I know, the oil can on its own means pressure, level is normally with a wavy line under it, or some 'MIN' text, but the first thing I would do is check the level anyway.

If at first you dont succeed, read the owners manual. The lil pictures explain a lot. When I purchased our 8, I spent 2 days reading the owners manual, it is in German, I dont speak German, the pic's helped. :)