I was driving to work today and decided to leave the car in the torque band of 3rd gear for some extra passing power when I noticed the coolent light was on. My exit was only 2 miles away so I kept going. When I got off the highway and stopped at the light the light went off and stayed off for the rest of the way to work. I got to work and let the car cool down for about 2 hours and added some coolent. The level was just a bit above full. I didn't do the whole flush and fill thing though. On the way home I put my revs back up to 6.5k in 3rd gear again and the coolent light came on again. I started shifting up and the light went off again. Right now the car's outside with the hood up cooling off so I can check my coolent level again. I don't think there's a leak since I haven't noticed any green fluid in my parking spaces. Has anyone else had any issues like this?

I don't think I should do the recomended flush and fill process on my own as I'm not that good with working on cars, but I have an issue with Goodyear overfilling my oil and I don't want someone at Mazda to get void happy on my warrenty. I may just suck it up and take it in anyways since I've got an autocross comming up on the 25th. Any thoughts.

 

Damn no help???

Well I drove to work today and tried to reproduce the event and the light stayed off. I kept the engine reved over 6k the whole time I was on the highway, even let it beep once and no coolent light, so I guess problem solved for now.

 

Could be air in the coolant system. Take the rad cap off when the engine is cold, start the car, turn on the heater and let the car fully warm up before shutting it down. Replace the cap.

Also, are you sure it was the coolant warning light or might it have been the oil level light? Check your oil level just to be sure.

 

It wasn't the oil light. I had to pull out my manual to find out what it was. I drove it between 5-8k again going to work and coming home today and the light stayed off so I guess maybe it was just low due to milage. I got it used and it's close to 30k now so maybe it was just time to add coolent.

Unfortunatly something told me to check under the hood again today and I discovered I forgot to tighten the cap when I added coolent yesterday, so I had to add some more. It wasn't passed the low mark though so I don't think I damaged anything, and the cap is now tightened. I'll keep checking it to make sure there isn't any problem - and probably have Mazda flush and fill it at my next oil change.