If your oil light comes on on your way to work/school, what would you do?

 

You should not drive hard at that point and then put a quart of oil in as soon as you can.

 

My lights just came on this morning to work, I just recently topped it off last weekend but it came on today. I remember seeing a thread on someone's car needing a new engine as a result so I pulled off the next exit and topped it off.

 

since you have a quart of 5w20 in your trunk, you should pull over immediately and fill her up (after checking the oil level of course).

 

Stop and check as soon as safely possible. It might just be low or you might have a leak.

 

call dealer, tell them you need a new engine then go on about your day!!!

j/k!

 

exactly

 

i check my oil level after every two fuel fillups, per the owner's manual. if the light came on while driving to work however, i'd feel the need to pull over and check the level. since i'm the one who changes the oil, i would hope it's not something i forgot to re-install.

yamajj

 

My oil light only came on when I was on some sort on incline with hard acceleration but would go away immediately. However, this morning, it stayed on consistantly and didn't seem to go off so I decided to check on it anyways. It was still above the low mark but still low so I decided to add more and it went away when I restarted.

 

If your oil light comes on at all - you're not checking the oil often enough. I've never seen my oil light in 24,000 km.

Regards,
Gordon

(But IF it did, I'd pull over at the nearest convenient spot and add oil)

 

Ditto.

 

Of course, check the oil level as soon as you can. If that doesn't cause the light to go out, look under the drivers side of the car at the left side of the oil pan. The low oil sensor is there and the connector may have popped off. That happened to me on the way home from the dealer after picking up the car. This was in a driving rain storm. Coincidently, I ran over a huge chunk of tire rubber at about the same time and thought I had knocked off an oil line. I assume that the hunk of rubber caused the connector to pop off. I was able to crawl under the car and reconnect the wire to the sensor which solved the problem.

 

you wait till it gets brighter, then you wait for the hand to come out of the dash to slap you then you pull over check it and add just enough oil to make the light go out.then call mazda for the bruse on the side of your face.this reminds me of a fuuny story.my daughter who was 16 at the time we just bought her a used car .well she called he on the way from school and told me she had ran in the ditch.so i grapped a chain got in my truck and started that way .when i got there she wasnot in the ditch just pulled off the side of the road too far.so i got in and was going to move the vehicle so she could drive it home . but it would not start . i ask her was she out of gas? she said no because the gas light had not come on . i started laughing ,honey you do have a gas light .

 

there's an oil light....where do you guys find out about all of this stuff?????

 

I would stop at the next available spot and check things out. I also check and top off at each fill up. I only drive the car once or twice a week so that is not very often. I always keep a bottle of Mobil1 0w-20 in the trunk.

 

LMFAO!!! :D :D :D

 

Actually ROTFRTFM (Rolling On The Floor Reading the F*'ing Manual) is where I found it. :D :D :D

 

I've only seen the light come on once, i noticed the engine runs diverently when it's a quart low. i think the light comes on when its two low. either way, when the engine, to me, seems to run as such with a quiart less, i check it when i am able. i tell you what, 5-20w is not that common of an oil. many gas stations do not carry it.

 

the dealer told me there is a worning buzzer when you get 2 qts low . i idint know about the light .

 

I do check every 3 or so fill ups, but didn't think it would come on so quickly after just adding some a week ago. oh well.. due in for an oil change pretty soon anyways

 

I've never seen my oil light in 34 years of driving.

When I saw this thread title and that it was a poll I thought it was a waste of time.

Apparently not. Only 75% of the respondents got it right, which means 25% are willing to risk destroying their engines. I guess this thread may actually serve a very valuable purpose.

 

Does the oil guage ever move in response to low oil? I check my oil and it seems I've only added about 1/3 of a quart every 1000 miles. Seems like you would need to neglect checking for some time before the light goes on. But once again, Does the oil guage ever move in response to low oil?

 

The oil guage is strictly passive.. i.e. if there's any pressure, it just sits where it always sits.. do not use this as a testament to you having enough oil

Also.. check early and check often.. anything over 50 or so miles that you're planning on driving, check the level, and then check again when you arrive.. last thing you need is the light coming on during the twisties on some pass in the middle of nowhere

 

No, no - not a low oil pressure warning light. The RX-8 includes a low oil level warning light, to indicate when the level is low (but well before an engine-destroying lack of oil condition exists.

Regards,
Gordon

 

I check once a week and keep an extra quart in the trunk.

On the other hand I've had my low engine coolant light come on for about 5 seconds on two different occasions going up steep hills, and I had a fluid change service about 1,000 miles ago.