Hah, nailed it. Happened this morning. First frost this year.
Witch's cauldron on top of a rack. How appropriate for Spooktober!
I was genuinely wondering, if that's the joke, having never seen this light before...
This is the warning for low tyre pressure. Often shows up after you've had a tyre change, such as when you go to winter tyres around this time of year.
Colder air also takes up less volume relative to warmer air, therefore exerting less outward pressure. So, if you haven't aired up since July, it's entirely possible that the lower temperatures alone can cause this light to come on.
Interesting fact, the tyre pressure warning isn't always measuring your tyre pressure! At least, not directly.
Some cars have actual pressure sensors inside the wheels which do measure it, while others (like mine) use the ABS sensor - which measures wheel rotations - to determine pressure as a byproduct.
The theory goes that an under-inflated tyre is smaller in diameter than properly inflated one, and so will have to make more revolutions than a properly inflated one to cover a given distance. By comparing the current status against a programmed normal, a mismatch that indicates possible low pressure can be detected.
Because what is 'normal' can change after you inflate your tyres or change them, cars with this type of indirect sensor will also have a button somewhere to reset it (mine is inside the glove box) so you can redefine what 'normal' is and cancel any spurious warning.
You must live in warm climate 😀
Cold air in tires makes pressure go down. Low tore warning light.
Nah, I haven't had a car for a few years and my car before that didn't have this feature, because it was an old car... 🙂
fall? yeah, the front will fall off soon
Yeah, that’s not very typical. I’d like to make that point.
It never really occurred to me that most people don't check their tire pressure once or twice a month and let it get that bad.
I check mine when my car tells me to
In the last month, the high temps where I live have dropped approximately 40 degrees.
That enough to drop tires pressure to the point of the light coming on if you're not checking it at least biweekly
Or they made their seasonal change from their summers to winters, and if, like me, you have separate rims so you can easily do it at home, you now get to drive around with the car whining about no tpms. Because fucking cars can't have this as built in diagnostic functionality in these giant computers on wheels.
When I have time I'll pop over to a shop that can reprogram them to the second set, but it's not exactly priority numero uno.
I've just realised I've completely stopped checking mine since switching to an EV. I can go a couple of months without even stopping at a service station, so the old habit is broken.
Edit: For the confused people replying to me, we don't call them gas stations outside of North America. We call them service stations or petrol stations.
I'm sure we do dumb things too, but calling a liquid "gas" is fucking comical btw 😆
Why do you need to stop so often at a service station with an EV? I thought the second plus was not having to get it serviced as much.
You don't get it. Snow tires.
You buy a second set of wheels, and its more expensive to add TPMS so you don't and you just get the light 4 months of the year.
I used to be somebody who checked tire pressures much more often. Oil level too.
But even though our current vehicles are 12 and 13 years old, the tire pressure monitoring works right away on a cold day, and its threshold before turning on the light isn't super low. It's high 20s psi I believe.
It's not that I want to ignore the workings of my car. I often enjoy using my phone olconnected to my bluetooth OBDII scanner to provide a bunch of extra gauges. I drive an old Mazda3 and it doesn't even have a temperature gauge, just a light. So it's cool being able to monitor coolant temperature, voltage, actual gallons of fuel in the tank, and various other sensors if I feel like it.
Do you mean the time of year where a battery cell goes bad, ruining both the battery and the alternator while you have an Uber passenger in the car an hour from home and every system in your car is cartoonishly shutting off one by one?
Because YEP I GUESS IT'S ABOUT THAT TIME. :(
Chances are that the alternator was already bad, but symptoms didn’t manifest until the battery started to die. A running car should be able to stay alive purely from the alternator. It’s not a great long term solution, since it causes extra wear on the alternator. But it is possible to just push-start it and then keep it alive with the alternator alone.
You may well be right, but I'd already wrestled with the battery previously, and as soon as cold weather hit (literally like day 1.5 - 2), the problem cropped up, which is classic battery in my (admittedly pretty limited, but enthusiastic!) experience.
Edit: I see now that what I'm saying doesn't contradict what you said.
But it is possible to just push-start it and then keep it alive with the alternator alone.
can confirm. had a buddy in HS whose car had neither a starter nor a working battery. every day after everyone left the parking lot, he would have us push his car over to the street on top of a hill, and then he'd clutch start it on the way down. we only had to push it back up the hill a couple times when he was learning how to do it.
Happy tireween to you too.
nice to have a low pressure holiday.
Is that the symbol for a cauldron? I don't get it
Its a low tire pressure light.
In the fall, lower temperatures cause tire pressure to drop.
I don't own any horse shoes.
Isn't it great how cars just have like random lights that come on whose design is so ambiguous that there's no possible chance you could work out what they're trying to indicate.
My car occasionally displays a blue tick, what the hell is that supposed to mean? It only comes up maybe once every 4 or 5 months so it's really hard to work out a pattern.
My car occasionally displays a blue tick, what the hell is that supposed to mean? It only comes up maybe once every 4 or 5 months so it's really hard to work out a pattern.
I got the same issue with my BMW, except it's a green arrow pointing either left or right that flashes and makes a ticking sound. Only lasts for a few seconds though.
Oh that sounds like the swerve suddenly into another lane without looking light.
Dont you have the manual? I did buy a used car and it had manual
No you dont get it, its bad design if you have to read. Also why are there 3847436189347 different lamps that indicate something now? Thats bad design. Oh why do i not know what the single error lamp means and what exactly is broken?bad design.....
All because people dont want to rtfm.
It's called user experience. It's like a whole discipline.
It's a car it's centuries old technology I shouldn't have to read the manual to know what it's complaining about. It has a big infotainment screen it could put the error in English on there, but no.
My ten year old Subaru has a small screen that says what the light is. Unfortunately that doesn’t always help: recently the “spend $1,400” light came on but the screen claimed it was “passenger airbag sensor”
With all the infotainment bullshit they've added to cars these days they really could just tell you what the problem is. Still, RTFM.
You should read your car's manual.
It's spends half the time telling you stuff you already know like how to open the engine bay.
They should just have a section called "all the bloody stupid decisions we've made" and just put the explanation in there, because that's the only bit anyone will ever need to read.
They generally do have page that includes all the warning lights in one place.
4-5 month is an awfully long time to be too lazy to rtfm
I mean, I agree it's silly design, but come on
I just got a used Cadillac and it has this little blue icon quite frequently. Had to get out the manual. It means I'm driving over the speed limit. Fuck's sake what a useless light.
I used to drive a Sprinter, and on the dashboard was a light with iconography of waves, wind, and raindrops. I concluded that it was warning me of a storm at sea.
Get an air pump that runs off your car battery. Don't get a jump/pump as those are more expensive and they break. Get one with a flashlight.
It's one of those cheap purchases that makes a world of difference.
Most places still have a few gas stations with free air!
Don't buy the cheapest tho, look online for one that has metal piston & cogs (are are only slightly more expensive, or perhaps even not more expensive).
The plastic ones break easily when heated (5 ~ 10 minutes).
But yeah, why not just pump the air at gas stations?
They usually have to recertify the gauges once a year.
You are absolutely right about heat. They get hot
As for free air, more and more gas stations have attached credit card machines to their pumps. Having to hunt for ones that haven't had become a chore. Also, it is so helpful to just have it on hand at any time.
we top ours up at tireween and tirester every year
I just checked my tires, somehow only lost 0-1 psi per tire since April. I did check them on a hot day so that probably helped.
When living in Florida I used to air up my tires constantly because of the temperature overnight. Now in Oregon it's been 2 years and it's only been filled once during an oil change.
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