Low oil light

[Robert Hines <hinesr@csa.delta1.org>]

I missed the origional post on the low oil warning light, but can tell
you why mazda has this feature.  When they first started importing the
rotary enginer RX-2 and 3's the engines used a very small amount of
oil for lubrication as a normal part of running.  Therefore the oil
had to be topped up periodically.  The salespeople didn't want to tell
their customers that the car used oil, which was also described in the
owners manual, but thats seldom read.  KSo they let their customer run
the oil down to one quart low and then the metering unit quit
dispensing oil to the rotors and heat and friction caused engine
failure.  Mazda bought a lot of ill will and then later a lot of
factory rebuilds.  cost hem millions.  I was racing an RX-3 in GT-3
and had a dealer sponsorship at that time so had access to his back
lot where a lot of customers abandoned their cars.  We bought twelve
of them and warranteed the motors over time and at the eleventh motor
mazda said no more.  We bought most of the cars for $25 to $50 each
and sold them with minor repairs for $1000 to $1500.  Just another
form of sponsorhsip the way I saw it.  Bob