You're cruising along, listening to your favourite playlist, window half open, daydreaming about dinner. All of a sudden... BEEP! A sound alert goes off and a mysterious light flicks on in the instrument cluster.
Your heart skips a beat. Cold sweat starts trickling down. Is the engine about to blow up in the next 5 seconds? Is the workshop bill going to cost as much as that weekend in Paris you were planning?
Mechanics may sound like Greek, but your dashboard follows a simple traffic-light rule: Green/Blue means relax, Yellow means "we have a problem, sort it out soon", and Red means "pull over NOW".
So you don't panic for no reason, Martin has translated the most common lights from "mechanic-speak" into plain English:
1. The "Aladdin's Lamp" (Oil Light) 🪔🔴
- Colour: Red
- What it looks like: One of those magic fairy-tale lamps with a little drop falling.
- What it means: Don't rub the dashboard, no genie is coming out. It means the engine has lost oil pressure.
- Panic Level (0 to 10): 10. Pull over safely and switch the engine off immediately. If you keep driving, the engine will seize and you'll be heading to the bank for a loan to buy another one.
2. The "Yellow Submarine" (Engine Light) 🚁🟡
- Colour: Yellow
- What it looks like: A weird helicopter, a submarine, or a crooked tap. (It's the silhouette of an engine.)
- What it means: It's the vaguest light in automotive history. It could mean a spark plug has died, a sensor is dirty, or the particle filter is clogged.
- Panic Level (0 to 10): 4. The car isn't going to explode, but it's not something to ignore while you go on a road trip to the Algarve. Book a workshop visit in the coming days so they can hook the car up to the diagnostic machine.
3. The "Giant Battery" (Battery Light) 🔋🔴
- Colour: Red
- What it looks like: A toy battery with a "+" and a "-".
- What it means: The car isn't charging the battery. The problem isn't the battery itself but, almost certainly, the alternator, which has decided to retire.
- Panic Level (0 to 10): 8. You're driving on borrowed time. Switch off the radio, the air conditioning, and avoid using the wipers. Head straight to the mechanic before the car simply shuts off in the middle of a roundabout.
4. The "Thermometer in the Soup" (Temperature Light) 🌡️🔴
- Colour: Red
- What it looks like: A thermometer dipping into little waves.
- What it means: Your car has a serious fever. The coolant may have vanished or the radiator has packed up.
- Panic Level (0 to 10): 9. Pull over as soon as you can. Don't open the bonnet straight away and never open the coolant cap with the engine boiling (you risk landing in A&E with burns). Let it cool down and call a tow truck.
5. The "Pot Full of Air" (Tyre Pressure) 🏺🟡
- Colour: Yellow
- What it looks like: A deflated balloon or an open pot with an exclamation mark inside.
- What it means: You have one (or more) tyres with pressure too low.
- Panic Level (0 to 10): 3. No need to cry, but you should head to the nearest petrol station. A flat tyre burns more fuel, wears out the rubber, and if it has a real puncture, you'll be stranded.
And When You're Flying Off? Your Car Deserves Some Peace (And a Service!)
Dealing with dashboard lights is stressful enough day to day. Now imagine going on holiday for 15 days, leaving your car parked on some random street near the airport, and when you come back you turn the key and see all of this flashing because the battery froze to death (or the tyres deflated).
Don't do that to your machine.
If you're travelling, drive your car to airport Departures and hand us the keys. The Multipark crew takes care of it and parks it in an enclosed, secure, monitored facility.
And the best part? If your car needs some TLC or had one of those annoying yellow lights flicker on before the trip, we sort it out! Thanks to our excellent partnerships, we can use the days you're away to fix small issues, handle the service, take the car to its inspection (MOT), and even deal with boring paperwork like vehicle registration ownership transfers.
You go and sip margaritas on the beach and we deal with the queues, the mechanic, and the paperwork.
When you come back, the only light you'll see on the dashboard is the courtesy light welcoming you when our Valet Parking driver hands the car over at the terminal door, spotless and ready to roll.
Avoid scares and save time. Check your Valet Parking quote at Multipark and head off on holiday with your head (and your engine) at peace!
