My wife calling about car problems:
She: Hey the car is running funny and there are a couple of lights on the dash
Me: Which ones are they?
She: I don't know, one is red
Me: What do they look like?
She: One is a picture of a house with a chimney and wavy lines.
Me:...?
She: The other one is a yellow dot next to a gauge with a thermometer.
Me: How high is the gauge?
She: All the way up.
Me: How long has it been like this?
She: At least a few miles now, but I'm almost home.
Me: Well the car is screwed anyway, might as well get it in the garage.
What happened was, a (plastic) radiator fitting sheared off so it quickly ran out of coolant and gave her a red picture of a house on the dash.
The temperature gauge pegged and the car overheated, and when I replaced the radiator all that was left was about one measuring cup worth of coolant. I have no idea how the car survived, but 7 years later it's still fine.