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Empty coolant reserv & Low temp reading???

  • Thread starter Thread starter escbsap
  • Start date Start date Jul 1, 2011
E

escbsap

New Member
Mar 12, 2008
19
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2
California
Jul 1, 2011
#1
  • Jul 1, 2011
  • #1
Hello everyone, I did some searching for other posts, but nothing related directly to my issue. Ill be as short as possible, but to the point. My mostly stock 89 5.0 conv, does not seem to be reading the engine temp, so I think. When in the city or on the highway, the temp gauge reads extremely low, so low that the needle drops out of sight!!!. However, when the car is off and sitting for a while, I noticed that the needle does read a temp, it fluctuates, but as soon as I turn the engine on the needle drops way below like I mentioned above, very strange since we normally hit triple digit heat here in CA. Another thing I notice, and I don't know if they are related to one another, but my coolant reserv is empty, and not recently but for a while now, when I peek inside the reserv tank it looks like it hasn't had any fluid for a while now, dried up rust mostly. My low coolant warning light does not come on in my dash when obviously it should. Any suggestions would be great, thanks, and Happy Fourth!!!
 

4rdnut

Member
Dec 14, 2010
188
1
16
Jul 2, 2011
#2
  • Jul 2, 2011
  • #2
take your radiator cap off and put coolant in all the way to the top, put cap back on and fill your overflow tank to the cold line. engines like coolant in them.
 
B

BerniniCaCO3

New Member
Jun 28, 2011
18
0
1
Jul 2, 2011
#3
  • Jul 2, 2011
  • #3
2nd that!
If you can't trust your sensors, at least make sure you're not running it hot or even seriously overheating it every time you drive!
Next time it's been sitting a little, pour some coolant straight into the radiator. Hopefully, it'll fill up very quickly, meaning you haven't been driving all this time without coolant!
Then fill the reservoir to the cold mark.

After you know you have coolant and know you can probably drive it,
Then I guess just swap the sensors out and see what happens.
I presume the coolant level sensor is in the overflow tank, often is. Obviously that didn't work for you, if you have one (I don't on my car). The temperature sensor is one of the two sensors in the lower intake in the front of the engine. One's for the computer, one's for you, I don't know which is which. It's right on top, I'd have to check and see how hard they are to get to. I think you can probably get your socket in between the distributor and the upper intake and pull them without pulling a bunch of other things.

Since you were wondering. I don't know exactly how they work, but I think many of the gauges use coiled wire around the needle and the magnetic field generated by the voltage running through those wires. The sensors themselves are often variable resistors, if they're true sensors and not switches, so they vary the voltage running to the coiled wire around the gauge's needle. How much force this generates must oppose either a spring or a fixed magnet to then show you your reading.
I just installed an oil pressure gauge that's being fed with 10V and not the 13+V you get when an alternator is running. Unsurprisingly, it reads low as a result.

But anyway, I also had the instrument cluster removed for some other work, and when there's no power to it, the needles can flop around any way they like; temperature, speedometer, etc.
What it says when the engine is off and there's no power to the gauge is really meaningless.
It might still work with the key in accessory though-- if the gauge gets power then.
 

Mustang5L5

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell
Mod Dude
Feb 18, 2001
43,177
17,879
224
Massachusetts
Jul 2, 2011
#4
  • Jul 2, 2011
  • #4
Unless this is an 89gt...you don't have a low coolant light.


But, sounds like there is no coolant. So, with a cold engine, take the cap off and fill it with 50/50 coolant mix. Then fill the overflow to cold fill mark. Then drive and monitor the levels and make sure you don't have a leak.
 
E

escbsap

New Member
Mar 12, 2008
19
0
2
California
Jul 2, 2011
#5
  • Jul 2, 2011
  • #5
thanks, everyone for your suggestions, I will follow them step by step.
 

5.0TailPipeHump

Member
Dec 5, 2006
153
0
17
Jul 2, 2011
#6
  • Jul 2, 2011
  • #6
Yep check this sensor on your intake , i had my gauge that had crazy movement, just cleaned it up and made sure it had good contact.
 
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