"low coolant" light problem

95riosnake · Apr 30, 2005

Lately when my car has sat for a while (like 8 hours or more), the "low coolant" light will come on when I start the car and will stay on till the car is shut off. I'll drive the car 10 minutes to where I am going, then 5 minutes later when I go to leave, I'll start the car up and there will be no "low coolant" light...

What could be causing this? The temp gauge isn't above normal operating temp, and the radiator overflow shows my coolant at the right level...

Any help is appreciated

StL3GTJLH · Apr 30, 2005

what about your actual radiator, is it full? I was having a similar problem and it ended up being the bypass hose and one other hose right next to it were leaking, i replaced them and now no problems!

95riosnake · Apr 30, 2005

I'll give that a try...thanks

HISSIN50 · Apr 30, 2005

if the level is alright, pull the sensor out of the overflow bottle and clean it. most of them that have never been cleaned are filthy.

good luck.

MadHandle8169 · Apr 30, 2005

Are you supposed to fill the reservoir completely up because there is a black magic marker line drawn in the middle of mine.

mo_dingo · Apr 30, 2005

MadHandle8169 said:
Are you supposed to fill the reservoir completely up because there is a black magic marker line drawn in the middle of mine.

No, it's not supposed to be 100% full. There are two lines on the bottle (raised lines on the plastic. One is warm, one is cold.

I would try this. Remove the overflow bottle cap and pull the sensor out of the bottle. Clean the connectors and take a piece of bare wire and short out the two tabs. The coolant light should turn off if you start the car. If it doesn't, you have a wiring problem at the sensor. All it does is run current into one wire, and if the water is there, it will pass the current through the other tab. Nothing fancy.
Scott

urban96 · Apr 30, 2005

mo_dingo said:
No, it's not supposed to be 100% full. There are two lines on the bottle (raised lines on the plastic. One is warm, one is cold.

I would try this. Remove the overflow bottle cap and pull the sensor out of the bottle. Clean the connectors and take a piece of bare wire and short out the two tabs. The coolant light should turn off if you start the car. If it doesn't, you have a wiring problem at the sensor. All it does is run current into one wire, and if the water is there, it will pass the current through the other tab. Nothing fancy.
Scott

i had the same problems, cleaned the little metal prong looking things and no more problem

95riosnake · Apr 30, 2005

mo_dingo said:
No, it's not supposed to be 100% full. There are two lines on the bottle (raised lines on the plastic. One is warm, one is cold.

I would try this. Remove the overflow bottle cap and pull the sensor out of the bottle. Clean the connectors and take a piece of bare wire and short out the two tabs. The coolant light should turn off if you start the car. If it doesn't, you have a wiring problem at the sensor. All it does is run current into one wire, and if the water is there, it will pass the current through the other tab. Nothing fancy.
Scott

Cool, I'll give that a shot once it stops raining outside so I can pop the hood lol. I can't wait to go home and have a garage again!

95riosnake · May 1, 2005

did it today and worked like a charm! thanks guys

94Silverbullet · May 1, 2005

when this happened to mine, all I did was added antifreeze to the cold line before I started the car and the problem went away.

tderrick · May 2, 2005

This seemed to happen to all of us at about the same time. After 10 years or so, the contacts on the sensor just got corroded.

95riosnake · May 2, 2005

tderrick said:
This seemed to happen to all of us at about the same time. After 10 years or so, the contacts on the sensor just got corroded.

yea, there was a bunch of black nasty sh** all over the contacts

"low coolant" light problem

95riosnake

Member

StL3GTJLH

New Member

95riosnake

Member

HISSIN50

"How long does it take to get help in here?

MadHandle8169

mo_dingo

urban96

bubb rubb says:"woo woooooo"

95riosnake

Member

95riosnake

Member

94Silverbullet

Member

tderrick

Member

95riosnake

Member

Similar threads

"low coolant" light problem

Member

New Member

Member

"How long does it take to get help in here?

bubb rubb says:"woo woooooo"

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Similar threads

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency