lower coolant lvl light?

[paintballpyro1]

So my low coolent light came on and it wasnt all that low but i still added some and restarted my car and light went off and then after 2-3min of driving it came back on and the level was still fine. Am i right to assume that sensor on the bottom of the reservoir is broke? I took the tank off and cleaned it out and cleaned the float(which floats just fine btw) Im just trying to figure out if thats whats wrong since ford only sells the tank and sensor as a hole and cant be seperated. Thanks

 

[joshjwc9]

What year is the car?

I think that the 99 and up cars each have the sensor detect the concentration of coolant to water mix, and if it is off enough the light will trip, also, a heavy detail under the hood will throw off the sensor and make it go off.

Also, does your intake have the correct crossover?

 

[paintballpyro1]

I have the updated intake since the one with a plastic crossover broke. It just started doing this today after driving for 45min.

 

[98COBRA281]

mine got a little moisture in it, and it came on, spray a little wd-40 on the connection

 

[paintballpyro1]

O yea its a 96 gt btw.

Ill try using some wd-40 on the connection.I started the car after letting it sit for 5 hours and still within 1min of the car being on the light pops up.

I heard someone said it could be a blown headgasket but what are the signs? The car doesnt smoke,leak or burning fluid(which im surprised with 160k)

 

[joshjwc9]

A blown headgasket is a big problem, how is the car running? Check the oil or start pulling plug wires in your case to see if there is no change in idle, then that would be the cylinder that isn't firing.

No CEL codes?

 

[paintballpyro1]

Nope no codes, only one i think i have gotten is po1443 or something like that. Other then that the car runs fine, at times it seems like its down on power but thats it. Pulling 1 plug at a time wont hurt the car will it?

 

[squeak93]

U really need to do a compression and leak down test to see if thats a prob. U can have a blown head gasket and not have oil and water mixing. It could of blown in between cylinders or a water jacket could of blown.

Is there any smell of coolant?

 

[paintballpyro1]

Nope no smell of coolant

 

[Jinx]

Are the '96s different from the '95s?? When mom had her 95 the sensor was designed into the cap (I think). Anyway, hers was doing the same thing, I just took a soft wire brush and cleaned the contacts and it was good to go (no more coolant light)

 

[paintballpyro1]

i believe they are, mine has the sensor on the bottom of the overflow/reservoir tank. I looked at the connector on mine and took a hairdyer and kinda dried the sensor(had a little water on it) and its contacts as well as the plug end and took the plug apart and scraped the contacts and ran it for 2-3min and the light didnt come on but havent let it run and just tried again just let it run while i walked to the mailbox down a couple houses(like 5min) and light still didnt come on so maybe it was just water? cause it was raining a bit and there were some big puddles(pretty decent) i drove through.

 

[squeak93]

95-96=totally different set ups and motors.