coolant light on/off.

ben g · Post by **ben g** » Sat Apr 14, 2012 6:08 pm

last couple of days my coolant light has came on, but went off after a while.

at first i thought it was the screenwash light as i don't have an owners manual, so ignored it.

checked coolant level today and it looked quite low, so topped up with water.

only thing i don't understand is the stick float thing that i've seen in pictures, doesn't seem to be present on mine.

heres a photo of mine to show what i mean:

whats the white thing and is the float in the middle of it?

cheers, Ben.

philip27 · Post by **philip27** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 12:40 pm

Looks to me like the float is missing. I dont think it just drops inside when the coolant level is low.

Oakandacorns · Post by **Oakandacorns** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 4:01 pm

Mine doesn't look like that. Can't take a picture right now as at the office. Mine has a float.

With respect to low level, even if coolant is low, guess there is a place at the bottom where the float will sit (because the pipe leads to the tank? And you wouldn't want the float to go walkies). Just making a presumption.

VvrooomM · Post by **VvrooomM** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 4:14 pm

Dashboard lights now an MOT fail whereas they used to be an advisory!!

Thats gonna hurt unless people start taking the bulbs out!!

Tapatalking on my iPhone.......

mrlozzer · Post by **mrlozzer** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 4:38 pm

VvrooomM wrote:Dashboard lights now an MOT fail whereas they used to be an advisory!!

Does that depend on the age of the car? Our old Suzuki 4x4 has had a faulty EGR valve for a while - nothing major, but it caused the engine warning light on the dash to be lit up. Just gone through its MOT without even an advisory....

VvrooomM · Post by **VvrooomM** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 5:24 pm

Might be 30th April but thought it was 1st but then might relate to abs / airbag. Only read it this morning but got a memory like a spoon or is it sieve??

Tapatalking on my iPhone.......

ben g · Post by **ben g** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 7:08 pm

the dash light has gone off after i added some water, so no worries there.

just don't know where my float has disappeared to

miln0039 · Post by **miln0039** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 9:59 am

ben g wrote:the dash light has gone off after i added some water, so no worries there.

just don't know where my float has disappeared to

My light has been flickering on / off for the first 30 seconds of a couple of journeys recently then vanishing.

I guess a little water added won't sufficiently dilute the coolant in there so I will do that this evening!

paddy wright · Post by **paddy wright** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 11:12 am

I think your float has gone right down- mine did this when I had a thermostat problem- I added lots of coolent and it came back up, eventually had a new thermostat under warrenty!

bcworkz · Post by **bcworkz** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 6:51 pm

The white thing IS the float. The black tab is a guide/retainer to prevent the thing from being pulled out and lost. You're just missing the little guide post. As long as the coolant is at or just below the black tab, or a couple cm lower when cold, coolant level is fine.

ben g · Post by **ben g** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 7:57 pm

old thread

the tank had a crack in it, got it replaced and have a nice little level thing now.

endautrestermes · Post by **endautrestermes** » Wed Dec 26, 2012 1:23 pm

hi guys, old thread back on track

I've had a similar problem on my zed 2.5i 2003 here, the coolant light keeps coming back from time to time: off when I start, 5miles later gets on for 15min, then off, on...

The difference here: my coolant level is full... is this just a dashboard/light failure, or is there a leak somewhere? I haven't witness anything like a leak, the coolant level being constant...

need help

cheers!

endautrestermes · Post by **endautrestermes** » Fri Dec 28, 2012 1:04 pm

sorry for the early up, the more I drive with this light, the more I get anxious

anyone knows?

Stuart Truman · Post by **Stuart Truman** » Fri Dec 28, 2012 2:03 pm

It could be as simple as a sensor. Is the car misbehaving in any way? Running rough etc?

Before anything else, see if the wire has come off the sensor. Although I don't know the zed specifically, a lot of these work by grounding the line when they overheat, so if the wire comes off and is flapping around it will short and the light will come on. I'd expect that to cause flickering on and off though.

If you're not losing coolant, it's a good sign. Couple of things to check to try and rule out the obvious expensive things:

No sign of oil contamination in the coolant?
No sign of mayo in the oil filler cap?

Both the above possible head gasket fail but don't panic, mayo can also come from short journeys

What's the temp gauge doing? (although iirc that's oil temp)

Also check for an air lock in the coolant, maybe bleed it?

If the coolant and oil look clean and no airlock, the next steps I'd look at would be a potentially duff sensor, then possibly an early fail sign on the thermostat (eg it's opening and closing but at the wrong temps)

Also get a compression test done to rule out the head gasket.

Good luck!

endautrestermes · Post by **endautrestermes** » Fri Dec 28, 2012 7:26 pm

ok thanks a bunch, will check all these and come back!

cheers!

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