coolant light on/off.

[ben g]

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]

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

 

[Oakandacorns]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

 

[endautrestermes]

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]

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

anyone knows?

 

[Stuart Truman]

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]

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

cheers!

 

[endautrestermes]

so far, I can reply to these:

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

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

What's the temp gauge doing? (although iirc that's oil temp) Stable in normal temperature

not sure how to check this though:

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.

by sensor, do you mean the little stick floating when removing the cap? or do you mean something electronic? ok I'll go look if I see any wire, just that I don't know where it could be

I'll check and come back, thanks again!

 

[Stuart Truman]

The sensor is electronic. There will be a wire from it. No idea where it is though. Anyone?

Bleeding the system is probably next then I'd check with a dealer or indie on the cost of the sensor and thermostat, I'm more inclined towards the sensor and its probably the cheaper option.

Is the heater operating normally?

 

[slick]

The low coolant sensor is in the bottom of the expansion tank

 

[Marius]

The sensor is electronic. There will be a wire from it. No idea where it is though. Anyone?

Bleeding the system is probably next then I'd check with a dealer or indie on the cost of the sensor and thermostat, I'm more inclined towards the sensor and its probably the cheaper option.

Is the heater operating normally?

the sensors is on the bottom of the coolant tank , don't visible from the top,need to remove undertray to gain the access

 

[endautrestermes]

The sensor is electronic. There will be a wire from it. No idea where it is though. Anyone?

Bleeding the system is probably next then I'd check with a dealer or indie on the cost of the sensor and thermostat, I'm more inclined towards the sensor and its probably the cheaper option.

Is the heater operating normally?

the sensors is on the bottom of the coolant tank , don't visible from the top,need to remove undertray to gain the access

thank you very much all, I'll check this sensor, see what happen

the heater is functionning ok, although the aircon is a bit weaker than it used to be (but that's something I noticed way before the coolant light problem)