low coolant light

[Marcrs]

had the light come on a while ago, it was a tad low, but not too bad...so I flushed and changed the coolant, and all was well...
 
went over to a friends at the weekend, and on the way back the coolant light came on...then went off...and then back on again...drove for quite a few miles with an intermittent coolant light
 
anyone suffered a similar problem? any advice as to what I should do?

[od404]

Could just be air still in the coolant system. Mine has done it before, usually I just top it up and do my best to get as much air out as possible. As long as your temps haven\'t risen then you\'ll be ok. Best to carry a little bit of water in the car for such an event.

[captainbizzaro]

Mine randomly starts chiming every now and again, literally a tablespoon of water shuts it up. I too just carry a 2.5l can of distilled water just in case.

[Marcrs]

I was carrying water, but as it didn\'t come on for 1000 miles after the service, I stopped, \'cos I thought it was fixed...
 
the level in the expansion tank is just over the full mark...?

[David Nock (RIP)]

Squidge the top and bottom hoses a bit with the filler cap off (Engine cold) to get all possible air up into the neck of the filler cap; top up the space in the top of the Rad so\'s no air\'s left at all and put the filler cap back on. Expansion bottle wants to be at the full mark cold.
Don\'t forget you want proper coolant in Rad AND expansion bottle if it\'s staying in for the winter.
Very unlikely any damage done if the cooling system is just settling down after a change. The coolant sensor is right in the top of the radiator so only a minute bit of air upsets it.
Did you perhaps put the heater on coming back from friends? (That would possibly release a little air into the system).

[Marcrs]

I\'ll check and fill later when I get home - I couldn\'t check the rad level itself the other night as it was hot
It\'s all full of a good coolant mix...I was more worried that it couldn\'t draw any in from the expansion tank or something, but it does seem to flow through...
 
I\'ve used the heater on and off all the time since the service (which is about 1600 miles or so now)...I think it was just off the cold setting on Monday
 
I did see the sensor at the top of the rad - thought about the possibility of dodgy wiring or connections up there too...if they fail would the light come on, or would it not work? I\'ll try it disconnected if I can, see what happens???
 
blimmin cars...I don\'t have a single car without some sort of problem! Stops me getting bored I suppose

[shaunwil]

If your not loosing coolant then check that the sensor is properly grounded. It is triggered when the ground it lost through the coolant. I grounded the sensor when swapping to an alloy rad, then didn\'t re connect when I swapped back to the stock one !

Shaun

[David Nock (RIP)]

Shaun\'s got a point, maybe the wiring is disturbed.

I would say though that our FB takes a day or two to settle down and get all the little pockets of trapped air out after a change. Alarm goes off just as you\'ve described.
I just squidge the pipes as said above then after a day or so you\'re good to go for another couple of years. It\'s all part of the fun.

[David Nock (RIP)]

And while I was on my \'ols I got to thinking about why your coolant light came on in the first place.
Is it OK now or is it loosing maybe a little coolant every week?
If it is loosing slightly, just stand at the nearside wing and look over behind the carburetor, down at the bottom where the inlet manifold joins the engine.
There are 2 smallish rubber \'O\' rings in the manifold joint, placed in the water ports that heat the manifold. After many years they harden up and can leak coolant - the first sign of this is \'ponding\' of coolant in the casting hollows where I said.
Usually it\'s the expansion bottle dropping that\'s the 1st sign of this kind of thing.
Straightforward fix but very important as you cannot allow the coolant level to get too low on these engines.
If you\'re OK now then good, just wanted to be sure.

[A7RXY]

David next time take a good book on your hols .................. btw have a nice time, I was not that far away on Rodos ...............

[Marcrs]

Well, we went for a drive to Folkestone yesterday, and there was no sign of the coolant light. The level seems fine...maybe it is a wiring problem?

[David Nock (RIP)]

David next time take a good book on your hols .................. btw have a nice time, I was not that far away on Rodos ...............

Hot, hot, hot eh Dibs

You can forget me with Apexi\'s, Coil Overs, Wheel Offsets, Turbo Boost and all the rest of that gobblygook..... But when it comes to figuring why the old FB won\'t make it all the way to the local chippie, I\'m your man.    :rolleyes: