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Add coolant light won't go off

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Old 01-30-05 | 12:37 PM
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UnderConstruction7's Avatar
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From: Orlando, Fl
Unhappy Add coolant light won't go off

As the title says, the light in the center panel won't go off. The buzzer also comes on. Would anybody happen to know what could be causing this because I added coolant/water already & it still comes on. Could it be because of the thermostat? I haven't opened it up to look at it yet because if I open it up, I might as well replace it. I was think the thermo because it doesn't come on instantly. At times it will come on about 10-20 seconds after i've started up the motor. Other times it doesn't come on at all. The temp. guage doesn't really leave the cold mark or I haven't run it long enough for it to get all toasty inside the bay...

If someone can clue me in, please do.
Antaous
Old 01-30-05 | 12:42 PM
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mine used to do the same thing, i just replaced the thermostat, got inside the gauge cluster and unpluged the buzzer. but if you do that you have to keep an eye on the coolant level.
Old 01-30-05 | 12:51 PM
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DC350's Avatar
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Now what happens if your car Does need coolant? haha


Also my car does the same ****** thing.... But mine loses coolant too.I'm beggining to think its the coolant seals in the turbo

Last edited by DC350; 01-30-05 at 01:01 PM.
Old 01-30-05 | 12:54 PM
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i have coolant behind my seat. all the time. i also have gas and a tow rope. i like to drift on country highway intersections.
Old 01-30-05 | 12:54 PM
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my car did the same exact thing, then it blew up a week later. It blew cause the coolant seal on the front iron broke letting oil mix with the antifreeze. Pray you dont have the same problem
Old 01-30-05 | 12:56 PM
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i have been burning a little coolant for about 6 months now, with the buzzer off. no problems, just the occational refill of coolant.
Old 01-30-05 | 01:15 PM
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either get your self a new coolant level sensor or ground yours, its the sensor on top of the rad. Just make sure you watch the coolant level.
Old 01-30-05 | 01:56 PM
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Did you remove the bleed screw from the neck while filling it? Sounds like theres an air pocket
Old 01-30-05 | 03:58 PM
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Sounds like his coolent sensor is fine Because of the fact he said it takes 20 some seconds after starting car for it to start buzzing, When i blew Heater hose last week(30 dalla part) after replacing it there was air in the system and took a few drives to get it all out, By buzzer would start buzzing Right as i turn the key on, i had to ad water like 4 times to get it to stay off, when the car is running Just Unscrew that black plastic screw at the top near the cap let the air out. put water in the resivor should suck water up insted of air.
Old 01-30-05 | 04:37 PM
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Originally Posted by Defiant FC3S
mine used to do the same thing, i just replaced the thermostat, got inside the gauge cluster and unpluged the buzzer. but if you do that you have to keep an eye on the coolant level.
Please either plug the buzzer back in and fix the problem with you're cooling system, or sell you car to someone who will take care of it. That buzzer is there for a very, very good reason. DO NOT disable it.

86J: Take note of the above advice.

Underconstruction7: Replace the thermostat, make sure you bleed the air out. Then pressure check the cooling system. If that doesn't find/solve the problem, then do a search for "blown coolant seal" and "geyser test". Pray you don't have that problem. Also check the radiator for cold spots, it might be blocked.
Old 02-01-05 | 10:01 AM
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mines did the same thing. what i do is after filling the radiator close the cap and pour some coolant in the water pump. ur thermo may not let in fluid so check that. it blew my water thermo senor and thermo went bad. i took my thermo off - problem solved.
Old 02-01-05 | 10:21 AM
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A ruptured coolant seal in the turbo creates an incredible amount of white smoke out the exhaust. (broke my turbo shaft last summer)
Check your radiator cap. I have had mine go bad and not hold enough pressure.
Old 02-01-05 | 10:22 AM
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The connection of the sensor may be bad...if it isn't grounded it will go off constantly.
Old 02-01-05 | 11:06 AM
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Originally Posted by jon88se
The connection of the sensor may be bad...if it isn't grounded it will go off constantly.
Yeah but in this case, it would be on as soon as he started the car... not 20 seconds later.

He just has air bubbles in the system and it needs to be properlly bled.

The absolute last possible thing he would ever want to do it disconnect the buzzer or just ground the wire. Both those then prevent the buzzer from working as intended and often lead to engine replacement.
Old 02-01-05 | 11:25 AM
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My buzzer was going off constantly until I did a full flush of the system. Also replace the all hoses and radiator cap while I was at it. No more buzzing!
Old 02-01-05 | 12:08 PM
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Originally Posted by Icemark
Yeah but in this case, it would be on as soon as he started the car... not 20 seconds later.

He just has air bubbles in the system and it needs to be properlly bled.

The absolute last possible thing he would ever want to do it disconnect the buzzer or just ground the wire. Both those then prevent the buzzer from working as intended and often lead to engine replacement.
On my car (the sensor does work) there is one wire @ the top of the radiator - if it isn't connected the sensor won't work. Is that power for the sensor? I guess I thought it was ground.
Old 02-01-05 | 12:30 PM
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Well it's stopped, no more buzzing. No more add coolant light. My guess was the bubbles in the coolant/radiator. Oddly enough I didn't do anything, it just stopped. That's one step I don't have to worry about much more.

Now for my little idle problem, it goes to 1.5K one time, no idle at others, and good idle at other times. Would changing my plugs, wires, and having my injectors cleaned fix that. Only reason I ask is because I'm planning on doing it anyway withing the coming weeks. l was looking at an RX site and they mentioned Redline injector cleaner. Has anybody used this before? If so, how were the results afterwards?

Thanks for the help everyone, it is greatly appriciated
Antaous
Old 02-06-05 | 08:47 PM
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can someone be more descriptive on how to properly bleed the air bubbles?
maybe a picture of where the screw is located?
Old 02-06-05 | 09:29 PM
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i was driving my 10th AE home the other day and the buzzer went off, kinda scared me so once i got home i checked the level of coolant and it was right at the top, so i checked the sensor it wasnt really connected all the way and i hooked it up a bit better for a better connection and i havent had the buzzer go of since.
Old 02-06-05 | 11:59 PM
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Originally Posted by jon88se
On my car (the sensor does work) there is one wire @ the top of the radiator - if it isn't connected the sensor won't work. Is that power for the sensor? I guess I thought it was ground.
That wire is the sensor. It grounds through the coolant to the engine.

so, no coolant=no ground= buzzer going off, light coming on.
Old 02-08-05 | 09:38 AM
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i have a 89 gtu doing the same thing im going to go get a service right now see if that fixes the problem i hope so cuz im broke and cant afford a bigger issue with this annoying but cool car of mine
Old 02-22-11 | 02:03 PM
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I just went through this. Initially I bought some distilled water and opened the radiator. She barely took a quarter cup of water. Since our cars have absolutely zero margin for overheating I parked it and scheduled an appointment at the shop.

Monday morning I get up early to bring it to the shop. Pop the radiator cap open again to double check the level. It looks fine. I start out for the drive to Hayward. Shoot onto the highway and I spot vapor in my slipstream in my rear view mirror. Then boom I'm a a comet. Streaming steam like some wounded Japanese zero going down. Hood almost completely obscured. Oh crap,,, images of blown side seals dance in my head. I shut down exit immediately then dove under the hood. To my relief the car had spat it's radiator cap off thus the massive volume of steam. Two jugs of distilled water later I'm back on the road. Left the car at the shop for a pressure test and check up. The spectre of a blown motor looms heavily on my heart. I try to distract myself exploring the east bay then call the shop expecting the worst. "You had a bad radiator cap." LMAO $25 part. It was as if my car was trying to tell me "It's my radiator cap stupid!" when I was driving to the shop.

$25 radiator cap stopped my buzzer.

.
Old 02-22-11 | 08:13 PM
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My first 86 s4 did that all the time,fluid levels were cool, then as some one else said my motor blew . It would always startup though then in 5-10 mins. on idle it would overheat. removed thermostat it ran fine then kept overheating, someone said my side seals were gone rebuild time. My second s4 an 87 only had that problem when I didn't bleed it right, My heater core hose blew one day so the replacement hose I bought was longer than stock I lived in an apartment at the time and couldn't work on it like I wanted, so coolent would build up in the extra inches of hose only when I used my heater then light and buzzer came on as soon as the coolent cycled it was fine. Thats just what happened to me its always a scare when that add coolent and buzzer come on so get it checked
Old 02-23-11 | 04:01 AM
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Just over 6 years. Impressive.
Old 02-23-11 | 07:14 AM
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^^Yeah, took me a sec... I was starting to wonder how Icemark was posting in this thread...


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