Low coolant light issues hopefully resolved!

[Bad89coupe]

Well It is now 4:45 PM EST and I extracted the radiator, had it power washed, and cleaned, and cleaned out about 2 pounds of dead leaves between the condenser and the radiator. Put it all back together and filled it with new coolant and it bubbled over all over the place! Watta mess! Let it cool down and replaced the thermostat with a new one, and bled the system. I am waiting for the delivery of a 17 lb radiator cap, because it is a hard thing to get around these parts! One place said they could get it, but it would be a couple of hours, that was at 10:30 AM! I just called and they said it was on it's way. I will replace that as well and see if that will help. Seems to be holding steady with the AC on at 191-193 degrees idling. I noticed when the accelerator was pushed, and the RPM's up the coolant went lower, looked like even below the sensor on the radiator, that may have been a problem as well, not getting enough of the green stuff in there. So I won't know exaclty until I drive it if the light will stay off once and for all. But I am hoping! Looks like it did need a tstat, and the leaf cleaning was good too. It was supirsingly clean for a daily driver, I was impressed. Let see if this works, will keep all who are interested posted on the results! Also a big thank you to all who offered suggestions of the cure for this problem with the low cooloant light and the running hot thing!

 

[Magmotor]

I to cleand inbetween the radiatiors and couldn't beleive what I found. I pulled 4 grocery bags off the radiator and cleaned out at least 2 inches of mulch on the bottom. So here's a little something I did to eliminate the grocery bags from getting inside the compartment. It's 1/4" mesh attached to the plastic housing around the air induct opening underneath the front bumper. Easy to install w/o damageing anything. I check it daily and have not found one thing stuck to it, so far. I can monitor the temp gauge incase that happens and just pull over and pull it off. Knowing that it didn't get inbetween the rads is a great comfort and just pulling it off the wire mesh is a lot easier than pulling the shroud off. I've been running like this for a month now with no effect on the MAF or fuel mixture. I bought the EASE OBD1 software and installed in on my laptop and monitor the entire engine system twice a week. Everything looks good...

Hope your probelm is solved now...!

 

[elkabong]

One other important item is to burp the cooling system. This is accomplished by pinching and releasing the upper radiator hose while the car is running and you are adding fluids. Another mod that I found on the CrossFire Injection Forum (I have a 84 X-Fire - good stuff there) was to drill a small hole in the thermostat housing (see attached picture). This allows any air pockets trapped in the block to escape. Air pockets will not allow the engine to cool properly. I did it when I replaced my radiator and it worked great. Something to think about. I drilled a 1/16 inch hole.


They also have a pretty good writeup on cooling in their Tech section.

Here is the link to the Tune Up section. The thermostat item is towards the bottom.
http://www.crossfire.homeip.net:81/cftest/faq.asp

 

[vms4evr]

I bought the EASE OBD1 software and installed in on my laptop and monitor the entire engine system twice a week. Everything looks good...

magmotor,
Tell me more about the EASE OBD1 software/tool. How well does it work, cost, where to get it? My wife has a laptop now so I can borrow it when needed.

Thanks, graham

 

[Magmotor]

vms-4evr
Here's the link to Ease home page. The cost for the OBD1 is $315. <84-95> I find it a most useful tool with my '89. The first time I used it gave me DCT's codes I didn't even know were there. Also told me I am running Lean. I need a new MAF but I knew that cuase I fried it a couple of days ago. You can save the scans so I plan on monitoring the car weekly to catch anything that might be going south before it happens. I highly recomend it for those who need to know what's going on underneath that hood..!!

http://www.obd2.com/

 

[vms4evr]

Cool! Thanks for the info. I'll check it out. I guess I'll have to add this to my Xmas list cause I already blew my play money on front end parts and tires...
Graham

 

[trrgod]

You do need to burp the system according to the manual and make sure you then fill the coolant level all the way to the top again.

 

[trrgod]

Also, it is a good idea to clean the low coolant temp sensor. On my 89 it is easy. I also always rough up the connection with sand paper to make sure of a gook connection. I have had the low coolant light come on and the system was full and doing this fixed it.