He car is a 98 Formula. The light glows after 10 minutes of driving. The overflow coolant is full. Anyone have this problem? Is there a sensor somewhere that may have malfunctioned? Thanks.

 

Is there coolant in your radiator?
You may need to top if off and check level again to see if its low due to a leak.



PS: is there really a low coolant light on all fbodies or is it just a pontiac thing?
I'm chasing leaking coolant issues myself n would like to know where to look for this light in cluster?

 

Yes, the radiator was the first thing I opened. It was full. So I went to check the overflow tank, it was a little low, but not enough (I would think) to set off the light. So, i filled it up anyways, the light was turned off, but went down the road and it came back on. I am assuning this light means low coolant.

 

i would bet that it is either gummed up or needs to be replaced.

 

What is gummed up and needs to be replaced?

 

The low coolant sensor gets dirty and causes a false reading. It's on the passenger side close to the battery. Easy fix if you don't want to drain any coolant just unplug it and the light will go off

 

Before you go unplugging anything, try cleaning the sensor , make sure you aren't loosing coolant if any.

 

bigj2717 & bad_408_vert

Thank you, this was the type of answer I was looking for. I wanted to make sure there was a sensor before I started unplugging stuff. Now that I know where it is located, I can check and clean hopefully it just needs to be cleaned.

 

So, I woke up this morning thinking i better get to work on the car before the sweltering heat comes rolling through. (I live in Texas) Pop the hood found the connector that goes to the sensor and commenced to spraying it out with QD Electric cleaner. Both sides of the connector. The male end was easy as when I disconnected it, it freely moves around. The female part of the plug was not hard, but I had to put my car up on the rhino ramps to get a good angle ( I guess its the con of having your car lowered) Anyways, I got that sprayed nice and good. Went to plug in the connector and off I went. I knew if the light was gonna turn on, it would do it within a couple of minutes of driving down the road. I kept waiting and waiting and it didnt come on, I was thinking "It couldnt be that easy, could it?" After coming back out of the store, turned on the vehicle and came back home. No light, no problems. The moral of this story is QD ELECTRIC CLEANER KICKS ***!! Along with those persons who replied to my problem. Thanks!

 

Many times the problem is the sensor itself. I fixed mine last week. Took it out of the radiator, plugged it, took sandpaper to the inside untill all crud was out. Washed it with soapy water and plugged it back in. Viola no more problems.

 

Ditto, almost like a once a season thing, they get all crud-ed up...or just unplug it and forget it.

 

Scratch that. I think the cleaning only delayed the light coming on. I made another trip today, this time the light came on again. I am guessing I want to remove the sensor and clean it up a bit. Couple of questions. A. How do I do it. B. will there be any leakage because I remove it?

 

I don't think i have a low coolant light??? was it only on certain years?

 

It will gush out. There is a little wire clip holding it in. Hard to explain but it won't come out with out removing the clip first. I had a rubber cone that happened to fit perfect so I didn't loose coolant. It's maybe a one inch hole in the radiator. If you loose some just buy some coolant you won't loose much.

I had a feeling you didn't fix it, but wanted to wait it out. The sensor is a funny little guy and will work fine untill it gets pretty hot.

And no the later f-bodies do not have the sensor. Only the 98 and 99s had it. Maybe the 2000's, but I'm not sure on that year.

 

My 96 has a sensor... and I have to get around to cleaning mine to try to fix it

 

Yea - the bad sensor will behave differently with temperature.

Some people will tell you that you don't need the sensor - which I don't believe to be true. Its there to keep you from introducing air in the system if the level gets too low. It saved me from catastrophe when I had a bad water pump injecting air in to the system. Very glad I replaced it. $20 well spent!

I siphoned coolant from the tank in to two milk jugs. You just need to get the fluid to the level where you can see the sensor inside the radiator. You will see how the clip works on your new part. Just undo the clip, take off the electrical connector, and then the old sensor twists/pulls out. Afterwards, just pour the coolant back in the radiator and tank. If any air is left in there it will self bleed out of the system.

Purists will tell you that you should throw away the old coolant and never re-use it. IMO - its not that big of a deal. I'd rather siphon it out vs. go through the hassle of putting the car up on blocks to drain the radiator. (I live in a place where that's challenging.)

 

Yeah, I ment the internal side of the sensor. The light was on in my '97 when I bought it and I just bought a new sensor. Done.

 

Where did you find one for $20? I checked on various parts stores in my area that run about $50

 

RockAuto now has them for $35. I recall when I got one a while back it was a little less. Maybe not?

 

Just unplug the harness from the sensor and be done with it. If you are relying on a sensor to tell you when to check maintenance items than you are asking for a problem. 1/2 the sensors on these cars are worthless anyways.