Low Coolant Light
On The Tree
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 197
Likes: 0
There should be a metal clip that slides in parrallel to the radiator face... it's basicly a c-clip sort of design. pull it out (up, down, left, right, etc... just NOT AWAY from the radiator... pulling towards the engine/firewall will only break things).
After that your sensor just "slides" out by pulling on it. I say "slides" because it's got a triple o-ring seal so its pretty much in there unless you give it a good hard pull... don't YANK it, just a constant hard pullwith a a twisting motion should do it.
Oh yeah, obviously disconnect the electrical harness and drain the coolant first. You don't need to drain ALL the coolant, just enough to get the coolant level below the sensor hole (you should be able to see down the rad tank by removing the rad cap... if not, just drain it all).
Save the coolant and pour it back in when you're done if it's still pretty fresh (stretching some nylons over a funnel is a good way to filter out any gunk or debris that may have collected in the coolant, though starting with a clean catch can is the best idea). Having had to try a few opti's when building my 396 I was VERY happy to learn this trick from an old pro... saved me more than a few bucks (and its cheaper than a fancy "filter screen funnel" for a few limited uses).
I don't think there's any need to disconnect the battery when doing this work, but you should make sure the engine is off. :p
An electric water pump makes the final filling/bleeding a bit easier, but not essiential. Take your time refilling and wait for it to settle between 'top offs'. Bleed the two hoses with screws at top when you're done and you're set.
I'm not sure if the low coolant light resets on its own... its been a while since I looked up the helms manual on this one (I wanta say it'll turn off the light but keep the code in memory for 3 drive cycles, then clear on its own) but the easiest idea is to pull the "PCM Batt" fuse for an immediate clear. Just realize you need to do some driving after that before getting an emmissions test done to make sure every test is in READY status (thought I'm mention this in case your trying to clear a code for this purpose).
I still run mine but from past experience I can tell you that by the time you get to turning on the light you're already boiled out or dripped a LOT of coolant... your engine temp gauge would probably be spiked HOT before the light came on... it isn't saving you much other than reinforcing the LOOK AT THE GAUGE factor.
After that your sensor just "slides" out by pulling on it. I say "slides" because it's got a triple o-ring seal so its pretty much in there unless you give it a good hard pull... don't YANK it, just a constant hard pullwith a a twisting motion should do it.
Oh yeah, obviously disconnect the electrical harness and drain the coolant first. You don't need to drain ALL the coolant, just enough to get the coolant level below the sensor hole (you should be able to see down the rad tank by removing the rad cap... if not, just drain it all).
Save the coolant and pour it back in when you're done if it's still pretty fresh (stretching some nylons over a funnel is a good way to filter out any gunk or debris that may have collected in the coolant, though starting with a clean catch can is the best idea). Having had to try a few opti's when building my 396 I was VERY happy to learn this trick from an old pro... saved me more than a few bucks (and its cheaper than a fancy "filter screen funnel" for a few limited uses).
I don't think there's any need to disconnect the battery when doing this work, but you should make sure the engine is off. :p
An electric water pump makes the final filling/bleeding a bit easier, but not essiential. Take your time refilling and wait for it to settle between 'top offs'. Bleed the two hoses with screws at top when you're done and you're set.
I'm not sure if the low coolant light resets on its own... its been a while since I looked up the helms manual on this one (I wanta say it'll turn off the light but keep the code in memory for 3 drive cycles, then clear on its own) but the easiest idea is to pull the "PCM Batt" fuse for an immediate clear. Just realize you need to do some driving after that before getting an emmissions test done to make sure every test is in READY status (thought I'm mention this in case your trying to clear a code for this purpose).
I still run mine but from past experience I can tell you that by the time you get to turning on the light you're already boiled out or dripped a LOT of coolant... your engine temp gauge would probably be spiked HOT before the light came on... it isn't saving you much other than reinforcing the LOOK AT THE GAUGE factor.
