Coolant Buzzer
 

Hey guys.

Ok so I've been running into the first couple of hiccups since I bought my FC. I was driving for about an hour and I noticed the idle when I was stationary was kinda erratic, normally at 900 but some times dropping to half that making for some embarrassing stalls when hill starting at traffic lights. Then I had the problem of the low coolant light coming on and of course the super loud accompanying buzzer, at the point it was mostly just when I was stationary. On the drive back the buzzer got way worse and was on most of the time at different speeds.

When I get home I check the coolant and sure enough it's looking a little low so I fill it up from the coolant reservoir as my manual told me, the manual I have didn't tell me I should have opened up the bleeder screw too however, that bit was in the coolant flush section so I don't know if I should have cracked that open whilst filling her up from the reservoir. I start the engine (runs like a dream) and the coolant buzzer comes on so I figure I should bleed it and see if that helps, crack open the bleeder screw, heater on max and let her run for 5-10 minutes, steam and coolant comes out the bleeder valve. I'm praying that's that. Start the car again and after 10 seconds the low coolant light and buzzer are back.

Now I don't know if the weird idle that's happened a couple of times is linked to the coolant issue but I would really really appreciate some help, I know there's a lot of similar threads already and I've looked through as many as I can without any success, I'm probably just missing something stupid but like I said I would be grateful for any help at all. Another thing that might be worth mentioning is the engine seems to flood more regularly that I would have expected when driven short distances but I don't know how much of that is normal and besides its easy to sort, also when reversing slowly the engine will sometimes cut out. The engine seems to run perfectly healthily when it's running though.

Follow the advice that others gave me... put a pan under your car to catch any overflowing coolant, pop the radiator cap, start the car, film a video of your rad fluid, and watch for bubbles....

Here's my result, which is not good.

Why are you filling it in the resovouir? You need to fill it directly into the radiator by the cap on top of the rad, or by the thermostat neck if you have that option. Top it off by the thermostat neck, if yours doesn't have that, fill it to the top of the radiator, start it and let it idle with the heater blasting and keep topping it off until if levels out

Now if he keep gushing back at you and never stops, then worry

Filling the reservoir is actually the most convenient way to add a bit of coolant if the car is warm. It will be drawn back into the system as it cools. In fact, that's probably how the owners manual recommends it be "topped up".

But if the car is cold, then filling through the upper most rad cap is quicker.

The coolant sensor is very sensitive. If there is a bubble, then it may cause the buzzer. Frankly I love that buzzer. Saved my ass when my driver side heater hose let go a week after buying the car.

I would confirm that you're not losing or burning coolant. Check the plugs for odor or presence of coolant. I would also not hesitate to perform a compression test. Many idling and poor running issues can be attributed to low compression.