For the last couple of days, intermittedly, when I take a sharp corner, the coolant light will go on and the buzzer will sound, momentarily. But when I straighten it out, the light and buzzer go off...

My temp guage is always where it should be, and I checked the rad and t-stat housing and both are full to the brim. My rad overflow is always at the max level.

Opinions?

 

Odd. I havent really heard of one of the level sensors going bad. Sometimes the wire comes off/loose of the top of the sensor itself. You could just ground it out so it won't come on at all.

Edit: Air in the cooling system maybe?

 

DON'T ground it out. That's a total cop out and could screw you over big time if god forbid you are low on coolant. Do it proper and flush the system and refill to avoid any bubbles.

 

Had the same problem.

My radiator gave away after a while and I replaced it.

But here are some things to check:

water pump
slight leaks in hoses

The cheapest and easiest thing to first check: replace old rad cap with a new one. That CAN be the problem. Do this and I bet it will fix it up provided you def dont have a leak.

 

don't know if the level sensor is bad... I just figured I was low, because I know it has to be RIGHT FULL or the sensor will buzz.

If I haven't cracked to rad cap or changed a coolant component, how would air get in the system.

I do notice that my upper rad hose leaks a bit at the connectionto the t-stat housing. I've been meaning to replace the hose, but its not a major leak, so I just keep an eye on my levels. If coolant can drip out, can air get in?

 

Yup.

Replace your cap first, see if that works. I bet it does.

 

rad caps are cheap... if it doesn't work, after I run the bubbles out, and other ideas?

 

Check your water pump carefully, look at the weep hole for signs of slight leaks. Def flush out your rad.

Check the wires to the sensor, making sure its connected properly

 

sure its coolant and not engine oil???

 

hmmmm...never considered that...the light is intermittant, so it's not like its every corner where I can look for it. and it goes off so fast too...

Last time I checked oil was my last fuel fill, and it was good, but I'll check again. Thanks, never considered that.

 

I bet it only happens on one direction of cornering...

The oil level sensor is on the side of the oil pan. If you corner in the right direction, the oil will climb up the other side of the pan, away from the sensor, and trip the low oil warning light/buzzer.

Even if the oil is full, it can still happen if you have grippy enough tires (or, really, just corner hard - I've had it light up on me with absolute junk on the wheels).

The solution is to get an oil pan baffle that prevents the oil from climbing the side of the engine, and keeps it where it belongs near the pickup.

It *might* be coolant, but if it only happens when cornering, my money is on the oil sensor.

-=Russ=-

 

I've seen coolant do the same thing with a GM car.. The guy didnt get all the air out of it, and there was a nice pocket of air floating around the top of the rad.

Every time he took a left turn, the coolant light came on.

Did the proper F&F procedure, and he's good to go.

 

It's not the low coolant warning, it's the low oil warning. The coolant warning has a 7 second delay built into it, so sharp cornering won't set it off as described. Check your oil level now.

 

Thank you everybody. It WAS the low oil warning. I was a litre and a half down. Coincidentally, I was also at a quarter of a tank, which is when I usually fill up/check my levels.

So now my question is : Since I just checked the oil last week, and it was right on full, could there be something wrong with my omp?

I've previously noticed that I don't see a decrease in my oil level until about 3000kms into my oil change, which is right where I am now.

I know I should have to periodically add oil in between oil changes, but is it normal for there to be a sudden drop like this? and again, it has happened every time, at approx 3k. I've only owned the car for four oil changes, but I'm noticing this pattern.

 

It is normally to use a quart of oil every 1000-2000 miles depending on how much your foot is on the throttle.

The oil level should be checked at every fill up of gas.

As far as suddenly low after a oil change, you probably just missed it before.

And I bet all the members that said Low coolant/leaking hoses etc BS wish they didn't reply now. Please only reply if you know!!! you could have sent this poor member on all sorts of wild goose chases.

 

Oh, come now... post count is more important than actually *helping* people.

If your oil was full when you last checked it, you don't normally burn this much oil, and you didn't do anything different on the last tank (like track day driving or something with more WOT than usual), you should look for the oil leak. It's possible that the engine is burning oil (oil control rings going bad or such), but it's more likely that it's leaking. The hoses going to the oil cooler are usually still factory, and are pushing the end of their useful life on a lot of cars.

Park the car on some cardboard or someone else's concrete driveway after a nice hard run. The hot oil should flow out more quickly, giving you a clue as to where the problem is.

If it's not leaking, just keep tabs on it. If it *is* actually burning a lot of oil, you've got problems you may wish to resolve, but it may have just been due to checking the oil while on a slope or something last time.

-=Russ=-

 

My concern is it does this every time. I do an oil change, then approx 3k later, it drops about a litre.

I understand enough about the car to know that it should burn oil between changes. But I expected a gradual loss...Like I said, I check it every time I fill up, and I never notice a drop until that 'magic' 3k mark, then it drops a full litre at least.

If I had a leak, I would expect it to be a gradual loss as well. This leads me to believe something may be wrong with my omp. Could there be a restriction, to where the pump must gain so much pressure that eventually it forces its way through, and then the vicious cycle starts again?

 

No, the pressure does not change/build up and suddenly give; however I could believe that the MOP gets stuck on (but that is pretty unlikely).

I think your best bet is to keep a very watchful eye on it, to see if there really is a sudden drop. Check the oil every week (or every fill up of gas- which ever comes first) without fail. Any sudden drops should be very apparent.

 

^^^ I believe I've already been faithful to this procedure, is what I'm telling you.

My buddy owns the Shell gas station, so I try to fill up there if at all possible. He always laughs at my fill it up/check the hood routine.

So what you're telling me is my assumtion about the omp operation is correct, in that there should be a gradual oil loss.

If, however, I am correct in that there is NO oil loss for the first 2500-3000k after my oil change, and then a sudden drop of 1-1 1/2 L, what could be the cause?

Obviously not a leak, since that would result in the aforementioned gradual fluid loss. So what else?

 

well once you have determined when the loss happens (I am skeptical that it happens exactly every 3K) , then its time to start isolating down what is causing the loss- like does it happen when cold weather, or that you have a lot of highway driving, etc.

I really don't think it is anything mechanical that is intermittent, short of again, if the MOP is sticking on.

 

ooOOOooo.... <3

Regarding knowing how your car works, it's NOT THAT DIFFICULT to figure stuff out on these cars. And if you get a random blip, see if you can reproduce it.

I don't have the owner's manual, but I know how the oil warning works. Screwing around in a parking lot late at night, I'd get some blips of the buzzer when spinning sideways, but wasn't able to tell exactly what it was.

So, I thew the car into a long hard sweeping corner of the appropriate direction (I honestly don't remember what direction it is), and the oil light came on until I slowed down. Not uncommon, my old Dodge Dynasty would actually lose oil pressure in a hard enough sustained corner because the oil pickup wasn't grabbing anything. It's *not* a terribly obscure problem, it's just that the '7 is better at telling you things are wrong than most other cars.

The FSM, a voltmeter, and a few LEDs with appropriate resistors are really all you need to figure out whatever you want on these cars. Between the FSM and just nosing around, there's a LOT you can learn.

There are several people floating around here with a very good understanding of how the O2 sensor and the stock ECU actually interact under various driving conditions. Most of us learned it by playing around on a highway trip or such with a voltmeter, A/F gauge, or even just the O2 sensor check plug.

-=Russ=-

 

Nope, not calling the thread starter anything. I simply answered his questions. Unlike you, who seems to be shitting all over his thread with your replies in it.

I am calling BS on the posters that put the wrong info. And I will continue to do so as long as this board exists.

And if you can't spend $20 (the price of half a tank of gas) on a owners manual so you can find out what you need to know to operate your car, well no wonder so many people talk about blown motors or broken stuff.

 

Nope.

Asking a question is fine. Asking a STUPID question (for instance, one that's clearly covered in the FAQ) is frowned upon.

However, once a question has been asked, people posting replies should generally be helping or asking for more information, and not leading the person on wild chases for problems.

Icemark's issue, which I agree with, is with all the people discussing coolant related solutions based on the original question, when the actual problem (as noted by several people) was oil related. The poster said that the coolant level was not low, which was, in this case, accurate.

I agree with Icemark on the amount of crap replies being posted. If you don't have something good to provide, don't post crap.

-=Russ=-

 

it appears my thread has been hijacked.

My $.02

I posed a question related to a coolant issue. A few people gave coolant related answers, which I can't blame them for. A couple people recognized the real problem and gave me some life-saving advice.

I think the point that is being missed here, though, is wherever you look for answers to your questions, you have to think on your own. I knew some of the coolant related answers were off base, so I disregarded them. Apparently, a simple check of the FSM would have told me of the 7 sec. delay, and, given that I had already checked my coolant level, would have told me that my problem lay elsewhere.

But I have found manuals to be wrong. Just this afternoon, I went on Mitchell's On Demand, and it gave me an incorrect location for the blower motor modulator on a 98 Escort.

The Forum can be wrong. The User's manual can be wrong. The FSM can be wrong. Icemark and others can be wrong. It is your car, and it is YOUR responsibility to listen, learn and assimilate the information to decide whether it is valid or BS. Even if it is factory literature, always take things with a grain of salt.

 

thank you, and my condolences about Dad.

We are only human, and when you give an answer, and you honestly think you are giving the correct info, how can that be a bad thing? it is then the responsibility of the inquirer to decide for him/herself the validity of the answer. And Post count has nothing to do with that.

It just so happened that the answer to my problem was an easy one...check my oil. But had it been more in depth, ie engine teardown or similar, do you think you can just take the word of anyone? of course not. Even if someone highly respectied in the community gave me such advice...its something I wouldn't take lightly. You have to do your own reseach and such.