So I am driving today and the Add Coolant light comes on. This, like it should, scares the living **** out of me because I am in gridlock on the highway. I finally get to a gas station and keep my eye on the temp gauge the entire way there. It never even remotely budges past halfway (I know this isn't completely reliable but my gauge has been pretty accurate so far). I add some distilled water in and it takes about 2 ounces or so. I figure what the hell and cap everything off and start her back up. The light is now off. This makes me feel much better and I drive a bit. When I come back later and start her again the light is on once more. Now I'm getting kind of worried so I check a few things. There is no coolant on the ground and no coolant smell from the exhaust or any exhaust fumes in the coolant. I decide to walk on the wild side and drive a bit. She is running perfect and boosts fine to redline. The temp gauge again doesn't go over half way but warms up and stays about 1/4 of an inch below half. Could my sensor be bad, or could my wiring be "the fucked"?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

you know what my light has come on 2 times in the last week and both times it was off when i turned the car off and as it sat about 1/2 cup of water has gone missing and there was nothing on the car on the grond. freaked me out thinking i was driving with the light on and didn't see it. could but have gotten low over time or drained into the over flow thing.

 

you probably just have bubbles in the cooling system. Bleed out the cooling system

There should be a loud buzzer going off at the same time

 

yeah when the car is cold remove the radiator cap. Start the car and let it warm up to temperature so that the thermostat is fully open, and you should see some air bubbles coming out.

Oh and btw on an s4 temp gauge halfway up is pretty warm--over 200 degrees iirc. When my stock gauge is 1/4 of the way up it's about 180 on my autometer. Maybe you should go ahead and change your thermostat while you're at it (most people swear by OEM).

 

Goodpoint, I'll go ahead and try to bleed the system. The buzzer wasn't going off either, but neither does the redline buzzer when I get to 7k. Now to properly bleed, do I take off the thermostat cap or the cap connected to the waterneck on the block?

Does anyone know of any location where a slightly lower temp thermostat could be had for relatively cheap?

Thanks for the help.

 

thats what my problem was last year, bled it never had the problem again.

 

ok, so do I bleed from the radiator or the waterneck?

 

i had mine do that a few times

 

Found the problem. The wire going to the coolant level sensor was cracked and I couldn't see it. When I moved it around to check for looseness and cracking, it snapped right off. I soldered it back again and the light went off, go figure.

I hate my wiring.