Mysterious Clog and Add Coolant Light/Buzzer
 

88 rx7 NA

Bought an aftermarket radiator because the mechanic shop said the old one was clogged and installed it myself. They said the upper radiator hose was warm and the lower radiator hose was cold (which was true).

Decided to take apart some of the cooling system: upper and lower hoses, thermostat housing, water pump, checked the radiator ports, and still found nothing. Any ideas?

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The car has been able to drive and not have something catastrophic occur even with this coolant problem, but ever since the new radiator was installed, the Add Coolant light and buzzer will not stop.

There's no place for the coolant temp. sensor on the new radiator or the bolt that screws into the top of the OEM radiator so I wanted to know if there's a wire or two I should cut to make them stop or something (and later solder back together after everything's fixed).



Thanks in advance.

If you have no place for the low level coolant sender then you have the wrong rad.
The rad should also have a thermo-sender on the bottom of the rad too,driver's side.(2 wires).
Tip: just make sure that your coolant is OK,and no leaks etc,level ok.
Then with the single wire that comes off the harness and goes to the Low level coolant sender,Take that wire From the harness and ground it.(so instead of the wire going to the sender it goes to the body or frame of the car)
Your alarm will stop,BUT you will now have no way of telling if your coolant is low.SO keep an eye on your gauge,and check the level often.
OR get a proper rad..the S4 rad.

Thanks for the heads up. I was kinda expecting this sort of handicap on my car too; at least until I buy the correct radiator. I'll go ahead and ground that wire, for now.

Post and tell us if that worked out OK for you.

Yes, the light/buzzer have stopped and I'm able to drive normal.

Though, now that I'm driving, I notice the voltage drops on the meter for the battery vary. Applying brakes, turning on the headlights, turning on the air conditioning all take away some voltage from the meter. Not enough to affect the drivability however. While moving, the voltage goes back to 14v. I'm not sure if this is normal...

Talked to a friend and he said to replace the old wires that are causing the drops in voltage with new ones.