Club 80-90 Forums

cooling system is full of water/ coolant, but the coolant light is flashing
what's up
it's an 85 t3 with a dg code motor in it

possible the sensor in the header tank the one in the engine bay. check leccy supply to it, coolant makes the circuit. Could be a break in the wire somewhere earthing on a bit of metal etc. also check the printed circuit board connectors in the dash pod. for corrosion. clean them up with a green pad.

Coolant LED flashes for 5seconds or so after startup as a 'self test'
try thumping the dash. Loose contacts cause my Polo to do this from time to time.

T

Hi i have had the same problem red light come's on doesn't go out temp gauge sits just above half way rad works ok as does all the sensors (i have changed them all) fan doesn't come on till i am in traffic on hot days think i am gonna change the dash as the wiring isn't too hot on the back of it realy don't know what to do from there.???

Go in the black electrical conection box in the left hand corner of the engine bay, open it up and look for the 2 white barrel connectors unplug these from each other and spray in some contact cleaner replug and test mine had abit of corrosion this cured the problem.

Yep done it too but thanks for the reply.David

I had this problem, the guy I bought the van from said it was the sensor, but yesterday she dropped all the coolant and boiled!

I'm new to vans, my dad and uncle both had Bays, but this is a 1984 T25 with 1.6 diesel.

As a near OAP, needing this for daily getting around as well as camping, any advice/help would be gratefully received. I live in Andover.

Cheers, Jill

My friend had a bug called "Fat Bob" that always had the oil light on. We just stuck bluetak over it but creeping paranoia would (on a long journey) force you to peel it back and take a look - still on.

The cause should always be sought in my view - even if its just a dodgy sensor. It would either drive you mad or ruin your engine.

the light seems to go out after 5 or so minutes now, i have been tolds it's probably not got a thermostat in it
i've also heard it's a bit of a nightmare to blead the coolant through, so i'm going to leave it i think, for the time being

dink wrote:i've also heard it's a bit of a nightmare to blead the coolant through, so i'm going to leave it i think, for the time being

That problem will get worse in the time being have a look on the wiki for bleeding the system. you won't have to drop the lot as jills has.

get it fixed or the nightmare will become reality........

mine is the same stays on for around 10 mins but temp between quarter and half changed sensor and was fine for about 3 wks then back to norm if i switch my lights on it will go of now im thinking dodgy wiring somewhere but will try the 2 wires in black box see if that helps not to good with electrics

if you switch you lights on and it goes off, then its a earth problem in the dash..........

the flashing light is fed by both the water level sensor in the header tank, AND the temp sender, as it is low water level AND over temp light.....

the rad fan is switched by the sender switch in the rad, not connected to engine temp sensor in engine..........

try switching on, letting it self test( 10 secs) then switching off the ignition before you switch in back on and crank to start, the self tester timer sometime fails to cancel ime

Could be the top of the sensor has cracked,happened to me,I stuck it with aradite to get me home then put in a new one from JK.The coolant in the top up tank was to the level mark and temp.was OK
Don

I had this problem after changing the little lights for the insterment panel, the red water light came on if you turned the lights on the red light went out. After a lot of head scratching i found that if you reached up under the dash to where the main wiring harnes plugs onto the insterment panel (right of the steering wheel) and gave it a push up to give better contact it cured all the light problems. hope this helps Mark

might as well join in . My constantly flashing light was due to the wire coming lose in the terminal that plugs onto the level sensor. It would go out occassionally if it made contact but was mostly on (flashing). It flashes when open circuit, not when grounded (at the sensor end).