coolant?

[kaseymarie]

I just got this car two weeks ago.

The coolant light on the overhead panel comes on, and the car will go to the line between the normal temp reading and the red line, also.

The coolant level seems a little low, it's just below being half full.

I thought I had cracked my oil pan when we had this horrible snow that hit us, but now my car is not leaking oil or anything like that as I do not see any under my car anymore, and I checked my dip stick and all was well in that area. (I guess it was someone elses car that was parked before me)

Any help would be appreciated as i need to get the car inspected here in maryland and I have no idea what's wrong, if anything. haha.

thanks!

[kaseymarie]

any help? i've searched the forum and all i could see was a sensor issue. but i want to make sure there is nothing majorly wrong.

[87-325ic]

so you checked the oil level with the dipstick and its not empty. thats great.

now for the coolant. the light on the overhead panel will come on regardless of level sometimes. it is a common malfunction. all the light up there means is that the level is low. fill it up to the line and if the light doesnt go off, don't worry about it for now.

As for the overheating problems, do they mostly occur when you are stopped at a light or in traffic for a little while?

neither of these things should cause you to fail an inspection though.

[87-325ic]

if it mostly overheats while stopped for some time, it is likely your fan clutch.
I would also highly recommend the thermostat be changed too. Also, a radiator flush would not hurt anything.

[kaseymarie]

well the first time it happened was when i was stopped for 2 hours in traffic due to snow. i turned off the car and it was fine after a while, but now sometimes when i'm driving for an hour, it will go to that line between the middle and red. or between that line and the middle.


hopefully you understand what i'm saying, haha.

[87-325ic]

yeah
i would suggest doing everything above.

changing: fan clutch, thermostat, and coolant. It shouldnt cost more than like 50 dollars if you do it all yourself.. It is very easy to do. except the fan clutch can be a bitch to get off.

[kaseymarie]

alright, thanks a lot!

[87-325ic]

if you have any other questions, just ask

[Adrian_Visser]

A fan clutch by itself is about $100 new.

Just remember that the nut is left hand threaded, you also need a thin 32mm wrench to fit on there, some bicycle shops sell these, otherwise look for a fan clutch wrench or make one yourself out of metal stock.

[///digitalme]

i had a similar issue i changed the fan clutch and got rid of the overheating problem, although it was hard to change the fan clutch i had to buy a fan clutch tool.... i bought a fan clutch for about 40 dollars new...

how i removed the fan clutch the first time was with a piece of metal and a hammer i think to unscrew it you have to do it the opposite way and i just hit the nut and slowly got it loose it was a pain in the ass i didnt have a tool ....

[87-325ic]

its best to go to a bike shop and buy a crank tool, its usually a 32mm thin wrench. youll love yourself for doing it.

then take a long screwdriver wedged against the 2 of the 4 bolts that hold the pulley to the waterpump. then you can get the 32mm Reverse Thread nut off.

Autohausaz has the clutch for 72 dollars, i thought for sure i only paid like 40 for it a while ago.

[kaseymarie]

well i fixed the coolant issue, just needed some water

i will address the fan clutch issue if the over heating keeps occuring. i want to watch it a little bit.

thanks so much for everyones input! i'll let you know what happens.

[u3b3rg33k]

A fan clutch by itself is about $100 new.

Just remember that the nut is left hand threaded, you also need a thin 32mm wrench to fit on there, some bicycle shops sell these, otherwise look for a fan clutch wrench or make one yourself out of metal stock.

They run $65 @ bavauto.