[inssane]

Mechanic was certified cadillac, referred by a top member here - I trust his work and he was extremely thorough.
I started my car tonight and twice with two different starts, hours apart, the low coolant message shows up.
They each went away after about 5 minutes with me not clearing it. Engine is cool still at smack middle on the temp gauge.
I made sure to do city and a couple of faster runs to see if I could coax it to get hot (just to gauge if it was a real problem yet) - and it was all good on the temp.

Sooooo, why on earth after all that work would I get this error? It was dark and I didn't have a flashlight (batteries) so I couldn't see the level.

I have a new job lined up that requires my car and I can't afford more work of this kind. I have $3500 in repairs in the car, not counting the cost of the car.

Please advise. I don't mind topping off coolant, but why is it happening.
Nick

PS - the other day I did see some smoke (not smelly) coming from the top drivers corner of the hood. I pulled over immediately, opened hood and there was no more smoke or reminence of smoke at all. Maybe it's related?

 

[inssane]

Quickly, I read it could be a missing air bubble that surfaced.
Is this possible after a few months? Daily driven about 15 miles each.

Thanks again

 

[ThumperPup]

your not over filling it when you say topping it off
you should not fill it to the top
id say if you have it filled to the rim
take at least 2 QT's out that will bring it to the porper level i think
if it is actually loosing coolant and that is why you have to keep topping it off the reason why is its blows out the coolant that it does not need
if its at the right level and still loosing coolant then you have something that needs to be checked out coolant is going somewhere and it does not just disappear for no reason

also if you don't have coolant being lost somewhere then it might just be a fualty sensor

either way if you can take it back where it was repaired take it and have that Mechanic Address the issue

 

[inssane]

No no, I haven't topped anything off.
I know not to fill it too much, just to the marker.

I can take it back to the mechanic, he is far though and will need the car for a few days, so I just want a general feel of what it may be. Air bubble, sensor, etc. I know he checked every connection and so forth when he did it.

 

[ThumperPup]

TO be Honest im not the one to ask what is possible there is a lot that could be possible i have been threw this twice in the last 12 months same care

do you have to keep adding fluid to it ?
if so then its got to be going somewhere and it may just not have been doen properly
who was it who did it ? someone from the boards or just someone from the board recommended him ?

 

[inssane]

Someone here recommended.
This is the first time I noticed, like was mentioned in the OP. I havent topped it once, but will.

 

[maeng9981]

There is a chance that it might have developed a pinhole leak somewhere. Do you have visible leaks? Try to look around surge tank, water pump housing, water crossover, upper & lower radiator hose, or even the heater hoses for leaks.

 

[stoveguyy]

you have not filled it. low level light is on. so it is not at full marker now? you have checked level in last 2 months? has it been going down? lets recap. low light is on. level is below fill line? fill to full mark and monitor for awhile.

 

[Mark C]

That message (along with anything to do with oil) is one I don't wait to figure out what might be wrong with it, I add coolant IMMEDIATELY. The level switch is obviously working because as it heats up and the coolant expands (raising the level in the reservoir) it doesn't come back on. At this point who cares if its head gaskets again or a leak, get the level topped back up and then start investigating. If you saw steam coming from the rear of the drivers side of the hood, it could be a leaking radiator cap, or any of the myriad of heater hoses and bypass hoses that are all over the rear of the engine near the master cylinder, or the rear crossover manifold gaskets. Start looking for a leak first, I wouldn't even think HGs at this point, my timeserts done by me in the driveway have lasted 3 years without a hint of a problem with them. I did get a little tiny hole in my upper radiator hose where it rubbed on the bracket covering the water pump belt though, and thought I was going to have a problem. Took a while to find because it was on the bottom of the hose, and it barely weeped under pressure and any wet spot on the hose would dry up from the heat as the car cooled down. Found it by feel one day.

 

[inssane]

I checked the level in the light today, it's low but there is still some in the resevoir when cold.
I have to get over to the auto parts store, then let the car cool off, then I will fill it.

Just to double check, the "fill line" is an arrow pointing down from the black top to the semi clear bottom. So basically filling it to where the clear part meets the black?
It's very hard to read any other markings, none that I can see, because of the staining of the "clear" plastic bottom of the resevoir.

Thanks

 

[Submariner409]

Just to double check, the "fill line" is an arrow pointing down from the black top to the semi clear bottom. So basically filling it to where the clear part meets the black?

Yep - cold.

 

[jimsbox]

The check coolant message only appears once per drive cycle, if you clear it, it won't come back. Frequently this is just a false message due to a bad or dirty coolant level sensor in the coolant tank. You can try to remove the tank and rinse it with dish soap and water or just replace the bottle, less than a c note. My guess is you have just cleared some air bubbles and are a little low from that. The sensors seem to fail after the tank has been empty in my experience, maybe something cakes on the sensor?

 

[Ranger]

PS - the other day I did see some smoke (not smelly) coming from the top drivers corner of the hood.

Heater core pipes that run behind the rear head maybe?

 

[jimsbox]

Correction to my input, I must have missed the part where you drive it daily, shouldn't be any trapped air left.

 

[johnny kannapo]

The coolant tubes do 90 turn around to the back of the engine there near the egr.

If you had head bolt work done recent I wouldn't expect a new crossover gasket to fail.

If your lucky it may just be a hose clamp that has loosened.