low coolant light on, but its full
 

A few days ago, my low coolant light went on, but when i went to put some in, it was full. I have noticed that my car has been running hotter than usual. When the car is moving, my temperature is 180, but when im in traffic its like 210 or 220. I have had problems with thermostats, but ive never had this light come on. What could cause this?

It's probably a bad sensor, I just pulled my dummy light out. You'll know your low on coolent if your temp isen't where it usually is.

I'm in the same boat as you, I started a thread on it about a week ago search low coolant light. I went ahead and flushed my radiator, easy to do and doesn't hurt, It seemed to fix the ploblem for a week or so but now its back.

i can relate. i have heard that the sensors are notorious for doing this.

Yup, mines the same way. Time for a new one. I heard they go bad because of the area there in and all that heat

Been there, done that. I would bet that's exactly what you are dealing with..just a bad sensor.

Yeah, you don't need a low coolent sensor just yank that dummy light out and be on your way.

this is probably a dumb question, but what's a "dummy light" , I've never heard of this before. Thanks in advance

I was having the same problem a few weeks ago. Rather than unplug a warning light (they are there for a reason!), simply change the sensor. Mine was $<50.00 and changing it is easy!! Disconnect and take out the battery, remove radiator cap, locate sensor on passenger side (and backside) of radiator (about 4-5 inches below radiator cap) , unplug electrical connection on bottom of sensor, gently remove sensor from radiator (it is a plug-in- no screws,etc) being careful to plug sensor port immediately or coolant will flush out until coolant level is below sensor port, plug in new sensor, reconnect electrical, replace and reconnect battery, start engine, replace lost coolant, replace radiator cap, bleed air from coolant system, drive to Sonic for a root beer float noting the absence of a warning light, how cool the machine is running and how cool you look in it. Others on this board have posted better how-to-do-its w/ pics; a search should help.:)

sometimes you can tell if it's the sensor if you simply unplug it . then start the vehicle, if the light is off, then its a bad sensor

don't pull any lights or bulbs, jsut unplug the sensor and it'll go out

however, when my waterpump EXPLODED all over everywhere it would have been nice to have an extra 30 seconds of warning light for low coolant...

I had the same problem and thought it was the sensor, but when I would go to fill up the over flow it would almost be full. I would go ahead and top it off and it would be fine for a while but would eventually come back on. Until one day I finally blew a head gasket and got both replaced and the car has never ran better. I think my problem was a slightly blow head gasket and took a while, but eventually did blow.

Re: low coolant light on, but its full
 

My low coolant light is on now too, but the level is full. I had this problem before. It would be on almost everyday for 2 years when the level was fine. Eventually I had to replace my water pump and radiator, and when that was replaced the light was off for a year. Now the light is back on but the level is full and the temperature is still fine. It's frustrating.

Re: low coolant light on, but its full
 

Unplugging the sensor doesn't tell you anything....the light ALWAYS goes off when the sensor is unplugged.

Don't pull any warning lights from the dash...it's just a bad idea. Fixing the problem is a much better idea.

The senosr is located below the radiator cap on the engine side of the radiator. Pull it out and clean it off...many times it's that simple. If that doesn't fix it simply pop in a new one

Good luck.

Re: low coolant light on, but its full
 

You'll probably have to take the battery out to get to the sensor.