I just recently got the thermostat on my car replaced and the guy told me that I needed a coolant level sensor because the old was bad and so he disconnected it. After a few days I kept smelling coolant and I looked for leaks under the car but I didn't see anything... After that my temperature guage has been acting wierd. It keeps moving around. One second its at the normal temp then the next its close to the hot temp. And back and forth during the whole drive. The car is not smoking and I opened the hood after driving it for a while and it seemed to be normal. (I touched a few parts) Could this have something to do with that sensor I need or is this another problem...He also flushed the coolant system out when he did the thermostat.
2007-09-05 23:24:36 · 4 answers · asked by D 3 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
Still sounds like a faulty thermostat. It happens. The new one could be bad.
I don't think the person that worked on our car needs to again. Unless the sensor was causing a problem it shouldn't have been removed. Try hooking it back in.
2007-09-06 00:55:08 · answer #1 · answered by B M 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Please check the following in this order because of the expense and complexity:
Replace the radiator pressure cap with an AC Delco unit with the pressure spec.and part # in your glove compartment handbook.
If your motor truly was hot, excess coolant would be pushing into the coolant recovery reservoir to the point where it would be boiling and spilling out the top.
If you have an electric fan and the switch relay should be checked. If it has a thermostatic mechanical fan hub it's important the fan blades be spinning at full lock-up when the radiator core is hot. The temperature gage sensor in the head or block may need replacing. This would account for the erroneous fluctuations in coolant temperature.
It would seem that a cooling system pressure test should be done to see if there is any external or internal coolant leaks in your system. This test is very inexpensive. *The device looks like a compact bicycle pump with a pressure gage that for testing purposes takes the place of your radiator pressure cap. The pressure value (condition) of the radiator pressure cap can be tested with this pump also.The mechanic pumps a minimum of the pressure value of the standard radiator cap (15-18 lbs.) into your cooling system. Hopefully the pressure will remain in the system overnight.
If the pressure bleeds off the intake manifold coolant cross-over or a head-gasket may be leaking between cylinders. If the intake and or one of the heads are required to come off it's best that the head and or intake be checked for flatness at an automotive machine shop.
Hope you're able to resolve this issue.
2007-09-06 07:12:29 · answer #2 · answered by Country Boy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The coolant level sensor is just that, a coolant LEVEL sensor. It does nothing else but measure how much coolant is in the reservior. Why the moron would disconnect it, working or not, boggles the mind.
Did you check your coolant level after the car cooled down? I'd bet good money that a guy feeble-minded enough to disconnect a sensor and let the car roll out of the shop is just bright enough to not bleed the cooling system properly after replacing a thermostat, resulting in air bubbles in the coolant, ie a low coolant level which you now can not be warned about!
2007-09-06 06:49:33 · answer #3 · answered by Naughtums 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I had the same problem with a different car but i found out that the sensor was not exactly the same as the original sensor.. check that. And next, you could check if he connected the temperature sending sensor to the guage (on the dash) since he may have connected it to the auxillary fan temperature sensor switch (this is the sensor that when it reaches a certain temp, it turns on the auxillary fan) this is why the guage goes to max because the auxillary fan temperature sensor switch completes the circuit and so the needle goes all the way up.
2007-09-06 06:38:05 · answer #4 · answered by Michael Y 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋