engine coolant light

I recently purchased a 2000 SL2 with about 50K on it. Great car, so far.
Yesterday, the engine coolant idiot light came on, but the temp gauge was
fine. The light didn't stay on long, but has happened 5 or 6 times since
and only for a minute or so. The owners manual doesn't say much about this
situation. The coolant in the reservoir was just a bit below the min. mark
when cold, so I added a bit to about midway between min and max. No light
so far. Can this light mean anything else if the temp. gauge is OK. It's
as if there is a sensor in the reservoir, but that's hard to imagine.

Any ideas?

thanks

stonecreek wrote:
> I recently purchased a 2000 SL2 with about 50K on it. Great car, so far.
> Yesterday, the engine coolant idiot light came on, but the temp gauge was
> fine. The light didn't stay on long, but has happened 5 or 6 times since
> and only for a minute or so. The owners manual doesn't say much about this
> situation. The coolant in the reservoir was just a bit below the min. mark
> when cold, so I added a bit to about midway between min and max. No light
> so far. Can this light mean anything else if the temp. gauge is OK. It's
> as if there is a sensor in the reservoir, but that's hard to imagine.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> thanks
>
>


I also have a 2000 SL2 and this happened twice during the summer for
soemthing similar except the service engine soon light went on. So I
took it to autozone and had the codes read. It was for the transmission
fluid temp sensor. So if there is a temp sensor for the transmisson
fluid im sure there's a coolant sensor, it could be messed up.
---
TROUBLESHOOTING P0711
The PCM has determined that the voltage signal from the transmission
fluid temperature sensor is out of range for the current engine
operating conditions.
---

I never done anything about it and it just never came on again. Does
your check engine light come on too?

-Gabe

Normally, the sensor for the coolant level is acutually screwed into the
radiator, (somewhere down one end or the other). If the level, while
flowing, drops below this point, the "igit" light will come on. You may
have coolant in the reservoir, but if after servicing, the light comes back
on, you might want to pressure test your cap

T.

"stonecreek" > typed until their fingers bled, and came
up with:

> It's as if there is a sensor in the
> reservoir, but that's hard to imagine.
>

Yes, indeed there is a sensor in the coolant reservoir. It mounted in the
bottom. Fill the coolant bottle to the seam around the middle, and the
light will go out, if that is indeed your problem.

--
Visit the Saturn Performance Club - http://www.saturnperformanceclub.com