Our new to us, 1999 Oldsmobile Intrigue 3.8, got a new remote start as it will be my wife's winter beater for the foreseeable future.
Used to be my deceased MIL's car. My wife will not have to drive her Mustang in the winter anymore.
On the way home from our electronics installer, in the dark, the car started overheating.
So I am following along in my Mustang and stopping frequently to let it cool down and diagnosing.
Check engine light is ON, my wife said. So I am thinking they screwed the pooch and I will have to go take it back.
During a few cool down stops I diagnosed the fans were kicking in, the reservoir was okay.
No heat in the car says it is a mechanical issue....loss of coolant!
Okay maybe they didn't mess it up?
Now, the wife mentioned there was water on the driveway when she was leaving for work, a couple of days ago, but since work is a mile away, I am sure temperature never got up by the time she arrived.
So NOW.... I have a mechanical issue that started LONG BEFORE we got the remote start installed! WTF!!!
I am mad now...but she didn't realize when you have leaky water, it is a car issue!!!!....
*sigh*
Because it was dark, I cannot tell why the radiator is loosing coolant.
Everything on the car is black and I wear glasses and am old, can't see stuff well in the dark!
We limp it home.....
Next morning I open the cool radiator to add some water and I see water flowing out of the side of the radiator through a manufactured plastic opening!!!!!
Like WTF is this opening for? A radiator freeze plug missing? I can stick my pinky into the hole and plug the leak!
So I go check the dummy lights on the dash....
and low and behold, A "Low Coolant" light is also illuminated!
The wife never mentioned that a low coolant light was ON!!!! WTF, again!!!!
Ah, Ha! This car monitors low coolant...maybe that is where a sensor goes?!?!
So back in the engine compartment with a bright trouble light and..... Well, well, look what I found!
There is a sensor laying next to the manufactured opening in the radiator!
So I pulled the clips for the headlight to get a better look at this electrical device...
And there it is! It is a low water level sensor that blew out of the radiator and caused all the problems!!!!
What a piss poor design to hold the sensor in place and hold back at least 15 pounds of pressurized coolant!
A wire "clip" and 2 o-rings are all that hold the dam thing in place!
So I bent up the clip so it would have maximum bite on the flange that the unit clips into.
I wondered if there was over 15 psi in the system to cause this to blow out?
What caused the sensor to pop?
It drove over 1,000 miles recently on a road trip with no issues!
Could the electrical guys knocked it off...no, wait, the wife said there was a lot of water on the driveway before the install.
Still wonder why she didn't mention the Low Coolant trouble light!!!! WTF!!!!
So, I can only speculate the radiator cap did not relieve the over pressurization and it caused the sensor to blow off it's wire clip perch.
I went out and got a new radiator cap just to eliminate any future concerns with over pressurization of the system.
After all, that is a 22 year old radiator cap!
Added over a gallon of coolant as I was shocked on how much boiled off and the wife never mentioned the low coolant light!
WT...oh, hell!
Sure hope we didn't damage the engine running so hot. It twice shut down the car on the way home because of overheating.
So Once I got it filled up and bled, I took the car for a long drive and all seemed all right.
I just couldn't clear the Check Engine light.
So I hope she didn't do anything to the engine.
Will clear the codes when my mechanic friend scans it with his reader on Monday.
It would be a shame as it has only 93K on the OD and I just fixed all the rust on the rocker panels.
We should get another 100K easy on this vehicle!!!!
Crossing my fingers my wife won't overlook any future dummy lights!
