Red water light flashing - please help!!

[jayb]

Hi all,

I was driving to work and everything was fine until 3 minutes before the end when the red water light started to flash. The car seems to be fine with no overheating problems and was running at about the right temperature. My commute takes about 40 minutes and involves some motorway driving. I checked the coolant and it is at the maximum mark. If anyone's got any suggestions as to what I should do, I'd be very grateful. I finish work at 3.30pm so if you could post before then to help me sort this problem out because the last thing I want to do is damage my cherished Veedub.

Cheers,

Jason

[Overseer]

first up.. what kind of car do you have?


so your coolant light alert triggered without the temperature guage showing excess temperature?

what kind of driving were you doing when the coolant alert triggered?

at a wild guess i'd say this indicates a change in pressure..


eek..

- check your oil for signs of contamination
- check your coolant for the same..


coolant levels should really be checked once the car has been sat for a while.. so i'd check before you leave to be sure.

[G6dub]

ok if it is a mk2 here is a few things I have experienced.

First what is yoru water level?
If you have lost a bit of water it wil flash.
this water light will also flash if you have put to much water in.
Also this sensor can play about.

Mine car gets up to temp and if it gets hot just as the fan switches on my water light will flash a few times but will then stop, it may do it again 15 mins later.


lol Overseers I know what your thinking "Headgasket" Yes mine flashed when my head went lol but I knew about it from the road covered in steam at the same time!!

If you have lost a bit of water and can't find out where from your head could be on its way.

[jayb]

Cheers guys. I hope it's not the head. I took it out for a spin over lunch and had the car idling for ten minutes and there was no sign of the light, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it'll be ok to get home. The levels all seem fine; no mayonnaise thank God.

[Overseer]

lol Overseers I know what your thinking "Headgasket" Yes mine flashed when my head went lol but I knew about it from the road covered in steam at the same time!!

If you have lost a bit of water and can't find out where from your head could be on its way.

yup.. am currently monitoring my coolant levels daily (2 days now since i got my car back..) since i just had some probs.. eek..

(peep my "dodgy idle" post for more details...)

[G6dub]

we had a mk2 that kept loosing water, we thought it was leaking out of radiator so got a new one, then a week later bang it went completely on a water way, the head inside had coroded, slowly away on 1 cylinder

[Dizzie]

mine will flash randomly and I'm sure there isn't a leak anymore...

[888v]

mines been doing it since i had the car, took it to the garage and they said there was nothing wrong with the car and it is still doing it 7 months later....still drivin sweet as a nut. coincidence??? dunno