Coolant light abf

[sleeper16]

my mk2 abf has had: new radiator (after freezing), new headgasket, new ignition, new header tank, new header cap (blue one), new sensor for the tank, new belts, new oil and filter.

now this is the first time this problem has occured (allthough the car has been off the road for approx 9.months while i scraped enough together for a dizzy) after it decided to stop working after doing the headgasket) on start up coolant light comes on as usual and goes off after about a second then stays off for maybe one or two minuets then flashes.

my fan works, my oil temp doesnt go over 100 (on mfa), plenty of coolant in (maybe slightly too much will empty some out just incase its over full), everyone (no one to technical) has allways said how hot the engine is when i lift the bonnet. i must admit it is alot hotter than the old 8v kjet i had but assumed as i had no issues that it was normal for an abf.

iv noticed that the temp guage rises quicker than it used to. it always used to rise really slowly to about quater now it gets to half from a short journy across town

fan kicks in as it should i keep forgetting to check the bottom rad hose early on

Any help would be much appreciated

will sort coolant and get results of lower rad hose aswell

cheers

[sleeper16]

ok lowered coolant level down to min mark on header tank it made no difference
check bottom rad hose and that stays cold until temp gauge gets off the thick white mark then gets hot.

heaters are working brilliantly start putting out warmish air within about a minuet

just redone the bleeding thing running car with cap off while squeezing all the hoses heaters on etc so will top up when it has cooled down see if that makes any difference.

what else can i check for?

[maxp]

Faulty thermostat?

[sleeper16]

if it was thermostat wouldnt the bottom rad hose get hot straight away? or not at all if stuck shut?

what about a temp sender? the white two pin sender is that oil or coolant?

i do have a little high idle but i got that down to a leaky butterfly

[rubjonny]

if the light comes on when the coolant temp is bellow 3/4 then its probably down to the level sensor. disconnect the plug from the tank and bridge the pins.  if that stops it the level is too low or the sensor is bust.  if that doesnt help the issue is with the wiring or cloks, or the coolant temp sensor.

where is your hazzard switch, dash or column?

[sleeper16]

dash cheers will try that right now. had a new sensor in the top of header tank only about a year ago.

[sleeper16]

well thats fixed it bridged with a paperclip and all was well. will whip the sender out and clean the prongs see if that helps if not ill order a new sender.

cheers once again jonny

[rubjonny]

worst case if you pull the level sensor relay it'll disable the level warning but the temp gauge will still work

its the one above the fusebox with 42 or 43 on it

[Sam]

Little red paperclip eh?