coolant level

[guinness]

Here's the story, I got stuck in traffic behind an accident today. I sat in the car for awhile waiting and decided to put it in park, a few min. later coolant level displayed on the dash. I pulled over til the accident was cleared and restarted the car (I live about a mile from the spot), the coolant level displayed again but stopped when i put it in drive. I got home and turned off the car and the display showed coolant again. My question is this, what happened and did I do any damage?
thanks
Jim

[uscharalph]

Did the car overheat?

[guinness]

no, it got about a 32nd past the 1/2 mark when I shut it down. My biggest question is "what happened?" and will it happen again.
Jim

[infinity5]

well open the hood and look!! :) is the coolant level reasonable? is coolant sprayed onto anything? If the car didn't overheat then you didn't do any harm, but the check control display won't tell you anything important. The coolant level sensor is also a POS and randomly gets stuck and lies to you about the coolant level. about once a week it tells me i'm low, so i look and the coolant will be full past the max line... make sure yours isn't just frtizing out/

[guinness]

it's low and I saw some coolant around the plug next to the overflow tank. I'm gonna just fill it tommorrow and see what happens.

[infinity5]

See if you can track the leak down some more. Idle the car in the driveway and see if it drips down to the floor. I'm not familar with the m20 so i can't really help you specifically, but if by plug you mean the cap, bleed screws, or coolant level sensor, then take it off and tighten it back on. Your expansion tank is connected to the radiator correct? The seam between the two can leak, pay attention to that as well. Hopfully your hoses are just shot after 16~ years and need to be replaced.

[Dan in NZ]

The plastic tanks can also crack in random places...

[Kalevera]

The plastic tanks can also crack in random places...
True.

[guinness]

The strange part is that it's a new radiator, the leak I saw was on the top left hand side (facing forward) next to the expansion tank. It looks like a brass plug, if it continues to leak I guess I could try putting a crush washer in?

[infinity5]

does it have wires comming off it? its probably the aux water temp sensor to activatve the aux fan :) except for the coolant that will pour out, putting a crush washer in there might be a good idea. just don't over tighten it or your liable to crack the radiator.

[guinness]

no wires, just a brass plug. I'll give it a try tommorrow.
thanks
Jim

[winfred]

plug on top with a screwdriver slot in it intake manifold side? if so that's the ultra cheep crappy csf brand radiator, the plug is what they use for a air bleed and sealed with a rubber washer, it's black plastic on the regular radiator. plug on exhaust side on side of radiator? it's where the fan switch goes and is sealed with a copper/aluiminum or fiber washer. the level sensor is a turd but sometimes it's the wire connections that are loose, slightly pinch them with pliers to make them hold on better

[guinness]

Well, I refilled the expantion tank and pulled the battery for a few min. to reset. Tuened it on and the coolant level still reads low. What am I missing?
Jim

[CheapCheap1]

When did you change the coolant sensor the last time?
(From what I've heard, the coolant sensor is gone south pretty fast... I would try to replace it & see if it would fix the problem.)

Good luck...

[guinness]

pulled off the brass plug, the packing was torn in half. would air in the system cause this problem?

[InfernoM3]

it's low and I saw some coolant around the plug next to the overflow tank. I'm gonna just fill it tommorrow and see what happens.
My coolant light came on yesterday and I took a look at it this morning and the tank looks empty??? how do i check the level. I have a 535i and the tank is way different than my 525. The tank was much easier to understand. The level indicator is sideways on the 535 instead of up and down??? Also what kind of coolant do you guys recommend besides the BMW one? Since my nearest dealer is way to far away.

[guinness]

Well, it fixed it's self. I was changing the packing on the plug today and I glanced over at the expantion tank (it was empty yesterday so I filled it to the cold line). Today it was almost spilling out the top!! so I drained out the extra antifreeze, started it up so I could bleed the system but no coolant level warning. I cracked the bleed valve anyway but no air , just fluid so I guess the explaination is that my car has gremlens and they were playing with me. Thanks again for all the help and advise with this problem.
Jim

[uscharalph]

I hate gremlins!