I have an engine coolant low message, however the coolant fill tank is full. In the past (maybe 3 times since new) the dealer had said that there is another tank (where?) that allows coolant to slowly transfer out of and into this tank, which generates the message. They have refilled coolant to terminate the message, but I'm not sure where or how they added it, as the location I'm checking is full. Anyone else run into this? I hate to drive across town just to remedy this if I can do it myself.
Or is there just a sticky or dirty sensor that they are tapping on to get the message out.

Submitted by glynnkerr@yahoo.com on Tue, 08/09/2011 - 19:43

Douglas - if it's any consolation, I'm having exactly the same issue with my '98 Convertible. When I go to refill the header tank after the warning comes on, I find it's almost full. I haven't tried Steven's suggestion of filling the recovery tank directly yet - I'll report back after I've done that.

Submitted by stevejag@sbcgl… on Tue, 08/09/2011 - 10:36

That might indicate a failure of the coolant tank cap. It has a two-way valve to allow coolant to go out when at a certain pressure, but also allow it to be sucked back in under the vacuum of cooling down. The cap may not be letting it suck back in.

Everything's complicated, isn't it???

Cheers,

Submitted by riscoe@cox.net on Mon, 08/08/2011 - 20:42

Ok, this is getting annoying.
I have been adding a little more coolant into the recovery tank every so often, until today when the tank overflowed behind the right wheel well. So it must be full now, but again, after a brief drive to bring the engine up to normal ops temp, I still have the message.
Any other ideas?

Submitted by riscoe@cox.net on Mon, 08/08/2011 - 20:40

Well, this is getting annoying.
I have been adding a little more coolant into the recovery tank every so often, until today when the tank overflowed behind the right wheel well. So it must be full now, but again, after a brief drive to bring the engine up to normal ops temp, I still have the message.
Any other ideas?

Submitted by riscoe@cox.net on Mon, 08/01/2011 - 04:47

Well, the car wash never happened, but the coolant service did- pretty easy, and I could hear it bubbling into the recovery tank behind the right wheel. Thanks again!

Submitted by stevejag@sbcgl… on Sat, 07/30/2011 - 14:09

Douglas,

What David is relating to is applicable to the first generation S-Type only, yours works differently. The header tank you have has a connection to a separate recovery tank hidden in the front wing area. Your tank has very little expansion area so when the engine is hot the expanded coolant is pushed out to the recovery tank. That is the small elbow hose connecting to the rear of your header tank, towards the windscreen. Over time with coolant loss, evaporation etc., the coolant in the recovery tank gets used up to refill the engine, when there is nothing left there it just draws in air. That's when the low coolant warning will show. I keep a small funnel around to stick in that elbow hose I mentioned, so I can put 12-16 ounces of coolant back in the recovery tank. Fill the header tank and you are good to go. That way there is enough there for the in and out of coolant due to expansion.

Cheers,

Submitted by riscoe@cox.net on Sat, 07/30/2011 - 12:30

You'd think they'd just hook up a dummy sensor and never get the message again.
I'm wondering if i can't just do that- if it's just an open, closed, or resistive sensor, hard wire it to show full.

Submitted by dgbelanger@att.net on Fri, 07/29/2011 - 22:21

Doug -

Jaguar had a similar problem about 10 years ago (with S-TYPES) and it reached the point that they issued a technical bulletin to cut all the wires and reprogram the computer so it wouldn't read the low coolant sensor. My car was so mutilated and they just said "sorry - we can't undo it. The parts aren't even available. Some years later my service writer replaced the expansion tank and sid they were prone to leak, That was part of the 50K checkup and the car was about to go out of it's original warranty. Now, a 110K miles, I wonder........