warning light at 70 degrees

[richieD 0]

Howdy all

I have looked through the forum but didn't find this problem specifically. On my G60 (just bought) the temp needle takes about ten minutes to move from cold and wont go above 70, yet the temp warning light comes on after about 25 mins idling (oil at approx 85). The expansion tank is at max and isn't leaking and the fan is working fine. Oil level is also fine. The temp warning light came on on the drive home from the seller (last week) and I noticed coolant was low. I topped it up with G11 and then it was fine, but now its started to do this. I dont see any evidence of the head gasket going.

 

On my previous 1.8 16V the temp was always at 90ish which I know is normal.

 

Any thoughts anyone? I dont know as much as I would like to about such things (bloody rookie)

 

All posts are greatly appreciated. Cheers :?

[lottysvdub 0]

if you earth out the temp sender does the needle rise to the top of the gauge , if so its your temp sender unit up the spout , just pop the connector off the sender and earth it out and see what happens , its the 1st thing i would try , hope this is some help :)

[Dub_nut_g60 0]

My G60's water temp only ever goes above 70 in traffic, AFAIK, the light next the icon you would assume to be a temp warning is actually collant level light (hence why it came on during the drive home from seller when level was low)

 

If your oil temp is 85 then i would guess that your collant temp being at 70 is probaby about right.

 

No doubt someone will be along to correct me shortly.....

[Walesy 0]

:)

 

Hi mate, congrats on the purchase.

 

70deg is a tad low , the normal running temp should be around 90deg - like lottysvdub says, id try the sender first as they're less than a tenner and easy to swap.

 

85 deg oil also seems a tad low - mine have allways run at around 100deg , maybe the car has a mocal oil cooler fitted? - I woudn't be worried about the oil temp tho personally.

[coolrado 0]

if you earth out the temp sender does the needle rise to the top of the gauge , if so its your temp sender unit up the spout , just pop the connector off the sender and earth it out and see what happens , its the 1st thing i would try , hope this is some help :)

 

be carefull doing this as sometimes the guage can go over range and the mechanism inside the guage becomes disconnected, which means having to dismantle the clocks to sort out, best thing to do is run a cable from the sensor wire into the car and ground it out while you look at the guage, but make sure you disconnect it before the guage does go over maximum.

[richieD 0]

Thanks for the suggestions lads, I'll try them out.

However , the plot thickens. I was burning the midnight oil last night on the forum,logged off when it got bright and went out to the car (boys and new toys...). Fired her up and went for a spin. Took it handy until I got the oil up to 90. Water temp needle at this point still read zero. No warning light at all. I took her for a 30 mile hard drive and the oil never went past 90 (which I'm not alarmed about) but the water temp needle stayed at zero the whole time. When I got back and left her sitting idling, within 2 mins the water temp was up to 70 and the light came on, while the oil still read 90. On the hard drive (on which I nearly mowed down about fifty rabbits, :albino: lucky buggers, and nearly hit some sheep :splat: who broke out of a field just as I was tumbling along at eighty. Who needs ABS?-Pah!) the oil actually dropped to 85! My 16V used to run at 90 water and 140 oil hard driving.

 

I'm gonna have a look at the sender. What colour is the wire/sender for the temp. I got this on the forum. is it right?

 

Sensor on side of head = pressure sensor (which go fragile with age! )

Sensor at front near block = Pressure sensor

Sensor at front near rad = temp sensor

 

Thanks lads. Appreciate all the help. :D

[Walesy 0]

It sounds like it could be your thermostat sticking open?

 

I'm sure someone will be able to tell you how to check for that, before you go spending money :)

[richieD 0]

I goddam love this car, she is so sweet!

Just started her up from cold. all sender wires are attached correctly and in good nick. Radiator feed and outlet pipes are heating up evenly. Fan comes on and runs fine. When oil temp reaches 82, water temp light comes on, water temp needle at about 65 degrees. I did this with the expansion tank lid off, and at blinking light, there was barely any steam out of it, so I'd say the 65 degrees sounds about right. If the thermo was stuck the rad pipes wouldn't be same temp, AFAIK. This is all at idle by the way, car has not moved.

 

I am feduddled still. :scratch: But I have a cracking G60, so it's not all bad!!! :norty:

[Supercharged 2]

Change the black sender before doing anything else (I'd also buy a blue one too)

[richieD 0]

Change the black sender before doing anything else (I'd also buy a blue one too)

Are those the two senders on the big pipe from the charger at the very top of the engine bay? They're water temp sensors? Thought they'd be in or near the rad.

 

Anyway the latest is, (deep breath) I started her up from cold again, blah blah same story as before-light came on. However, I knocked off the engine and restarted her. I left her run for a good half hour and the oil got up to and leveled off at 100, water levelled off as before at 75, but no light this time! It'll probably do it again but I'm not worried anymore. I'm gonna take your much appreciated advice everyone, can't hurt. thanks alot!! :D :D :D

 

However, there is one more nuisance problem and I could use some advice. Definitely electrics this time. No diplights. Just lost em the other day. I've just changed the bulbs to no avail. I have parking lights, full beams, but no dips. All wiring seems to be fine. I was told the car had the upgraded loom/relay but to be honest I dont think it does as the full beams are still pretty bad. That said there is a whole jumble of new wires and what looks like a relay attached in behind the OSF lamp, but everything seems to be connected in. I pulled out the switch from the dash and all that looks good too. Does anyone know how to bypass the switch to test if its the switch or if its wiring somewhere along the way? If I know what to connect up on the red pinbox behind the switch I think I can test this. thanks all, in advance, for taking time out to help me on this seemingly dumb-ass problem.

[Roger Blassberg 0]

If you have an uprated loom for the dipped headlights, it is probably here that the fault lies. If it's a properly designed system, there will be an in-line fuse in the switched circuit and this may have blown. This will not affect the main beams or sidelights, as you say in your fault description.

 

Best wishes

 

RB

[Supercharged 2]

The senders are on the plastic flange at the front of the head - plugs are colour coded...

[olly elworthy 0]

light is for water level,,has nothing to do with the actual temp,,