Low Coolant Sensor / Overflow bottle

[Zap]

I just replaced the coolant overflow bottle - driving yesterday I noticed that the engine temp was climbing so I pulled over and shut it off. Let it cool down, but noticed a bit of a drip near the bottle.

Drove home OK, but got right to work and sure enough, big crack in the bottle, which was leaking when hot and under pressure.

At any rate, my main question pertains to the low coolant sensor/light. Did the '97 still have this feature? I found an electrical connector taped over with black tape beneath the bottle. Unless it takes a ton of force, I couldn't get it to push onto the sensor on the bottle, though it looked like the right type of connector.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

[rainbeer]

The 97 had this feature. The plug should work and you also know the sensor is part of the bottle. You cant replace it without replacing the bottle.

 

[Liquid_force]

Dorman 603-201.
About $35 on ebay (new).

 

[Zap]

Yeah, I'm a bit perplexed. The connector on the new bottle is the same as the old one, but the old one was not plugged in and had tape that looked like black duct tape covering it. There isn't another plug in the wiring harness over in that area, is there?

It plugs in partially, but it doesn't want to fully snap in, and I didn't want to mess up the sensor or where it meets the bottle by forcing it.

 

[rainbeer]

Wow, strange. Is it a 2 prong or 3 prong connector?

 

[98SF19]

weird

So the reservoir you just put in got a crack in it? What brand and where'd you buy it? How long have you owned the car? I replaced mine a few months ago with the Dorman. I was getting the low coolant sensor light on, but engine temp never spiked. I discovered that there was a crack in the tank which would cause the levels to go low enough to trigger the sensor, but not low enough to adversely affect the motor cooling. Of course the tank got replaced before the crack crept. Perhaps your case is a previously botched tank replacement (Billy Bob's auto shop) that somehow resulted in damage to the connector. OR, if you bought the car somewhat recently, the previous owner had a situation like mine in which the tank would leak down to a certain point, triggering the sensor, but would still hold enough coolant to do the job, and instead of fixing the root problem, they opted to just deactivate the sensor, justifying it by the fact that the engine wasn't overheating.

 

[Zap]

The connector is two prong. The reservoir with the crack was the original OE part. I replaced it, though, with the newer clear style.

Yeah, I suspected that maybe someone disabled the sensor in the past as it may have not been working. I've had the car a few years now. The weird part, though, is that the tape looked similar to that which I've seen used on harness plugs taped over at the factory that didn't apply to the specific model application. Weird.

I may be pulling the tank at some point to tighten connections on the A/C lines again and I will try to get pictures of the plug.

 

[Zap]

OK - Another update on this mystery. The plug was assembled wrong, and so that's why it wouldn't plug in. I wonder if it was just taped up at the assembly line when the car was built because they couldn't figure it out fast enough!

I removed the little plastic insert and it plugs in just fine, and works - triggering a low coolant alarm if the reservoir is not filled. So that is one mystery solved.

(Meanwhile, my A/C still leaks like a sieve... so that battle continues...)