Dash Board Warning Light

[Guest Russell1]

Morning All

 

If the bad weather has been getting you down, my blond question will lift your spirits!

 

I think the water indicator has appeared on my saxo dash about 1 hour ago, it looks like the gauge marker you see in a reservoir, A upright line with graduated bars and a wavey line at the bottom.

 

Now if this means I need water in the system, please would some one advise me as to what type of water I need to buy, and does it go into the rad which I think is the large unit at the front of the engine cavity?

 

I can hear you laughing now !

 

Have a good one,

[Guest womble]

Go into any specialist DIY car component and accessory shop and ask for a sachet of Holts De-Hydrated Water.

 

Sprinkle the contents into a bucket and add a H2O solution available from your nearest cold water outlet or plumber's merchant....

 

 

 

Seriously, have you not got a Owners Handbook with the vehicle, that will show you where to top up.

 

Unfortunately, if your vehicle has been run without anti-freeze whilst the freezing weather is about, you may have already caused some damage and could have "Donald-Ducked" your engine.

 

May be best to get a friendly mechanic or someone who knows what they are doing to check it out before you get into major spend due to damage.

[Guest Russell1]

Womble

 

Love the reply mate, was expecting some harsher come backs so reckon I got off lightly!

 

You've really cheered me up now that I may had done damage to the engine, fingers crossed that I get away with it.

 

The car is parked at the station so I will need to top the rad up with some special fairy dusted potion :) before I attempt to drive the 4 miles home, would you be a honey and confirm if it's distilled water I need and that it's the capped unit at the front I add the water to?

 

Russell.

[Guest womble]

Ordinary tap water will do as an emergency "Get-You-Home" measure but you do need to have a Water/Antifreeze mix, certainly in this weather.

 

You would probably be better off getting the vehicle home or to a garage and having the coolant strength tested and go from there.

 

There are potentially 3 capped units so make sure you get the right one ie. The correct one is the cap to the header tank, where you should fill/top up but be careful as the screenwasher bottle is also capped as is the power-steering reservoir if fitted. Contamination of either of these by putting water in WILL give you more grief.

 

 

To save yourself a whole lot of problems, why don't you take someone with you who knows what they are doing, particularly if all this is new to you. Once you have been shown you will know for next time.

[seefive]

Womble

 

Love the reply mate, was expecting some harsher come backs so reckon I got off lightly!

 

You've really cheered me up now that I may had done damage to the engine, fingers crossed that I get away with it.

 

The car is parked at the station so I will need to top the rad up with some special fairy dusted potion :) before I attempt to drive the 4 miles home, would you be a honey and confirm if it's distilled water I need and that it's the capped unit at the front I add the water to?

 

Russell.

 

 

What colour was the indicator? On newer Citroens they light up blue when the engine is cold, then go out, presumably come back on red if it's getting too hot.

[Guest Russell1]

Womble

 

You are a legend mate,

 

I think the I know the screen wiper cap as I've filled that before, there is another capped unit much lower down to the left of the engine, but I thought the water for the rad would go in via the cap at the top of the rad, is this wrong then?

 

Russell1

[Guest Russell1]

Morning Seefive

 

The light came on red for about 20 seconds, then went off for 5 mins and then back on, I've been parked up since then, am intending to top the rad up with distilled water to get me to my local Halfords to buy some anti freeze.

Other option I have is to call the AA out and wait for them to look at the car before I drive home, what do you think?

 

Russell 1

[seefive]

Morning Seefive

 

The light came on red for about 20 seconds, then went off for 5 mins and then back on, I've been parked up since then, am intending to top the rad up with distilled water to get me to my local Halfords to buy some anti freeze.

Other option I have is to call the AA out and wait for them to look at the car before I drive home, what do you think?

 

Russell 1

 

Distilled water won't do any harm, but ordinary tap water would do. If the header tank starts filling up quickly, leave room for a litre of anti-freeze, to save having to drain the system. It doesn't sound too serious - no clouds of steam.

Is your oil OK? check the dipstick..

If in doubt call the AA

[Guest Russell1]

Hi Mate

 

that's made me feel a little better, was started to stress out about this all.

 

Oil is fine, funny I check this everytime I'm due to fill up.

 

So do you have any idea as to how much water I should put in? and 1 ltr of anti freeze all in 1 go? is that not too much? sorry to question you, I've had the guys in the office jabbering on about water to AF ratios, lots of tutting and shaking of heads :)

 

Russell 1

[seefive]

Hi Mate

 

that's made me feel a little better, was started to stress out about this all.

 

Oil is fine, funny I check this everytime I'm due to fill up.

 

So do you have any idea as to how much water I should put in? and 1 ltr of anti freeze all in 1 go? is that not too much? sorry to question you, I've had the guys in the office jabbering on about water to AF ratios, lots of tutting and shaking of heads :)

 

Russell 1

 

Strength should be about 50% antifreeze/ 50% water, I don't know how much coolant you've got in the system, or what the strength is. If it's only slightly low, a litre of antifreeze and a litre of water should get you going.

Generally, if the radiator is warm and your heater is working in the car, the cooling system is not in a critical state

[Guest Russell1]

Strength should be about 50% antifreeze/ 50% water, I don't know how much coolant you've got in the system, or what the strength is. If it's only slightly low, a litre of antifreeze and a litre of water should get you going.

Generally, if the radiator is warm and your heater is working in the car, the cooling system is not in a critical state

[Guest Russell1]

Hi Seefive

 

not sure if you got my last message?

 

so I will add 1 ltr of water to the car, dricve 1/4 mile to Halfords and add 1ltr of anti freeze, I think I'll ask the guys at the cab office to confirm which unit is the rad.

 

Gotta go will chat later,

 

Russell1

[paul.h]

I guess this is sorted now, but if I was only a 5 minute (1/4 mile) walk from Halfords, I would walk there, let them sell me the anti feeze recommended for the car (and maybe a Haynes manual for the car to learn some basic car checks) and then go back and pour it 100% strength in to the header tank (to give a level about half way between max and min) and then if the level is still below the minimum mark on the tank, add up to the same quantity of tap water so at worst the combined strength added is 50%. Also look for leaks to find out where the old anti freeze has gone.

[Guest Russell1]

I guess this is sorted now, but if I was only a 5 minute (1/4 mile) walk from Halfords, I would walk there, let them sell me the anti feeze recommended for the car (and maybe a Haynes manual for the car to learn some basic car checks) and then go back and pour it 100% strength in to the header tank (to give a level about half way between max and min) and then if the level is still below the minimum mark on the tank, add up to the same quantity of tap water so at worst the combined strength added is 50%. Also look for leaks to find out where the old anti freeze has gone.

[Guest Russell1]

Hi Paul

 

thanks for the advice, it makes no sense to me though :), I didn't know that you could see any levels within the rad unit to be honest, also I will be doing all this in a darkish station car park, I have bought a 1ltr bottle of anti freeze and 1ltr of water so I'll be going for broke, and adding the AF in equal part to the water as much as I can.

 

Hope this makes sense and that I'm not going to do the wrong thing?

 

Russell 1

[paul.h]

What you have proposed/done sounds fine and I hope the journey home was without problems. Having now seen a picture of a Saxo radiator (on Eurocarparts), I see that the header tank is part of the radiator as opposed to a separate one on one of the wings with max/min level marks and connected by hoses.

[Guest Russell1]

Morning Paul, Womble,

 

well managed to get home but unfortunately have found that the rad has a leak, did everything I said but the light came back on 2 mins from home and thankfully by a garage, saw the water coming out of a small so this must be affecting the pressure.

 

had to walk over the ice this morning to get the bus to the station so not too happy, fell over only once thankfully!

 

Thank you all for your help yesterday, and I have made a vow to become proactive regarding my car in 2011.

 

Wishing you all the best for Christmas and 2011.

 

Best regards,Caz aka Russell 1

[Guest womble]

Morning Paul, Womble,

 

well managed to get home but unfortunately have found that the rad has a leak, did everything I said but the light came back on 2 mins from home and thankfully by a garage, saw the water coming out of a small so this must be affecting the pressure.

 

had to walk over the ice this morning to get the bus to the station so not too happy, fell over only once thankfully!

 

Thank you all for your help yesterday, and I have made a vow to become proactive regarding my car in 2011.

 

Wishing you all the best for Christmas and 2011.

 

Best regards,Caz aka Russell 1

 

You are welcome and sorry for the initial banter, just couldn't resist.....

 

You now know what the problem is and hopefully you will soon get it fixed without delving too deeply into your purse.

 

At least it is only the radiator which is u/s, a relatively minor repair, initially my main concern was that you may have damaged the engine which would have meant major expenditure and to have driven may have caused even more problems but my concerns were unfounded.

 

Anyhow have a great Christmas and New Year, all the best, Andy

[Guest Russell1]

Morning Andy

 

Well, my neighbour is kindly sorting it out today, bless him! costing me a bottle of Jacks so I'm getting off lightly.

 

I loved your opening comments hun, didn't take offence at all, well I couldn't really as I openly admitted that I was blond and dumb :) playing the useless female has it's uses!

 

You guys put me to shame last night, I even took the users manual to bed and had a read, so there's hope for me yet, will be appearing on Top Gear soon if I carry on like this!

 

Again, thanks for the advice, I will deffo be using this page again,

 

Rgds, Caz.

[Guest Russell1]

Good Morning All

 

It's me the blond back again to stun and amaze you with my ineptitude :)

 

so, the story so far is the rad leak has been fixed but the light is still on and also the coolant fan is not working, my kindly neighbour is going to check the fuse but apart from that any other suggestions as to what it could be?

 

Appreciate your help again,

 

Caz

[Guest womble]

Good Morning All

 

It's me the blond back again to stun and amaze you with my ineptitude :)

 

so, the story so far is the rad leak has been fixed but the light is still on and also the coolant fan is not working, my kindly neighbour is going to check the fuse but apart from that any other suggestions as to what it could be?

 

Appreciate your help again,

 

Caz

 

Hello CAZ,

 

Think you will find that the fan is thermostatically controlled and will not work (certainly in this weather) until the radiator is really hot, when it should kick in automatically. The light may need resetting at the dealers but not sure on that one. Run it a bit and see if it resets itself or not

[Guest Russell1]

Hello CAZ,

 

Think you will find that the fan is thermostatically controlled and will not work (certainly in this weather) until the radiator is really hot, when it should kick in automatically. The light may need resetting at the dealers but not sure on that one. Run it a bit and see if it resets itself or not

[Guest Russell1]

Morning Andy

 

not sure if my last messgae was posted?

 

so to recap, rad fine but fan not, friend checking the fuse also disconnecting the battery to see if this turns the light off, engine run for 40 mins, pipes not overly warm so perhaps we need to let the engine run again as it's warmer.

 

Caz

[Guest womble]

Morning Andy

 

not sure if my last messgae was posted?

 

so to recap, rad fine but fan not, friend checking the fuse also disconnecting the battery to see if this turns the light off, engine run for 40 mins, pipes not overly warm so perhaps we need to let the engine run again as it's warmer.

 

Caz

 

DONT DISCONNECT BATTERY unless you have coding for radio as you will lose this if disconnected !!!!! Just try turning ignition on/off quite a few times

[Guest Russell1]

DONT DISCONNECT BATTERY unless you have coding for radio as you will lose this if disconnected !!!!! Just try turning ignition on/off quite a few times