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Low Coolant Light and Low Oil Pressure Light is on were are they located?


dizzle1
05-27-2009, 07:04 AM
They just came on, the low oil pressure light goes on and off I just put the motor back in.

carbon02
05-27-2009, 09:06 PM
dizzle-- Is this a 3.5L?

If so, the coolant level sensor is in the plastic coolant tank on the bottom. I believe it can be removed and doesn't require a new tank.

From the limited info that I have on the 3.5L it looks like the oil pressure switch is on the back cylinder head on the right side. Below the coolant tank.

It looks like it's all the way to the right of the head looking from the drivers seat through the windsheild at the rear head. Down approximately at the same level as the oxygen sensor.

Somethings loose or not connected in that area after your engine install. I bet the wire harness is the same main harness for the coolant level and oil pressure.

Good Luck-

dizzle1
05-28-2009, 05:10 PM
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo15/bmwmperor/The%20Forums/P5210110-1.jpg

The oil pressure light turned off. It should be the 1 wire, white sensor clip by the passenger axle, it was kind of loose in the rubber gasket that held it in the bolt. I didn't want to take it apart I pushed it and tucked it down as much as i could before the install.

The low coolant level light is still on I need to get coolant but it’s on water for temporary short trips to help it flush also. When I change it to real coolant I hope the light goes away.

What coolant should I go with? Green is for older cars, Prestone Dexcool orange is ok but I hate the smell and brown stuff it leaves behind. So I’m thinking Prestone longlife.

2000 Intrigue Gx

carbon02
05-28-2009, 11:09 PM
Check for brown gunk in the tank that might be causing the float to stick.

I just removed original dexcool after 7 years and 100,000 miles and it was pretty clean. I believe that dexcool has better specs for silica and silicates in the coolant. These compounds found in traditional antifreeze wear on the water pump gaskets.

Anyway-- I think if you have completely removed the old coolant you can probably go with any coolant that you want, but mixing even the "mix with everything coolant" with Dexcool seems to make brown gunk.

Good Luck purging the coolant system. I broke down and bought a tool to pull vacuum on the coolant system, then fill it under vacuum. I gave up with trying to bleed air out of the radiator air bleed. It's a stupid design that the radiator is the highest point in the cooling system. I even tried parking on steep hills with the front of the car down the hill in an attempt to bleed air out the radiator tank.

That engine looks to be in pretty good shape. What killed the engine in your 2000? Ours seems to consume coolant. I hope it's the lower radiator hose, but I've noticed that the water cross over appears to have some dried coolant on the bolts. Fixing those gaskets seems to require nearly an engine removal. More than I might be willing to tackle.

dizzle1
05-29-2009, 01:09 PM
Thats the same engine with almost 106k, I changed the transmission and degreased them both clean enough.

I see you got 2 intrigue's what made you buy 1 more and which one is faster? The lower mileage or the higher

If you've got one that your ok with then go for a GLS

LittleHoov
05-29-2009, 01:54 PM
Not trying to hijack here. But I believe parking the car on a steep hill with the front facing UP the hill would be more effective for bleeding would it not? Strictly speaking of the 3.5.

Thats how I did it anyway, and it seems to have worked just peachy.

dizzle1
05-30-2009, 05:47 PM
I cleaned up the coolant reservoir with hot water quite a few times and put it all back and the light stayed off when I turned the key, I shook the reservoir and the plastic float started to move more easily. Carbon02 thanks for the tip that’s one reason I didn't put in any new coolant, I’ll try my best to bleed the system as Littlehoov mentioned, it’s hard to clean the reservoir completely it has channels with little holes like a submarine.

LittleHoov
05-31-2009, 12:26 AM
I really dont know if thats the correct way to do it or not. The bleeder screw on the 3.5 is on the radiator, so after doing some bleeding on level surfaces I did it with the front uphill too. Made sense to me to put the bleeder screw higher than the rest of the of the system. With the nose uphill I opened the bleeder until liquid start coming out.

I also drilled 2 small holes in the thermostat, in addition to the 4 small ones it already has. But I was getting tired of the overheating below freezing thing. So now my car actually warms up quite slow, especially if you start it up and take off moving, and runs a tad cooler than it used too.

I did some with the engine running, some with it off. Dont recall what I did with the overflow cap. I think I did some with it on, some with it off.

All in all, it took a little while to get all the air out. I would drive for a few days and sometimes my low coolant light would come on, and there would be no external leak, so Id top it off and keep going. Then after doing that 2-3 times it never came back on again. Seemed like it was self bleeding. Which makes sense because of the way it flows through the reservoir.

dizzle1
05-31-2009, 05:04 PM
If you look closely at the reservoir cap area there is a hole that leads out to the rubber hose going downward to the ground to let out air/fluid before it comes bursting out by the cap. When the cap is tightened completely it will seal that opening from the over flow hose.

I can try bleeding it with the cap a little loose

dtownfb
05-31-2009, 08:11 PM
Use Prestone Universal Long life coolant. It's a flourescent green. It's compatible with all coolant. I have it in my Intrigue and it's the only coolant my mechanic uses.

dizzle1
06-01-2009, 05:33 PM
The cooling system capacity is 9.6 quarts. I picked up 2 jugs of Prestone Universal Extended Life coolant and 2 1 gallon bottles of distilled water. The yellow and black jug, it had all the same agents as the dexcool and was free of the same elements and more.

http://www.prestone.com/products/antifreezeCoolant.php#antifreezeCoolant2

dtownfb
06-02-2009, 08:34 AM
You have enough to coolant to do two cars. I used the pre-mixed version. It's a good option if you have any concerns about Dexcool.

Since the cooling system is a closed system on the 3.5L, it should self bleed as long as the coolant is flowing normally. When I changed my coolant, i took the bleeder screw off and let the engine run until fluid started coming out. then let it run a few more minutes and re-fill the reservoir to the correct level.

dizzle1
06-04-2009, 01:35 PM
I did the same thing I even pushed water through the heater core. Then I used an air compressor to push the heater core fluids out, the block and the radiator through the bleeder. The engine drain bolt is sensitive make sure it’s not over tightened just enough so you know it won't turn itself and leak it’s a 3/16 and push it in deep then turn.

The bleeder doesn't have to be tightened completely either and when the coolant reached the top it started leaking out, as it was wet turning the bleeder just got harder.

Is there any tool to turn the bleeder?
I had to use pliers and it looks bad, using your fingers didn't work.

You have to take the reservoir cap off to bleed the system, nothing bleed until I did that and the bleeder was almost off after adding new coolant. I just couldn't see how it can get into the heater core since those hoses run from the top. When I turned the heat on before it made a bubbling sound I think it's gone now.

Are you suppose to run the heat when you add coolant with engine on?
I think it helps the fluid flow around and fill up.

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