Low Coolant Sensor

Thanks to Scott Waters

If you have ever had a low coolant light come on, don't worry . . . unless you are 50 miles from nowhere and you really wish you would have drank that 64oz. big gulp! Obviously, first check to see if your coolant is full. This is the small reservoir on the left side of the engine bay with the "Warning Do Not Open Hot"! My Low Coolant light was intermittently coming on and off for at least six weeks. It would not come on at start-up, but usually wait until roughly ten minutes into my drive. My coolant was full, and the car was NOT running hot. all indications were leading to a short or bad sensor. There is no way to access the main radiator, since it is covered by a core shroud. I took my car, a '96, into the local Ford dealership and had a diagnosis. The solution, $200 would fix the bad sensor in the radiator. (and they mentioned my inner tie-rods need replacing ($400). actually the rods only had a dry spot in them and needed some grease!) Wow, I thought that sounded like a lot. So I called another dealership and the parts guy said the sensor was under the small reservoir. Cool, I could replace this myself! So, I ordered the part. My cost was $55.58. Part number F6DZ*8a080*a. Had it the next day.

First, I used a wet/dry vacuum and sucked out all the green juice I could. Maybe a half gallon or so. Took about 20 seconds. Next, start disconnecting the hose clamps and the hoses. There are two small bolts that attached the unit to the sidewalls (10mm's). Remove the unit and unsnap the sensor and the bottom of the tank. Replace with the new unit. Simply reverse the steps. However don't reverse the wet/dry vacuum and shoot the old juice back into the tank! Use some fresh lime-flavored Gatorade coolant and
drive away!

The whole procedure from start to finish took about 30 minutes. Save yourself the extra $150 and put in into a slush fund for future speeding tickets!

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