Engine Coolant Light ..::::::(((.........

[espritpassion]

Is it still throwing up a fault code ?

As I say the ECU follows a set of instructions like a logic controller so you cannot guess or suppose why something is working or not working without looking at the flow diagram for the unit.

A code could help even if there is no code shown as you can go through the truthg table and work out what IS working.

yes Jonathan, as you know, the freescan show me the code 26 (wastegate,secondary injectior........)

what can be????

thanks

[snuffy]

I can't be bothered to read all the replys so someone may have already suggested this :

The float in the coolant tank gets gunged up and can often stick. Take the top of the coolant ( header ) tank ( the one in the engine bay, not the one in the boot ). It has two wires going to it. Unscrew the top and pull out the long plastic tube ( it's about 4 inches long ). Inside is a float that determines if you have low coolant. If you turn the tube unside down, two things should happen : 1) You should hear the float move and 2) with the engine running, this should make the light go off ( well, stay off ). Turn it the right way up again and as it's not in the water tank the light should come on ( because the float is not floating ). Basically, with the plastic tube out of the water tank, turning upside down and back to normal, the light should go on/go off etc. If it does not then you need to clean it. Give it a good wash in soapy water, let the water soak away all the dirt in the tube. You can get the bottom of the tube off but then you'll have to glue it back on again. So, give it a good soak and clean and see what happens.

Adrian

Edited July 16, 2007 by snuffy

[Paula&Marcus]

Hi All, Hi Fred ... oh sorry, Adrian,

You all are totally right ...

I see you all have a lot of fun with Alessandro ... so do I ...

Sometimes too much fun cannot be good ...

BTW, I'm pretty sure Alessandro has a faulty "engine overheat relay". This will throw a code 26 and will turn the coolant light on.

Now my friends, please try to guide Alessandro through the whole process to find this relay and replace it properly without messing up all the other parts that may be in the way ... and please keep his so called expert friends far away from touching his Esprit.

I'm on holiday now ... my Outlook Inbox if full with Allessandro mails ... I just need a break ...

Yours

Marcus

[espritpassion]

Thanks Adrian for your reply and your help, as Marcus/PUK know I have changed the water sender in the header tank bought from him, the old sender was old and not good so I thinked that the problem can was it, but I have changed it and the problem there's always..perhpas can be the connections on the cap of the header tank that I have perhaps invert (left/right-right /left), I don't remembered the correctly connection of them and I have put on "fate" but certainly the problem is not this......

About Marcus (he is always funny..)).... he tell me in his post that can be a problem of "engine overheat relay", he wrote: Now my friends, please try to guide Alessandro through the whole process to find this relay and replace it properly without messing up all the other parts that may be in the way.......

please help me......thanks a lot

[Paula&Marcus]

Alessandro,

Its great that you understand my warped humor .....

Marcus

PS: Alessandro, could you please tell us what model year your Esprit exactly is ? Because the revised harness MY94+ cars do not have an "engine overheat relay"

Thanks Adrian for your reply and your help, as Marcus/PUK know I have changed the water sender in the header tank bought from him, the old sender was old and not good so I thinked that the problem can was it, but I have changed it and the problem there's always..perhpas can be the connections on the cap of the header tank that I have perhaps invert (left/right-right /left), I don't remembered the correctly connection of them and I have put on "fate" but certainly the problem is not this......

About Marcus (he is always funny..)).... he tell me in his post that can be a problem of "engine overheat relay", he wrote: Now my friends, please try to guide Alessandro through the whole process to find this relay and replace it properly without messing up all the other parts that may be in the way.......

please help me......thanks a lot

Edited July 17, 2007 by Paula&Marcus

[snuffy]

Hi Marcus

I hope Alessandro has a GT3, otherwise he really will have problems if he fits your chip#10 !!!!

Adrian

[Paula&Marcus]

Oh yes Adrian,

You are absolutely right ... he has #10 that tells us that he has a 2.0 litre engine ...

That means he does not have a coolant overheat relay.

What leads us to the fact that if the coolant light actually goes on he either has:

- too hot coolant, of course

- coolant level too low

or

- a faulty coolant temp sensor

- a faulty coolant level sensor (he told us that he has changed this)

- some faulty wires or connections

- .....

And he also told us that he has a code 26, right ?

Code 26 could be:

- RPM relay

- radiator fan relay

- A/C relay

- engine overheat relay (he does not have this)

- throttle jack solenoid relay

- wastegate solenoid relay

- canister purge relay

- check-engine-light bulbs shot

- secondary injector circuit open (= resistor shot or injectors shot)

Or an open circuit/wire in one of these circuits.

Hmmmmmmm ... could be almost everything ... but its not too difficult to find the fault. Swapping around some relays and doing tests with a multimeter for one evening time should do the trick.

OR maybe its not the coolant light that comes on !? Maybe its just the windshield washer reservoir light ?

Marcus

Hi Marcus

I hope Alessandro has a GT3, otherwise he really will have problems if he fits your chip#10 !!!!

Adrian

[Bibs]

[espritpassion]

..Then...my car is a GT3 (2.0 engine), year is 1999...

so????

[Paula&Marcus]

Bibs .... ? Could you please explain that mega BIG grin ???????

[espritpassion]

Bibs .... ? Could you please explain that mega BIG grin ???????

Bibs is a other big esprit pleasant (It's true BIBS???)....... however please now help me to resolve my problem.!!!!!!!! after we will do a big grin...now is not necessary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bibs]

There's nothing wrong with a big grin, oh, and check that windscreen washer reservoir!

Sorry, that tickled me a lot! We'll help you get this fixed Alessandro, then you'll be grinning too!

[snuffy]

Maybe its just the windshield washer reservoir light ?

That's a bit harsh !!!!

[espritpassion]

.....please BIBS.......help us to resolve my problem......

[Paula&Marcus]

Yes Bibs, come on, help him !

hihihihihi

Or maybe Dermot could throw in some new ideas .... ?

.....please BIBS.......help us to resolve my problem......

Edited July 17, 2007 by Paula&Marcus

[espritpassion]

....Marcus...so what you advice to check??...

Jonathan told me seeing my freescan logs that the temp was crazy: it go from a normally tempo of 80 to -350, this is impossible.......!!!!

so what check you reccomand me???

[Paula&Marcus]

Alessandro,

Have you really checked all the parts on my list above ????

Maybe you should begin with the temp sensor and the connector and wiring that goes to it.

IIRC, some zillion replies back this already was suggested to you by Tim (don't you remember the red arrow) ?

....Marcus...so what you advice to check??...

Jonathan told me seeing my freescan logs that the temp was crazy: it go from a normally tempo of 80 to -350, this is impossible.......!!!!

so what check you reccomand me???

Edited July 17, 2007 by Paula&Marcus

[espritpassion]

Ok Marcus thanks a lot

so I will start to check the part as soon as possible, I have printed the list of check and I will try to check the temp sensor and all other relays...the relay in the code 26 are the relay in the boot?? near the battery case in the wheel arch (near also a ECU cable)..??? are all here???

[Paula&Marcus]

Alessandro,

you are in severe need of a workshop manual for your car.

You got a PM from me.

Marcus

Ok Marcus thanks a lot

so I will start to check the part as soon as possible, I have printed the list of check and I will try to check the temp sensor and all other relays...the relay in the code 26 are the relay in the boot?? near the battery case in the wheel arch (near also a ECU cable)..??? are all here???

[espritpassion]

Marcus...I have this manual (is the big PDP about 50MB)??.....I will see it for the relay??

[Paula&Marcus]

Ahhhh ... you have it !?

Why dont you look then at page 777 ff ........ ooooooooooopppps its 831 ff !!! (if this goes on like that I will soon have difficulties remembering my own name ...)

Ma .... ? whatever

Marcus...I have this manual (is the big PDP about 50MB)??.....I will see it for the relay??

Edited July 17, 2007 by Paula&Marcus

[espritpassion]

Marcus I will see this page when I will go home because I have the manual in the notebook to home (now I'm in office)...........however the page in the pdf is 831??

thanks

[Jonathan]

Chaps, be fair - Code 26 is a bastard to sort out, esp when it is intermittent.

When I reviewed the freescan readings from the car some of the values were all over the place, spikes and so on (which is why I did say forget about the chip for the time being ) - which leads me to belive this was the reason why the car was flagging faults.

As I have said before I am not sure how the code runs for the ECU, but logic would state if the car sees a temperature rise or is recording a value of 300 oC the ECU would flag a warning EVEn if it goes back down to normal temp a second later.

The car has also been sat around for ages before Alessandro bought it, so there's more than a possibility that corrosion in the connectors has built up - I did get the old boy to take off the wiring and dab some contact grease on a few things and to see if that helped.

From Freescan the biggest help was when the alternator was changed - the values on the battery voltage became stable and I think it was also generating too much noise for the electrics, you could see it plain infornt of you with value spikes.

On the washerbottle comment - all jokng and piss taking asside that is a valid comment actually....a friend of mine owns a car which when you corner too hard it comes on and it's a common giggle they have with new owners of the vehicle. It's a funny but not always the obvious thing to pick up on.

Alessandro - you need to try and take some more freescan logs, this is why I told you to buy the kit becuase it's soooooo much easier for us to see what the car is doing. Any fault codes also list them. Readings of 5 mins or so when driving and when at idle will be needed.

Code 26 has two circuits A+B and it is often overlooked, you need to make sure when you read the code that you write it down exactly as it appears.

Finally take a picture of the dashboard with the lights and anything you do - this will help us see more about what is going on.

If you need them hosted send them to my e-mail addy and I'll post up here for everyone to look at.

From the previous freescans I know the car is running OK there is nothing dangerous or the car would have blown by now !

[Paul C]

A copy and paste of my own experience with my intermittant code 26 some time ago...

HTH

I had an intermittent engine check light. If I stopped the engine and restarted it then it could go away for days, I

lived with this for a bit, but got fustrated when it came on while I was on the motorway robbing my boost until I

could stop and reset it. The list of items on the code 26 list are:

- RPM relay

- Radiator relay

- A/C control relay

- engine overheat relay

- solenoid relay (throttle jack)

- ebpv solenoid

- wastegate solenoid

- canister purge solenoid

- check engine light bulb

- secondary injector circuit

As the cause for 26 is so wide, any search will find a fair bit of conjecture and you could find ten different people

with ten different causes. I fiddled about blindly until freescan split the list in half, and then i focused on the items

on that list.

Everyone with a chargecooled Esprit should use freescan Before posting about fault codes. The LEW lead and

manual is one of the best things I have bought and without it you have only the guesswork of others to go by,

which will cost you time better spent driving! Freescan split the code culprits into two groups and identified the

places i should be looking: Secondary injector relay, fan relay, cannister solenoid and wastegate solenoid. It also

said in the 'tip' line that something was probably open circuit.

I decided to blitz the fault rather than do individual components and wires. This is because as the fault is

intermittant, if i did one single item at a time and then ran til the fault came - it could take ages as sods law

dictates i would change the faulty item last. I phoned SJ and bought the Secondary injector relay, fan relay,and

wastegate solenoid. This only came to about

[espritpassion]

Thanks also for Jonathan and Paul for your support

Yes I will do more logs and I will send to Jonathan (so he can see and show to the other esprit owners),

However as I have 1 all day, I will test all relays so I can see if they are ok or no and however I will change them on the list of code 26.......

I will let you know

Thanks all for your support and regards from Italy

Alessandro