Bird Cage Light(Low coolant)?

[Fuzz420]

Ok heres the scenario, i leave house tonight. I start the car of the first time all day.Starts right up but my birdcage light comes on and stays on.First thing i do is shut her down immediatly and pop the hood and check anti-freeze level. It was just about to the top(sitting at thebottom of the neck).

Im like ok its essentially full.I jump back in and fire the car up and drive to the store and the light goes out upon restartle.Good deal right, well i was wrong. So make the turn out to main road and it lights up, so it must be low.I come back home, pop the rad cap again and add just barely any coolant put it on, fire it up and she appears fine no light, and when i turn out on the main road no light.

I got to my friends no problem and when i leave a few hours later its back on. So followed ths same procedure as earlier, except this time i was on a slight incline. Poped the rad cap open and she was just as full as when i left the house. I drive back home, temp gauge is fine, car runs normally except the light is on.

Does anyone have any idea what it could be, I thought air could be in the system but ive had that before and i dont get the traditional "waterfall" noise on start up.Could a sending unit be shot.Im having my mechanic buddy come by in the moring, to check me out. Also does anyone know a round about price of a compression too tester would set me back, cause im wanna try to have my compression check across all cylinders, becuase the darkness in my coolant worries me.

Sorry about the long post , im just tryin to describe indetail

Cliffnotes:

Birdcage lights on, coolant full. Is it air, is a send or other?

Anyinsight is appreciated as always

 

[supramacist]

dude I have the same thing going on. I know you said you were on an incline. But get some ramps and pull up onto them. remove the rad cap after starting the engine. if there is air in there, it'll work it self out. But the engine has to be running. You probably don't have enough to envoke said waterfall responce. Mine was doing the exact same thing. full up to the neck...., wtf?? put it on ramps. started it and it started burping. good luck fuzz.

 

[Fuzz420]

dude I have the same thing going on. I know you said you were on an incline. But get some ramps and pull up onto them. remove the rad cap after starting the engine. if there is air in there, it'll work it self out. But the engine has to be running. You probably don't have enough to envoke said waterfall responce. Mine was doing the exact same thing. full up to the neck...., wtf?? put it on ramps. started it and it started burping. good luck fuzz.

Yea ima do the ramps tomorrow when my buddy comes over, also i just rembere i seen a small leak coming from up. Intresting. I guess that 45 mile trip yesterday in high heat @ 90mph the whole way took its toll on my coolant system :biglaugh:

 

[supramacist]

check all your rad hoses. I had all my shit tight and it still came lose. I ended up going over it with 320 grit sandpaper, and it hasn't happened since.

 

[Fuzz420]

check all your rad hoses. I had all my shit tight and it still came lose. I ended up going over it with 320 grit sandpaper, and it hasn't happened since.

We'll go thru all the hoses, ive blown a few in the last few months, hopefully its another pinhole leak and can be replace with ease. But i still want to do the compression check or flush my radiotor cause the semi-milky looking coolet is becoming evident but i just want to make sure the rads clean.And if compression turns out to be low cometic here i come

 

[supramacist]

It does look like a bird cage...., tell me I am wrong.

 

[s383mmber1]

I just fixed mine. It would go up on inclines. I made sure the coolant level was to the TOP and now shes perrr-fect

 

[GotToyota?]

Mine would go on whenever my overflow tank was empty, check that as well.

-Matt

 

[JAWS]

The level sensor is in the overflow tank. You know, the white plastic bottle in front of the Rad. When it is less then about 1/4 full the light will start blinking, it's got to be almost empty to give a steady light.

 

[NDBoost]

what if the sensor is broken..

 

[Fuzz420]

It does look like a bird cage...., tell me I am wrong.

Yes it really looks like birdcage

Mine would go on whenever my overflow tank was empty, check that as well.

-Matt

Yes my overflow is empty

what if the sensor is broken..

Then i ll will take necessary actions to fix it

 

[Fuzz420]

I feel like a tool

First off i wasted mine and his time picking my buddy up from his house to check me out

All it was the overflow tube had sensors and he poured in some coolant and bam instant off. Guess ya learn something everyday.

 

[SupraMario]

I think Bigarron said that
the design of the 7m is built so that it will burp itself. thats what the overflow bottle is for and why it needs to stay filled.

 

[grsupra87]

funny...same exact thing happened to me today. I replaced a hose, topped off the fluid, went for a spin, bird-cage blinking. My wife says "Is your overflow tank up to the full line?' It was dry, I filled it up, instant fix, and now my wife won't let me hear the end of it. lol

 

[Fuzz420]

funny...same exact thing happened to me today. I replaced a hose, topped off the fluid, went for a spin, bird-cage blinking. My wife says "Is your overflow tank up to the full line?' It was dry, I filled it up, instant fix, and now my wife won't let me hear the end of it. lol

You win some and you lose some, but unfortunatlly we both lost

 

[Mosupra9]

man i thought i was DUMB....lol that light goes on when ur over fill tank is LOW....if u loook in side theres sensor....that raises when u fill it up to full or a little les....

 

[supramacist]

great advice guys, helped me out as well.

 

[Fuzz420]

man i thought i was DUMB....lol that light goes on when ur over fill tank is LOW....if u loook in side theres sensor....that raises when u fill it up to full or a little les....

the only thing that is dumb is your post for making assumptions.Next time read the date before making a slick comment

great advice guys, helped me out as well.

glad to have helped, its a steep learning curve. We gotta stick together

 

[supramacist]

There are a few people on this thread that know what's up...., and there are the couple wich I usually am just stying to hypothesize and maybe give someone some direction. But I feel ya Fuzz.