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Thu Aug 14, 2008 7:21 pm

Ok, let me start by saying that I have done a search and talked with a bunch of people and am still dealing with the flashing temp level light.

I have owned a 85, 1.9 vanagons for almost all of my life that I have been able to drive. I have fixed crappy wiring, put on new exhaust, new heads and the list goes on...but the one thing that I can not seem to fix on this van is that light. I have replaced the sensor, changed the coolent (finding seria coolent in Ohio sucks), tried cleaning up all the crappy grounds in the dash (the ones I could get to without taking the dash out), even replaced the thermostat along with the thermoswitch. All this stuff (I know that not all the things have anything to do with the level sensor but I figured it wouldn't hurt) and still that light blinks at me and it might as well be a slapping me in the face with each blink. Can anyone tell me the exact location of the ground for that f-ing light?

Thu Aug 14, 2008 7:31 pm

I also have a 1.9. (I have a 2.1 also, but no coolant light issues.) Mine has blinked at startup for a while. It used to be that the longer I had the key in the "pre-start" position the shorter it would stay on. It would almost go out as I was cranking the starter- the blinking frequency would increase. Now it stays on for about ten minutes after start-up, all the time. Even if I shut off after hours of driving, then start it again, it stays on for ten minutes.

Maybe the voltage regulator in the dash?

Ed in CT

Fri Aug 15, 2008 12:16 am

do you have power at the sensor?
did you try to jump the wires to see if the sensor is bad??

the main power for the lite goes thru the gauge,out of the gauge ,it spilts one going tothe sending unit ,one going to a low coolant level warning control unit (where the f is that i don't know,but it opperates the fan side)
out from the control unit to the low level sensor.the ground is by the ign coil

a fyi the sensor ground and lic.plate lite share the same ground.
good luck.

Fri Aug 15, 2008 2:40 am

Here's Ben's explanation.
http://www.benplace.com/cooling_sys_light.htm

Fri Aug 15, 2008 6:40 am

motelvw wrote: Here's Ben's explanation.
http://www.benplace.com/cooling_sys_light.htm

Ben is just The Man Again! That is awesome.........

Fri Aug 15, 2008 6:43 am

So where is that #42, #43 relay anyway?

Fri Aug 15, 2008 9:48 am

Sorry for that little rant. It was that I had just got done driving around all day and that stupid light would not go off. I would stop and check the coolent tanks every so often to make sure that the light was not telling me the truth.

I do have power at the sensor but the one thing that struck me was that maybe the new sensor I put in is also broke. But I also think that it's a gruond issue because it happens most of the time but every so often it does not blink. I'll fill everyone in when I make some ground (not very funny) with this.

Oh, thanks Ben

Fri Aug 15, 2008 11:04 am

this one may also help.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=168239&highlight=blinking+coolant+light