MFA Oil temp/temp needle cool, but temp light flashes?

[sbp]

Hey all, I have a '92 5sp digi 4 door Gti, great car, everything works, the only thing that is annoying is that the red temp light in the dash will flash after a bit of stop start city driving, even though the temp needle never goes above 1/2 way, and the MFA oil temp doesn't go past 90.

One mechanic told me to ignore the flashing light, but it has me a bit worried?.

Any opinions appreciated..

S

[h100vw]

It's also a warning for the coolant level in the expansion tank. If the tank is full you need a new sensor most likely.

Gavin

[jayjay]

The temperature sensor and the coolant level plug are completely seperate. have a look to see if the wires going into the top of the bottle are a bit tired. the light will go nuts if it has a bad connection.

also check the level of the bottle regularly. your cooling system might be working a bit harder than it needs to be if it's low.

[sbp]

That's great, thanks so much for that! will check it out tomorrow..

[Golf Loon]

Try bridging the wires on the sensor on the radiator bottle and see if that fixes the problem. If so, a new bottle will fix it.

[DangerDan]

Yeh funny that, my car has the same problem when starting. Usually I head done the road, stop the car and then restart and the light stops flashing. But it is annoying

[sbp]

Ok, seems the light was a warning for low coolant level. looking at the expansion tank (the round type) it's obviously low, below the MIN mark.

I feel like an idiot, but how on earth do I get the cap off to top it up? Is there a trick? Won't budge, and don't want to apply too much force, in case i crack the tank.

Any tips?

[joshyd-mk2gti]

there's no trick to it, just gota undo it anti-clockwise. sounds like it hasn't been opened for a while.