Brilliant reply! thank you very much for the help and advice. I heard it was most likely the saturated flotation device and just put up with it before selling the car.

merlinj79 wrote:

3.2 I6

"Low Coolant Level" warning but no loss of coolant. This had been going on for a while, intermittent.

Not a bad idea to reach down and disconnect and re-connect the coolant sensor wire connector at the bottom of the reservior a few times, might just be corroded.

Might also be the electrical sensor itself, which can be easily replaced without draining the coolant reservoir.

But probably not, apparently the usual cause is the sensor float which is inside the reservoir and cannot be replaced separately. Good news is the reservoir is pretty cheap, like under $40, and not too hard to replace.

*** Engine needs to be cold!

I didn't have any spare coolant, so I used a big syringe to suck out as much as I could so I didn't waste too much. Just topped it up with a little distilled water, a little of that won't dilute the coolant too much.

Move the power steering and windshield washer reservoirs over to the drivers side as far as they go.

Unbolt the coolant reservoir (one bolt). Pull it up a lttle bit (gently) for access.

Carefully squeeze the two upper coolant tube fittings and disconnect them, move them aside gently.

Squeeze and disconnect the sensor wire on the bottom. Pull the reservoir up some more, you can move the bottom hose to allow more access. Squeeze and slide the clamp down the hose, remove the hose. You'll lose some coolant here.

Install is the reverse. Lube the small tube fittings with coolant so they slide in easy. Rinse off the area when you're done, coolant won't evaporate and will mess up electrical stuff.

I initially filled the res up to below the min, and started the car to verify the low warning worked. Then filled to max, did a test drive to get it hot and checked for leaks.

*** Somebody on amazon is selling the wrong reservoir for the LR2! It looks exactly like the right one but the coolant outlet on the bottom is pointed the wrong way! Ask me how I know....

Bogus res:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XD959...&psc=1


The correct res has an outlet which points towards the rear (the end with the fill cap). The bogus one has a port which points forward (away from the cap). I think it's for a volvo or an Evoque or something.

Correct res:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MJPCS...&psc=1

I'd recommend replacing the entire reservoir since the problem is most likely the internal float which can't be replaced separately. It should come with with a new sensor.

You can try reseating the electrical connector in case it somehow got dirty or corroded, no tools, just squeeze the release tabs and pull it out.

You might be able to replace the sensor element without disconnecting any coolant hoses but you might have to move the power steering res and washer fluid res, remove the bolt on the coolant res and lift it up to get underneath.

You can see how the sensor fits into the bottom of the res in these pics. The sensor is magnetic, it does not penetrate the wall of the res, it sense through the wall so you can remove it without letting coolant out.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MJPCS...&psc=1


But again, the electrical sensor is probably fine, it's most likely the float. Make sure you get the correct reservoir for your vehicle, there are at least two similar versions available.

… and suddenly it was there.

I have just started getting intermittent low coolant level warnings. Sometimes at start up, other times while moving. It comes on but then without any intervention, it just goes off.

Yesterday, towing the caravan home, it came on around a dozen miles short of home so keeping a very close eye on the temperature gauge, I continued the journey. Six or seven miles later, off it went again and stayed off until today’s start up. To the local supermarket, park up and switch off. Restart a half hour later, no warning.

Checked reservoir level once home and it is a very little below the MAX line. iCarsoft showing no faults either but I’d perhaps need the dash warning to be active (which it isn’t right now).

I am guessing the float has lost some of its buoyancy - seems a lot of work to change the reservoir though.

Sounds like that's the problem alright, wasn't actually very hard to change out with basic tools, took maybe 20 minutes.

When you move the other reservoirs, you don't need to disconnect anything other then one bolt on the windshield res, just move them as far as they go with hoses still attached. If you haven't replaced your power steering reservoir it would probably be easier to both at the same time... remove PS res first for better access to the coolant res.

Here's a DIY video for the PS res, what I did differently is that instead of running the motor to flush the fluid, I jacked the front wheels a few inches off the ground and had my daughter cycle the steering wheel back and forth between the stops... that pumps the fluid out slowly enough so you can keep it topped up, and also hopefully gets all the old fluid out of the rack.

Thanks MerlinJ79… I'll give it a look.

In the meantime though, I have discovered that turning 90° corners from standstill clears the fault. A good job then that I don’t live in Belgium

It’s a coolant leak. A very slow leak that is not evident - no puddles on the driveway etc but I have had to top up the reservoir a couple of times now.

Where to start looking?

I had the same problem. Changed expansion tank cap. Sorted. Easy, cheap fix.

Did you ever see any coolant leak from the cap? Or maybe just the water part of the coolant slowly evaporating?

I have a very slow loss of coolant but no visible leaks anywhere.

Those caps are sure funky. The original one needed channel-locks to turn, the one on the replacement res is really hard to get started on the threads.

Good starting point - thank you.

merlinj79 wrote:

Did you ever see any coolant leak from the cap? Or maybe just the water part of the coolant slowly evaporating?

I have a very slow loss of coolant but no visible leaks anywhere.

Those caps are sure funky. The original one needed channel-locks to turn, the one on the replacement res is really hard to get started on the threads.

No I didn’t see any leaks, just started getting the ‘Low Coolant Level’ message. Had it checked for leaks twice but nothing found. I changed the cap on the off chance.
The cap used to be very stiff to remove and tighten but some silicon spray to both cap and threads on the tank sorted that as well.
‘Funky’ is one word for them. I used to call it a lot of other things pre-silicon.