The low coolant engine message and light come on intermittently & there's some smell of coolant from heated engine. Levels have been checked & are ok. Clamps have been checked & tightened. Nothing is spilled on the garage floor. Can there be a pressure issue? Why the smell?

 

<p>&nbsp;</p><p>a small enough leak from one of the hoses onto the engine or exhaust manifold would be my guess - enough of a leak to cause the smell but evaporates before you have a puddle on the ground.&nbsp; the octopus hose, the bypass hoses or the reservoir dripping are all possible culprits - have dealt with all at some point over the past few years</p><p>&nbsp;</p>

 

Sounds like I have to run the engine & follow the lines carefully. The actual level doesn't seem to change much though. Thank you for your insights.

 

Take Advance/Autozone/O'Rilley up on their offer of free loaner tools to use a coolant system pressure test kit. The only fitting of about 20 in the box that works on our cars is the universal cone shaped one that expands to fill the reservoir hole.

That will quickly and easily while working on a cold engine locate the leak in less than a minute. These cars leak from all sorts of strange and wonderful places.

 

+1 on the pressure test.

However, it's odd the low coolant light is on and the coolant level is OK. That sounds like a failing sensor or the float inside the expansion tank. If the pressure test turns up nothing, try manually raising the float using a small wire (be gentle).

If the light goes out, float's bad. That means you'll need a new tank. The good news is they come with sensor and cap. Also easy to change.

 

Partsource has the tool lending service here. I'll chech if they have the kit. If I needed to buy one, which one is best?

 

You're far better off using a loaner kit if you can. Around here, the appropriate pressure-test kits sell for north of $200. The entry-level cheap kits ($100 or so) don't have enough of a selection of adapters to do you much good....

 

Thank you all, I'll check out the kit to lend at Partsource. I'll send feedback.

 

had my xk8 for 5 years,the level was always an inch low.just this year dash light was showing low coolent,so i bought a new sensor from rockauto but did not get around to installing it.then i realized the overflow bottle is behind the right front fender[rear].so i filled the bottle on top of engine to the top,problem went away.felt dumb for a moment and then glad,its fixed...steve