Engine Temp and Error Lights

[Phil Buckles]

A few weeks ago, I accidentally left the radiator cap loose and lost almost all my coolant into into the engine bay while driving. I'm wondering if the coolant got into something electrical because ever since then I get error lights saying to service the 4WD system as well as the red lighting bolt (throttle control indicator). Also the engine is throwing error codes for the coolant temp, and all of the error codes and warning lights turn on at exactly the same time. I replaced the coolant thermometer and am still getting the errors. The errors are not immediate, but they show up about 2 minutes after I start driving. Any thoughts on what may be wrong?

 

[Burla]

Did you reset?

• Insert ignition key and turn to "ON" position but do not start the engine
• Wait for all the warning lights to go out. The check engine light may remain on.
• Slowly depress the accelerator pedal all the way to the floor.
• Slowly release the accelerator pedal until it is all the way back up at the rest position.
• Turn the ignition key to "OFF" position.
• Start the engine and test the throttle by see if the engine will throttle up.

And did you clear codes.

I might even reset by leaving battery unhooked for 4 hours, as a third option.

 

[Phil Buckles]

I have gotten out my code reader and reset the check engine light a couple of times. Is there some type of hard reset I can perform that is different?

 

[Burla]

Old school, unhook battery 4 hours, when you hook it up, turn car on/off 3 times, not fast, take a little time between each action. Maybe a better way, but this will do a hard set.

 

[Phil Buckles]

Great, I'll try that tonight!

 

[Burla]

fingers crossed for ya

 

[Phil Buckles]

Nope, still getting the same error messages. I'm still wondering if there is coolant on an electrical board or inside something that is causing these problems.

 

[Burla]

If it was bad enough to toss a cel, my bet it would cause more then a cel, like a short or something. A sensor somewhere is acting up, just got to find it.

 

[NJMOPAR]

I'd check simple things first. Pull electrical connections & check for moisture (IAT sensor, coil packs, any connector that might've gotten wet)
A dab of dielectric grease to insure a good connection after cleaning/drying will help. Check the fuse box for water seepage, blow it out with canned air If needed.

 

[NJMOPAR]

Also check the throttle body connector and there's one on the oil filter base down low.
Two that probably got drenched with the coolant loss.
Might be one for the water pump as well.

 

[62Blazer]

A good chance the fault codes are related.....meaning it's not many different things that went wrong all at the same time, but rather one thing went bad that is connected to all of these. For example one bad ground or power feed can affect many different things, or one bad sensor can trigger multiple other things. Start with a visual inspection of the engine bay and start looking at all of the connections for moisture.

If you reset the CEL with a scanner, and it only comes back on after several minutes of the engine running, there is no magic reset that will fix it. If there is an active the CEL will come on immediately when you start the engine and not wait several minutes afterwards to come on.

 

[indept]

Have you cleaned the engine bay? Get out your pressure washer or go to a car wash and pressure wash the entire engine bay out.