Cavalier light question (VERY URGENT, PLEASE RESPOND ASAP)

[VashStampede]

My car overheated this morning, and i let it cool and such, and then when i restarted the car some red light came on, which means im low on some liquid. Its my 97 Cavalier, and the light is on the dash.it looks like a bucket with very little water inside of it, and a down arrow pointing towards it. its in the third section down on the left side, if that helps any. what does this picture mean, what liquid am i low on,and where do i replace it???

[krebs128]

it's your coolant light. and that would explain y your car overheated-no coolant to cool it. go to autozone and pick some up, like $10.
mine goes off alot b/c my driveway is slatted and the sensor can't tell if there's any coolant in there. usually happens after the car sits for a long time, like overnight.

[04_CaV!!]

Just don't buy coolant and ad it in and forget about it. Makesure IFyou don't buy the premixed coolant that you mix it 50percent coolant 50percent water. If you add it strait with out mixing it, it will ruin your cooling system. But, the bigger problem that you have is that your losing coolant someplace. First, do you smell coolant when the heater fan is on? It would smell like a really sweet smell. You can smell your coolant resavore to get an idea of what it would smell like. If you do smell it comeing threw the vents most likly you have a blown headgasket. But, a good mic. can dignose this with a die test. Second, do you see any puddling under the car? If so, is it green or red in color. Some coolants are green but in your 97 it might be the longer lasting red coolant. If you do see puddling it could be a few different things. One would be hoses. Or two it could be a water pump. In either case a good mic. could dignose this with a presure test on the system to try and locate the leak. If you do see coolant but not sure if it's from your car or another take a cardboard box open up flat and lay it under the engine over night and in the moring see if you see any drips on the cardboard. If you do try and locate where it's coming from. Inform the mic. of where you seen it and that will help him or her fix the problem.

[jmarks]

I also have 97 cav. This problem happened to me. I added the "special" dexcool coolant and the correct mixture. It didn't go off. The fan would not automatically come on....so I changed the coolant sensor (located on the right side of the block) that fixed the fan problem immediately, but the light stays on....I have YET to find the solution to this problem

[STYLEZ24]

jmarks,

disconnect the negative terminal on your battery for an hour, then hook it back up, should reset the computer. If the light is still on, you still have a problem, take it to a dealer and have him read the code for u.

[Overtime]

Might not be the issue, but you can also check the thermostat. If it is locked shut, it could have caused the overheating issue. To be sure, if you are low on coolant, it had to go somewhere.

[Kanndykisses]

Just a quick hint if you're losing coolant and don't seem to have a leak...my 1996 Z22 was doing this, turned out to be the head gasket. In case this happens to anyone else, my mechanic informed me that GM will replace the head gasket at a dealer free under a "special policy" (I can't remember the policy number)...call GM if you find coolant in your oil when you change it. I gotta say, the guys and gals at GM were great, replacing it free for me.

[chicagoareastuff]

I have a 90 Beretta, 89,000 miles just blew the head gasket. Bet i dont qualify for that "special policy" :-(