How to add a Coolant loss light to your 940
 

Ok, Took me an hour, and about £10 to sort this out with my 940- Had a look into it and Had a go myself.
Inventory-
One Coolant bottle off a 960 With integral float switch and connector. (cleaned with caustic soda)
The Dash connector off a 960 With about 4" of cable spare (made that mistake cutting it too short)
Connector block
Cable connector (as much off the car as you can) With earth connector and about 1' of the GREY/ORANGE wire that connects the loom to the coolant bottle connector, (be prepared to remove a fair amount of cable cowling, tie wraps), Try and cut cable as close to the bulkhead of the car as you then have a lot to play about with if you mess things up.
About 3' of mains cable or cable that can take at the most 5Amps. (I cheated used 2 lengths)
Bulbs (there is a getby to this and a standard modification to be done here)
[align=center]
This Only applies to the Yazaki Instrument panel, I will try and write up for other makes of panel.[/align]

Ok Start by dismantling the Dashboard-Depress the clips left and right of dash clocks on the metal surround.

Remove the 4 screws of the clock assembly,
Slowly pull out the clock assembly
Disconnect the turbo boost vacuum pipe (if applicable)
Remove the 3 multi pin connectors, and disconnect the earth terminal,
Pull the clock assy away,

Flip it over and look on the other side, you will notice that there are a few bulbs missing from the back of your clocks, Using a flashlight, turn over the clocks and flash the light into the empty holes, Identify the holder for the coolant loss light, It will be a red filter
Like this http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/w...Image497-1.jpg
I used the Overdive '5th gear' bulb, removed it and placed it in the holder, Save you looking, This is it
http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/w...h/Image486.jpg

Right thats the clocks prepared for the modification, However, now the clocks are out, Why not renew the tired 2.5w main bulbs (the black holders) and fit 5w bulbs (much brighter).

Now to the wiring,
The earth terminal is located behind the airbox on turbo models Hidden here
http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/w...h/Image480.jpg

Its easier if you remove the top of the airbox assy
http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/w...h/Image494.jpg
Its just behind my finger, Bolted to the bodywork, Plug the earth wire from the connector (black one) of the coolant sensor loom into the earth block (clean it with wire brush first, then after attaching earth connector, spray with silicone grease)

Drain, and remove the old coolant bottle, renew jubilee clip,
and place the new(ish) coolant bottle, (fish not included)
http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/w...h/Image483.jpg
and plug the coolant bottle sensor light into the loom you fitted, Tidy the earth wiring into the Cable ties, refit the airbox, making sure you don't crimp the wires, Now the orange/grey wire, Strip it back and either (botch) fit connector block to one end or (Pro) Fit a spade connector/Crimp connector.
Slight challenging part now,
Feeding the length of seperate cable through the Bulkhead, 2 options,
One is to pass it through the main harness weathershield, Here:
http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/w...h/Image481.jpg
Or there is a spare piece of tubing (I used to fit the boost gauge vacuum pipe through, Cheating again!)Here:
http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/w...h/Image482.jpg
Once its pushed through, Using plastic rod with cable taped to it, or if in case of the spare tube I used, push it through. And you can see it in the cab, pull it through so you have a bit to work on, Its circled- thats where the wiring loom comes out, plus that spare tube.
http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/w...Image484-1.jpg

Now take that connector that you cut off the donor car,
Me being over zealout at the time Cut too much off, and working too fast before I decided I could make a how of this removed the cable so this picture is probably useless but due to the wonders of photobucket, I added the pin that you need to remove, Its the orange grey cable,
http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/w...Image473-1.jpg
to remove it, Open the tabs at the top of the clip and swing the plastic clip open, now with a small flat head screwdriver, depress the plastic piece in the middle of the metal pin, and gently pull, the cable should come out, with no harsh force whatsoever, if its hard to pull you need to push the plastic clip in a bit more, try an Argos pen or William hill Pen.
With that connector out, Look at the multi plug that it came out of, and match it up to the one that is in your dash, Like this one, I believe its the middle one according to this picture:
http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/w...h/Image489.jpg
Now, If you look at the plug that should go there, Open the plastic tabs and lift the hinge open, Looking at this wiring picture, you should see it goes next to the green one, See if you can see which one it is with my amazing wiring skills!!
from the bottom:
http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/w...h/Image475.jpg
From the top :
http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/w...h/Image474.jpg

Dress the cable that you passed through the bulkhead so it doesnt foul with the steering or that it chafes against anything,
I passed mine over the heater duct.
http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/w...h/Image492.jpg
Now strip the cable that you attached to that connector, Attach it to the cable that you passed through the bulkhead, (crimp or solder/heatshrink or Botch connector block it to the cable. Like above pictures.

Re attach the plugs to the dash clocks, and place the dash into the aperture, dont push it in yet.
Back to the engine bay, now attach the cable that you passed though the bulkhead, to the orange grey cable connector from the bottle sensor, Dress it and put it into the wiring loom ducting, You are all set for testing.

Turn the ignition on and look at the dash clocks, there should be a new bulb lighting with all the others.
Start the engine, If you have filled up the coolant bottle, then the bulb should extinguish, If you haven't Don't panic that there is no coolant in the bottle and there is a Coolant low light appearing on the dash clock, Top up the coolant and watch it go out, If you DID fill up the bottle, Get a turkey baster, and remove some of the coolant, then look in the cab. Voila!


http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/w...h/Image496.jpg

http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/w...h/Image497.jpg

Not bad for a first how to, and playing with photobucket.

Thanks for taking the trouble to record the procedure. It's threads like this that make a forum worthwhile. Presumably it will get shifted to the 900 articles section.

jor

Indeed, I'll leave it up here for a while to let it get some exposure and then move it over to the 'articles' section later.

I think this article is the kind of thing that Chris Wickers is looking for to go in the Owners Club magazine. I'd be tempted to e-mail him a copy in 'Word' form if I were you.

Should point out as well, Upon removing the old coolant bottle, I think I may have found my slow coolant leak, The bottom of the bottle disintegrated!! Probably poor coolant caused the metal ring inside to rust and expand causing the plastic to crack. Haven't lost coolant now! Lets see what happens.