Coolant Low

[petersonj]

Of course it won't work when you blow a hose of the radiator,

I think that was my point.

- John

 

[Ozymandias]

It is just to difficult to implement a sensor into the pressurized system.

 

[Topzide]

@Ozymandias & @petersonj, Just thinking out loud, but couldn't a flow sensor be added to our systems? I would thing that there is something out there that could be spliced into a hose on the system. You could rig a warning light to let you know that there is no flow. It could be a green for good and red for not good. Yes, I know that the red light would be on right after start up until thermostat were to open fully. Just an idea to "chew" on. As soon as the weather gives me enough time to change out my bottle, I'm going to swap it! Tired of seeing the coolant message on the dash! I think that I've got it narrowed down to seam split with "slime" on the sensor. Keep the coolant level below the seam to avoid loosing a lot. I think most of us with these trucks, keep a closer eye on fluid levels the most. Drives the DW crazy with me checking the fluid levels on all of our vehicles. Guess that's why on most all the vehicles that we've had, run them well over 150K +! The 3500 is the exception, I'm hoping to run that as long as possible, without going broke keeping on the road!

 

[petersonj]

Just thinking out loud, but couldn't a flow sensor be added to our systems?

I think a coolant level sensor is fine in the fully pressurized reservoir systems. It's just that it should be located in an easy to service area and should easily be able to be cleaned. I wonder if an aftermarket coolant level sensor could be adapted into the reservoir in a more favorable location.

- John

 

[Grumpy8811]

The moment you have a hole in the system and the pressure goes down it starts to suck coolant from the bottle.
I had this more then once throughout my life and the bottle was always empty.
You can also prof that, open the cock on your radiator without opening the radiators cap, it will drain your recovery bottle first.

Of course it won't work when you blow a hose of the radiator, but such an event should be recognizable from the driver.

its gravity feed from the surge tank to the cooling system itself.. Ram setup is basically just surge tank like on a Class 7 or 8 trucks..
so coolant is always venting and returning to the surge tank in these and going into the cooling system directly... which is different than the old type of overflow tank with the hose and sealed cap where vacuum moved the coolant when the vehicle heated and cooled.

coolant isn't even being sucked in so much as following the natural tendency of liquids to seek their own level.. which is always downhill or to their own level.

 

[johnmyster]

It is just to difficult to implement a sensor into the pressurized system.

I've had more than one car where the low coolant sensor was located on one side of the radiator, a few inches down from the top. If the system sucked the bottle dry and began to have air in the radiator, you'd get the light.

It's not impossible, just different than how the modern systems with pressurized degas bottles implement a level sensor.