QuestionHi Clay,
You sound very knowledgable, hopefully you can help me.
My car is a 2000 Ford Mustang GT. A light on the far right of my instrament cluster keeps eratically going on and off. It's in the shape of a fan and is yellow in color. This may sound dumb, but I don't know exactly what that light means. (Cooling fan?) I bought my car used and I have no manual for it.
The light goes off every now and again and I have not found any pattern to it. I could have been driving for a short period, a lot of stop and go, when its cold or hot out, with the air or heater on or off....its gone off in all these situations. Sometimes when I turn my car off and restart it the light is not on anymore. Other times it will stay on.
Could this just be a sensor that is out of whack?
Or something else? A fan not working? Regardless, what the heck does that light indicate? How serious or trivial is it? And how do I fix it?
Thanks a lot!
Maia
AnswerMaia, I would recommend that you visit the local Ford dealer and talk to a service advisor, service manager, or someone in the parts department. You might want to order an owner's manual (either from the parts department, or from the publisher - Helm, Inc.)
The light you are describing (looks like a radiator) may be a low coolant indicator, for which I would check the coolant reservoir level and make sure that the cold level is up to the cold mark. Then check for any coolant leaks if that light comes back on in the future!
That light (looks like a wheel with a cloud of dust behind it) might also be a traction control lamp, which normally comes on whenever you have driven into a slippery area and the traction control activates to prevent wheel spin. That light should not stay on, only come one when the wheels would be spinning if the traction control hadn't taken control of the situation.
Hope this helps!
Clay
BTW - Helm, Inc. has a web-site where you can order service manuals, too! Just do a search for "helm manuals" and you'll find them.
