Let me rephrase my dilemma: I own a 2002 Silverado 2wd 1500 pickup, 6 cyl., 65,000 miles on it. Recently it began displaying a red battery icon in the driver information center. This light flashes on and off at approx. five second intervals. It doesn’t always do this, but frequently. Sometimes it seems to take five miles or more to start happening. Once, instead of the red battery icon, it displayed an amber “Low Coolant” message. Regarding the battery message, the owner’s manual states that this is an indication of a charging system problem, perhaps a bad alternator, slipping or missing belt; and to take it immediately to a Chevrolet service center to be repaired. However, the gauges indicate proper charging, the battery “green eye” is green, the cables are tight and clean, the belt is not slipping, all electrical power works as it should. Regarding the low coolant warning, the temperature gauge is right on and the coolant level is normal in the overflow tank. I took the truck to AutoZone to have the computer read for any codes. There are none. The “Service Engine Soon” or “Check Engine” light does not come on. Have any of you experienced this? Is there a faulty sensor somewhere? Is the driver information center broken? Is it easy to fix?
Here’s what the problem was: Low coolant! After a few weeks of the flickering red battery light, I went on a fairly long trip. After about 100 miles, the display changed to the amber low coolant warning and stayed that way. The coolant level didn’t look like it was down very much, if any, but I was able to put about a gallon of antifreeze/water mixture into the tank before it actually came up to the full mark. Two months and 2000 miles later, I’ve had no problem with either signal since, so I’m pronouncing it “cured.”
So why does the battery light come on when the coolant’s low?
You had to add a gallon of coolant to bring the level up to full? That coolant had to go somewhere.
i got it the coolant is running through the IPC? to cool the batt light, now do i get a cookie? please