Is this the coolant temp sensor? 3.0 petrol

[Jamescroydon09]

So I bought the car and have been slowly doing required maintenance , and repairs .  
 

When I started the car again after I quick drive I noticed the temp gage drop from around 70 (pre warm ) to then I got the red flashing coolant symbol show up .

i looked under the bonnet to check coolent levels and it was above the minimum had a look around and noticed a lead just below the coolent bottle that had been taped up and looks like someone has done a bypass.

I removed the bypass and restarted the car still showed the warning so whilst car was running I put the bypass wire back in turned the car of and back on and the symbol went away and my temp gage is now working .

my car is a 3.0 petrol when I look online at the photos of coolent sensor the pins look to close in the pics so I’m not sure if there just a generic photo or the bypass is not in the actual coolant sensor location and this is something else? 
 

please see the pics and any recommendations 

[Magnet]

Hello James,

Warning for low coolant level rather than coolant temperature?? 
If so, what you have found is most likely the culprit, but that is a coolant level sensor and not a coolant temperature sensor. 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[Jamescroydon09]

Thanks for letting me know , iv noticed before that sometimes the coolant is below the minimum, and never got any notification so i assume that this bypass was preventing that ?

 

still don’t under stand how a sensor located completely separated from coolant tank can tell the coolant levels 🤷‍♂️ 

 

It’s always worrying when you find bypass on sensors on a used car as you never know if it was a quick fix or there to hide something. 
 

is this a common bypass ? 

[Magnet]

Just buy a new level sensor James.