Coolant Sensor Popped Out

I'm a little worried at the moment, and was hoping to get some thoughts from the forum. I replaced my coolant sensor the other night, and thought I had it in well, because I went for a 15 minute drive afterward with no issues. The next morning I got halfway to work on the temperature warning started flashing at me. I pulled over to find my coolant reservoir almost empty, and coolant leaking pretty steadily from the sensor. I played around with the sensor to try and get it in better and topped up the coolant so I could get to work and back. On the way home I get stuck in gridlock, snowstorm traffic, but no temperature warning for 90 minutes. Then 10 minutes from the house it started flashing at me. About 3 blocks from the house I lost heat in the cabin (I know this is bad). When I got home I found the sensor completely popped out of the socket and the c-clip sitting near it, somehow still in one piece.

My question...I know losing cabin heat is a bad sign since I lost all my coolant. It was only about 20 degrees outside and I only went about 3 blocks once I lost cabin hear. Do I need to be really worried I did some major damage, or is there a chance it was cold enough that the 3 blocks wouldn't be enough to let the engine get too overheated?

At this point, I wouldn't worry about it. Keep it in mind but what are you going to do? You can rip your engine apart to check for damage or just run it and the damage will announce itself, if there is any. Get the coolant sensor fixed, fill 'er up with coolant and start it, listen for any unusual noises.

^^ agreed

My sister drives a sunfire she had a dash light and it has been there for two weeks, so i went and checked it out and it was the coolant light and the coolant reservoir had no coolant in it :O, good thing its been real cold out 0*C to -35*C. filled it up and its all good, just told her to keep an eye on it

Yep, I definitely did that at first, but fished it out the other night. I guess I somehow got the sensor in far enough that I thought it was good, but it didn't get in far enough for the clip to actually hold it. My guess is the vibration from driving for 90 minutes finally shook the clip loose and the sensor slid right out dumping all my coolant with it.

I got it replaced today, and I think I got it right this time, but unfortunately I didn't have enough spare coolant on hand to refill the entire system, since I dumped the whole 6 liters. I'm a few liters short, and by the time I got it done everyplace that I could get g12 was closed, so I'll have to try and gets some more tomorrow and give it a whirl.

On the plus side I cranked her up to start getting some of the coolant circulated, and nothing sounded out of the ordinary other than the slow, hard start I'd expect as the fluid needed to get back into the engine. She ran smooth for a minute or two before I had to shut her down, because of the low coolant warning light. I'm hopeful all will be well tomorrow once I get it topped back up.