The past couple days I changed my radiator and hoses and transmission cooler lines. Everything went great but the car only accepted about 4-5 quarts. The manual says the cars capacity is 6.9 quarts. I even burped the system by squeezing on the hoses and waiting for the car to get hot (190f). I turned on the heat and waited as well. I got a lot of air out and filled the overflow reservoir but it won’t accept more than 4-5 quarts. The engine temp is great (not too low and not too high) and the heat coming from the vents is hot as can be. Am I okay to go? And if I leave coolant in the overflow reservoir, will the radiator take what’s needed while driving?
This makes sense. I actually just put the old coolant in my empty jug and it filled up completely. I don’t know why I didn’t think of doing this before lol. Thank you!
Just check the level every few times you drive. If it needs more, add it. There was some air left. If the level doesn’t change you are OK. And there should be some in the overflow bottle… there are min and max lines on it. Below min, add. Max will take care of itself.
I have no experience w/your make/model, but your experience sounds normal, and I expect you are good to go at this point. Good idea to check the coolant level in both the radiator and the overflow bottle, they can be different. If you want to do more, raise the front end (by driving on ramps for example), remove cooling system pressure cap, turn hvac heater to max, and idle engine until it reaches normal operating temperature and no more air bubbles are burping up through the coolant.
Good idea to check the transmission fluid level too.
Did you pull the block drain. If you didn’t, that’s quite a bit of coolant left in there. Even if you did pull the block drain, there is still some left in the system.
I would not worry about it if the old coolant wasn’t too bad, and by too bad I mean very cloudy, or worse, brown. If it was a clear color or mostly clear, it won’t do any harm. I’d rather leave a little behind than go to extremes of flushing and risk contaminating the system.
Any time I open the cooling system on any vehicle, I always replace the thermostat, and I always drill a small (1/8" or 1/16" diameter) hole in the new thermostat, which is positioned at the highest point. This allows for air to automatically vent, and prevents the thermostat from staying closed due to an air pocket and overheating the engine.