Refilling coolant...

[American_Muscle]

Hey guys, quick question...

When you refill the cooling system with coolant do you fill it into the rad or the plastic coolant container?

I've been putting it into the plastic container but a buddy of mine said it's better to put it directly into the rad.

 

[wazazzle]

 

[90mustangGT]

I don't think you need to be working on your car, it would cost less to pay someone to do things right. Fill the radiator, bleed out the air....

 

[89MustangGX]

Are you actually refilling the cooling system or just topping it off. If just topping it off, the plastic resevoir would be correct. If you need to refill it (after draining for example) you will need to go directly into the radiator.

 

[American_Muscle]

That's my problem.
I didn't really get the reaction of the 2 people that replied previously.

My resorvoir tank is full.
I kept topping it off since the previous owner said it had a slow leak somewhere in the area of the water pump.
But the tank never got less and I kept overheating.

Now I popped the rad cap and notice my rad is damn near empty!
The overheating isn't quite as bad now.
But I have to keep refilling with coolant.
I bet I have a leak somewhere in the rad.

Time for a Fluidyne....


Maybe I just worded the question wrong.

Thanks

 

[Daggar]

It's time for you to find the leak and repair the problem. Once complete, you gill the radiator with distilled water and coolant and bleed the air bubbles. THEN go about filling your resevoir to the COLD line and keep an eye on its progress for a while to ensure all is well.

 

[American_Muscle]

Yeah I know.
I'm sort of hard-pressed to find time to work on the stang right now.
But I want to drive it so bad....hmm I'll try over the weekend.

I just hope it's not the rad.

 

[Mysterio]

The resevoir tank shouldn't be full to the top.. You didn't fill it completely did you? There are marks saying what the level should be at.

 

[American_Muscle]

Ya..Hot Full and Hot cold.
I never filled it up all the way.

Well I just filled the rad with plain water (yesterday I used a 50/50 mix).
The car did not overheat one bit.
Actually the temp was below the half-way mark.

There must be a SERIOUS leak in there.

 

[crazypete]

Well, fill it with water and let it heat up a to operating temp (or even let it overheat a bit by running in fast idle in a controlled setting) then shut the engine. The water will boil and you'll see mad steam shooting from the problem area. Then you can plug the leak, flush the system and fill it back up with regular coolant.

DO NOT use radiator sealer. It will pork your radiator good. It plugs the leak and everything else too. I had to replace a leakfixed radiator after 1 bottle since it didnt radiate very well after the inside was coated with aluminum flakes.

 

[American_Muscle]

Well I can hear steam coming from somewhere in the water pump.
When I pop the rad cap it's gone....no more pressure.

I also think my rad has a lot of calcium build-up.
When I opened the cap on the left hand side the buildup was pretty bad.