Step by step

[chenka44]

rang a local mechanic and he says check the level under the radiator cap, which appears to have none visible, even though the reservoir is overfull

 

[chenka44]

rang local mechanic who says check radiator, which appears to be empty though the reservoir is over full

 

[Immortality]

Need to bleed the air out of the system, but then others look to have mentioned it already

Good luck.

 

[gossie]

I’ve never known so much hoo har about a soo soo simple job of changing coolant.

 

[stooge]

rang local mechanic who says check radiator, which appears to be empty though the reservoir is over full

hang on...

where are you pouring the coolant??

you are pouring into the top of the radiator right?
not the overflow with the yellow cap?

you need to fill the radiator not the overflow with the yellow cap, you keep the yellow cap bottle at the level the dipstick suggests but you fill the radiator via the cap on top of the radiator..

 

[chenka44]

He put the coolant in both but now the radiator looks empty

 

[Skylarking]

@chenka44, normally the reservoir, which is really an overflow bottle, will have the fluid level at the min mark when the engine is cold. Note that this reservoir Is not pressurised like the rest or the cooling system (the engine & radiator).

As you drive and the coolant within the engine and radiator gets hot, the pressure builds up and the radiator cap will allow coolant to get pushed into this reservoir where the level will rise from min up to max mark. When you park and the coolant within the engine cools down, the pressure will drop and the radiator cap will allow the coolant to be sucked back into the radiator so the reservoir level will drop from max to min.

For this to overflow bottle to work correctly, indeed for the whole cooling system to work correctly, the radiator cap must be functional and the engine and the radiator can’t have air trapped within. The coolant system needs any and all trapped air within the engine and radiator to be bled out.

This bleeding must be done after changing the coolant as air does get into the block... As already described, use an inverted bottle (with the bottom cut away so it’s like a big funnel). Push this bottle into the neck where the radiator cap resides and pour some coolant into it so that the level is near the top of the engine. Obviously you’ll need to seal the bottle neck as described in the link in an earlier post. Then start and run the engine... once the coolant is hot, you should see lots of bubbles and belches as the trapped air is pushed through the radiator and expelled through that inverted bottle. you may need to top it up a little.

If you don’t get this trapped air out of the sealed part of the cooling system then the radiator won’t contain the correct amount of coolant and won’t work as designed. Such a situation can cause serious engine damage if not corrected.

Once all the air is expelled, take this inverted bottle off the radiator (can be messy) and put the radiator cap back on. You should now check that the reservoir has coolant to the min level. Then go for a short drive until the car it’s hot. Stop, wait for it to cool down and then take the radiator cap of and fill up the radiator with coolant if it has dropped. Replace the radiator can and again check and top up the reserviour to the min level. You may have to do this a couple of times to expel all the air from the pressurised side of the coolant system.

Just be cautions and don’t take the radiator cap off a hot system as it can cause serious burns...

If you don’t understand the issues, ask questions and we may be able to fill the gaps, otherwise take it to a mechanic before you do a head gasket of wreck the engine.

 

[stooge]

He put the coolant in both but now the radiator looks empty

keep filling the radiator, dont bother with the yellow cap bottle just focus on filling the radiator.
the level will go down a couple of times as the coolant circulates through the engine.

 

[Fu Manchu]

Since chenka44's husband appears to have either not bothered with the advice from here, and the symptoms seem to point to air in the system, would following your bleed instructions maybe fix it?

Totally.

 

[Fu Manchu]

He put the coolant in both but now the radiator looks empty

Because you’re not getting the air out.
Follow the link provided and your problems will be solved.