Reply to just checked my coolant and it seems completely empty? is that possible?

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Reply to "just checked my coolant and it seems completely empty? is that possible?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]When the engine is COLD (as in sitting overnight, cold), you need to remove [b]the radiator cap[/b] and see how low the level in the radiator is. If it’s low - and it probably is - you need to top it off there first. Use distilled water.

Fill the radiator until the level is about a half inch below the top of the filler neck. Then put the radiator cap back on.

Then fill the plastic coolant overflow bottle up to the “cold” line.

As you drive, the coolant will mix with the water and flow in and out of the overflow bottle and everything will mix, so you don’t need to worry about adding straight water to the system.

You need to be more diligent about checking basic stuff on cars. You almost cooked your engine. If it overheated, the cylinder heads will absolutely warp, you’ll score your main bearings and probably cams, and your engine is toast.  That’s about $7,000 plus labor. [/quote]NP here.

I thought radiator caps and actually putting water or distilled water directly into a radiator was a thing of the past? I always use pre-mixed coolant and refill the coolant through the reservoir.  I don't even know how to find my radiator cap. I've just been refilling my reservoir bottle for years and never had any problems.[/quote]

Filling at the overflow reservoir IS the proper way of topping off coolant *that is low at the reservoir*.

But once the overflow reservoir runs completely dry and starts pulling in air instead of coolant, then just filling up the overflow reservoir might not pull new liquid down into the radiator from the reservoir because there’s a air bubble trapped in the line now.

That’s why when the coolant has run that low, you have to make sure the radiator is full FIRST, before you fill the overflow bottle. Once the radiator is fully topped off, it will re-establish vacuum with the overflow bottle as the coolant heats up and expands, then start pulling from the overflow bottle again as needed.

But you MUST top off the radiator FIRST if the reservoir has gone totally dry. Trust me on this. [/quote]

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