I have a 96 civic hatchback. I swapped my radiator and it has a half size one. When we took out the old half size radiator all the coolant spilled on the floor a pretty huge puddle. It drained from the hoses and everything. We putthe new one on and i drove. After 10 mins the temp gauge shot up to the top. Its NEVER done that before and the install was correct. But we added coolant to fill the radiator and reserve tank. Should i keep adding coolant till it no longer happens or did i do something wrong? Also how much coolant?

 

You didn't say that you bled the system, so did you bleed the system?

 

my fault, yea it was bled

 

But did you bleed it properly? It sounds like you didn't.

Put the front of the car on jack stands, remove your radiator cap, and start the car. Keep the radiator topped off. Do this for three on/off cycles of the radiator fan. This process should take you about 30-45 minutes.

 

No we deff did that exactly i just forgot to include it in the post

 

Well, either you overheated your engine, blew the head gasket, or fucked up installing something, then.

Do the bleed procedure again, just to be safe, then take it for a test drive. If it still does it, we'll dive into the diagnostics of how much damage you did.

 

Hey actually i kept adding coolant until i saw that it was at the regular levels. Temp gauge doesnt shoot up anymore. Now.. i know how to check for a head gasket problem and it isnt it, I just drove it around for about a hour and i was behind a black car and saw through the reflection of the headlights and saw a bit of smoke coming out. I got out checked its not smoking from the engine but its coming off the back of the radiator where the fan mounts. Not the top sides or engine. Im just really picky with these things but could it be that a little of the coolant that spilled when i poured it in got on the radiator and is just burning the spill? If so should i just wash it off or itll evaporate on its own?