I swapped an engine in (which I don't know the history on) after my old one failed. Got the new engine in and I'm trying to bleed the coolant and get it good and the level in the radiator just always seems low.

New stant radiator cap, new cheap ebay radiator, new heater line hoses, new radiator hoses.

I fill the rad and use the my easy bleeder rad cap funnel thing and just let it idle for a while. Sometimes a bubble comes up on occasion while idling.

After a while I take the easy bleeder off and cap the radiator. I top off the coolant bottle to the full mark and go for a drive.

Everything seems good, no overheating, no leaks, no smells.

I come home and feel the hoses, they're kind of squishy and not firm like you'd expect. I slowly remove the rad cap and pressure (air/exhaust gas/steam?) goes into the coolant bottle and the level in the rad is a bit low.

I've also noticed that overnight or after a drive, the rad doesn't suck any coolant in from the overflow bottle.

Headgasket? Bad stant cap? Nothing? I haven't driven the car a whole lot, but I'll put more miles on it to get a better idea of what's going on.

 

I wold think if you had a leak, it's going to either show up as white smoke in the back, or bubbles in the reservoir while the car is running (exhaust gases coming through the radiator. One of things I do to ake sure I got the buubles out is that I lift the front of the car when filling it so all the air is more likely to come out.

If the cap is bad, again I would think you would see the white residue of burned off coolant.

If I had to take a guess, it's a hose, if they are squishy they should be replaced. I would replace all the hoses you can find. Upper and lower, trans coolant lines (if they exist), and to and from heater core at this age of vehicle.

And , just in case, take the overflow hose and replace it as well, or at least run some water through it to make sure it's not clogged.

 

Did you properly bleed the cooling system by leaving the air bleed open on the thermostat housing when filling the system with coolant?(engine off)
Need to have the heater valve open(FULL HOT) and thermostat nipple open.
Car should be on level ground.
Start filling radiator, when you get steady stream of coolant out of the thermostat bleeder, close it. Proceed to fill cooling system til radiator is full. Fill reservoir to full limit.

No need to have the engine running, bleeder valve takes care of that. If you don't bleed an air pocket will be stuck at the thermostat which will not open.

 

Nice point about the thermostat housing, I bet I forget that most of the time as well. I also didn't realize you could do this with the engine off, I always thought you needed the car running to help move those bubbles out.

 

You were right Mike, looks like there was just residual air left in the system. I'm used to D16's where they practically bleed themselves after idling for 5 minutes.

Radiator level stays full and reservoir bottle level stays the same now

 

Way to be persistent!