I was wondering where the coolant level should be on my 1982. I checked it the other day and the coolant was around 1" down below the filler neck on the radiator, the tank was right between the "HI" and "LO" marks. So, I figured the radiator was a little low, so I filled it up to the bottom of the filler neck. Drove it to town and back, now the darn thing is back down right where it was! I'm assuming that I overfilled it and it keeps it at this level?

Thanks in advance

 

That seems odd... from my experience, usually the radiator stays full to the brim (or very close) and the overflow stays put or decreases over a large period of time due to evaporation and the like. Did the overflow increase in level when the radiator decreased? If not I'd say you have a leak which is causing the slight loss of fluid... If it is increasing (the overflow) I would fathom a guess that you might have the wrong radiator cap on (too low of PSI rating) which is allowing bleedback to the overflow.

 

yea i did notice an increase in the overflow tank. It does have an aftermarket cap, I think 12psi.

 

my 81 does the same thing. sounds about normal

 

well its good to know its not vanishing into thin air.

The haynes manual states the range to be 10.7-14.9 and Oreillys (parts store) shows a 13lb as the replacement. Another thought is the cap isnt getting a good seal to the radiator letting some leak by...

Id check the seal on the cap, mating surface for the seal on the radiator, and condition of spring in the cap.

 

maybe its normal