How to Refill a Car Radiator

Video Transcript

"To install this upper air duct, what we're going to need is the duct itself, the brackets that are on it and two bolts that fasten it. To install it, we want to slide it in and line it up with the duct assembly here. Slide it over. Slide it down, fold this side in, and in to its position there and install the mounting brackets. Once again I'm going to start them both by hand and then tighten them down with a ratchet. Once we've got both the bolts started by hand we can go ahead and tighten them down with the ratchet. We can install the negative battery terminal at this time. Make sure you tighten in down. To fill the cooling system, the vehicle manufacturer recommends a mixture of 50-50 on antifreeze and a water mixture. We've premixed our antifreeze to that mixture ratio. Just to make you aware, there are also some more environmentally friendly antifreezes that are available now on the market. If you decide to switch to that, make sure you flush your cooling system entirely before you switch over because the two antifreezes won't mix. We're going to go ahead and top it off. Your vehicle is equipped with an air bleed valve on the cooling system. You'll want to open it up at this time. Once you fill the radiator up, what you want to do is put the cap on loosely, start the vehicle up and let her run for least 15 or 20 minutes, until it reaches operating temperature. Then let it cool down for 5 or10 minutes or so and come back and recheck your coolant level. That's when you'll check your automatic transmission fluid level at that time. Check your owners manual to determine whether you should check automatic transmission level with the vehicle running or with the vehicle off. It varies from manufacturer. Add any fluid to the automatic transmission at that time. Before you check it you want to make sure you get it circulated. After you've run it or let it warm up, that'll make sure you've eliminated all the air pockets in the cooling system by rechecking it again. Just make sure you let it cool down, re-top off your coolant level in the radiator. Also check that overflow bottle and make sure that its set to the proper height and you should be all ready to go. Check for any leaks and thank you for watching this video. Please watch our other videos in these training areas."