I decided to change the coolant in my 97 chevy blazer. Didn't know the last time it was changed so I decided it would be a good idea. I first drained the system by loosening the radiator drain plug. After the fluid stopped pouring out, I closed the plug, put in a bottle of flush and filled the radiator with water. Idled the truck for about 5 minutes until I seen it getting a little too hot. Let the truck sit off for 10 minutes, drained the system again. I then just filled the radiator with water and repeated the previous step. After draining the system again, i then closed the plug and put dex-cool radiator coolant in the radiator. All the fluid from the container fit into the radiator. The empty container I then used to fill with water for the 50 50 mixture. A little more then 1/2 of the container of water fit into the radiator but the rest didnt, I decided to put the remaining water into the coolant recover tank at the hot full line. About 90% of the water fit into the system. I then drove the truck around for about 10 minutes at around 55 mph and there didnt seem to be a overheating problem. Held the same tempurature as before. I am just worried considering this is the first time I have flushed a cooling system, and I use that vehicle to drive 30 mies to jersey during the weekdays. Was it the right this to put the rest of the water into the recovery tank?
thanks for the help
anthony

 

Sounds pretty good. Although I think you went a little heavy on the coolant to water ratio. The capacity is 12 quarts, so it should take 2 full bottles of concentrate, and 2 full bottles of tap water. From what I can understand, you did one full bottle of concentrate, and 90% of a bottle-full of water (some of which had to go into the recovery tank). This would mean you have a whollleeeeee lot of air in there (air+ dexcool = [:'(]). Try parking with the front elevated on a hill, and pop the passenger's side up onto the curb. This gets all the air nicely to the top corner of the radiator for your filling pleasure

 

12 quart system capacity will require 6 quarts (1.5 gallons) of concentrate be added after a thorough water flush (I prefer to run 6 gallons of distilled water through the engine/radiator/heater core before putting coolant in. Once I have drained out everything I can, I put in the 1.5 gallons (bottle and a half) of concentrated coolant and top off with distilled water. You may only put in 1-2 quarts of distilled water after the fact as there is a lot of water in the system that was not drained out.

As far as the coolant overflow tank goes, if it has been drained, you should premix some coolant 50/50 (concentrate to distilled water) to the overflow tank. As these overflow tanks are not circulated, it may take a long time for the coolant to get to the tank to protect it in cold weather. Add to this an inaccurate mix of coolant in the system and you may not have proper cold weather protection.