i have recently changed my radiator and was wondering if there is anything else i should do before adding the antifreeze in the radiator and was wondering how many gallons will i need to fill the radiator and the reserve tank

 

Well, can't seem to find exact numbers anywhere. Harder then I thought... Here's what I found though.

Second post here mentions the size for the reserve tank to be about a gallon.

Couldn't find a thing on how much coolant is in radiator so I'll just give ya an approximation based on the dimensions.

According to Rock Auto an AC Delco radiator is 818.70 MM x 381.10 MM x 23.50 MM. This yields a volume of 7,330,230.45 MM^3. Convert this to litters and you get 7.33, and to gallons 1.94. This of course is going to be more then you need since it assumes the radiator is 100% hollow shell, but it will guarantee you have enough.

Hope this helps a bit. I can't advise on what to do before filling though, hopefully someone here can.

 

1994 Blazer 4x4 with tow package = little larger radiator takes 11 litres with the block and heating element. This makes it about 2,9 gallons. (This is the whole system.)

More recent cars may have a bit less than that.

 

Hey y'all, I know this one is late, but going through my 3-4 flush/back flush on my 99 s-10 blazer 4x4.
since I'm doing this for tech school and we have the access. The 4x4's take 3 gallons of mixed coolant solution TOTAL . (Ie. 1.5 coolant, and 1.5 distilled water) this is to fill both the radiator, and expansion tank.

​​​​​​(I'll look up 2wd on ProDemand/AllData tomorrow)

Also to answer any questions about further clearing stuff out, here's what we did...

So we got the car, old AF dexcool in it. (Almost jello)
The advice here is to replace with standard coolant. The Dexcool preservatives, when they break down, can actually corrode the system more, than old regular stuff will. (Flush it REALLY WELL to avoid mixing.)

Now once we flushed the heater core still wouldn't understand clog.
clog.
SO!
If you look at the fire wall, close to the center, but a bit towards the passenger side of the vehicle, you'll see where the hoses come in, and out of the fire wall. We performed a second flush from here, to apply pressure more directly to the heater core, then with the aid of some hose clamps, switched back and forth on which hose we flushed through. (Essentially flushing, and back flushing to be as thorough as possible)
the second flush made a huge difference. And the truck has been problem free (in that respect) since then.