Well the way I do this goes something like this.

I remove expansion tank cap and fill until nearly overflowing, then squeeze the bottom radiator hose a few times, expelling the resident air, by doing this the level in tank drops, repeat until level doesn't drop. Then start the car with the lid off the tank, continue to add water and at the same time use the throttle slightly to circulate the coolant. Now the time to convince yourself its full.

Slowly ease off the throttle until the tank will overflow. Now replace cap. Fill small water bottle next to battery to the 'F' line. Take car for a run then allow coolant to cool off & system pressure ease (a few hrs). Open tank cap and inspect. Fluid should be well filled to top, if not add a little more water as above but by doing this correctly the 1st time shouldn't give you any need to top up.

My method of explaining this may lose you but this works for me, if anyone has an easier method please let me know.

BTW - Coolant system roughly holds 7 to 7.5 litres from empty.



Edited to add pic

[Edited by caz1562 - 12/13/2002 4:47:26 PM]

 

O.k guys I have changed the coolant temp. sensor on MY93 WRX today and unfortunately to do so meant all the coolant was lost. I have read previous posts about wot levels to refill with and have managed to put in 3litres of antifreeze. However after about 2 hours the level seems to be taking ages to drop !! I am ready to top up with water and have run to the car up to heat to see if once cooled the level drops sufficiently to put water in. Any idea how long I'm gonna need to wait cos I am not keen on driving the car with say a litre of water/coolant that was resident in system and 3 litres of just coolant. Watching paint dry is more interesting than waiting for the car to cool down enough for me to add some water

 

Btt for you - interested in this myself

 

Cheers caz1562

 

7 to 7.5 litres !!!

thats 14 - 16 pints 2 gallons

thats a hell of a lot

good description on how to push the air out og the system.

 

Amazing but true

 

Did mine just this past weekend after replacing the oil cooler pipe at the front of the engine and loosing a lot of coolant.

The method described already is bang on......

Just two more things you could also look out for :-

having got the level right, leave the car running with the heaters full on to check if they warm up - this should confirm there are no air locks in the system.

once the car is nice and warm, leave it running until the radiator fan cuts in a couple of times.....this may take a good few minutes. (mine took about 15)

Hope this helps

Steve