How much coolant does this thing hold...

[SteveMat]

Have my 97 Service Manual, 2 gallons of anti-freeze, and a flowing water hose and I start to flush the old cooling system - a flush if you will. I drain all the existing coolant into a 10 gallon container that already has some other fluid in it. I don't jack the Viper up so I am draining the fluid from the radiator and not the plugs behind the exhaust manifold (as the manual indicates). Fill it up a couple times with water, pump the air out of the upper radiator hose (as the Illustrated Upgrades section describes) and fire it up just to get a good flush. Final time I drain all the water out, and dump the first gallon of anti-freeze in. Fill that container up with water (keep everything measured and all) and fill the radiator up. If I am counting right, I now have 2 gallons of fluid in the system and have 2 more to go. Open the second gallon of anti-freeze and start to pour, basically fill the pressure bottle and no more is going in. I think, ahhhh, there is air in the upper hose, so I start squeezing it and get another 1/2 gallon into the system (by the time I refill the purge tank). So at this point, I have put in 2 1/2 gallons of fluid into the system when it should take a total 4. I reopen the manual a reread thinking my dumba$$ has totally missed something.

According the Fluid Capacities chart in the Lubrication and Maintenance section, it states it should take 16 quarts (4 gallons if I can multiply) but in the Cooling System section under capacities it states 12.8 quarts. Which one is correct? I hope 12.8 because that would be a little more realistic given that I put in about 10 quarts in. Hopefully 2.8 quarts were already in there because I didn't remove the plugs behind the exhaust manifold (or headers in my case). Thoughts on this dilemma?

Steve

 

[ewave]

Steve,

When removing my radiator (on my 97 GTS), I did a complete drain of the system, as best I could with the engine in the car. When refilling it took about 3.2 gallons. The last 0.2 gallons were added over several days, burping the air out of the system. I also had a set of the Silicone Sean Roe radiator hoses with the air bleeder screw. The air bleeder was required to get in the last half gallon on the first fill to the 3 gallon mark. My manual list the cooling system as 12.8 quarts... Pretty close to the 3.2 gallons I got in there!

You didn't say if you had used distilled water to make up the 50% solution. I think this is pretty important because tap water has chlorine in it which is pretty corrosive, along with lots of other impurities. I think these impurities can lead to corrosion. I'm on the paranoid side, and wouldn't suggest flushing with tap water, because there will be some left in the system, and I would not want any contaminates of tap water in my engine's cooling system.

Hope this helps.

 

[SteveMat]

Cool, I will re-flush (several times) with some distilled water.

Thanks

 

[JonB]

Be sure to open up the heater valve, and remember the system capacities include the overflow bottle, surge tank, and heater core.