I drained about a gallon of water from my radiator and added about a gallon of anti-freeze to my dart. I let it run about 20 minutes and figured I better add some more anti-freeze (the rest of the gallon). When I drained some more from the radiator I noticed the coolant that came out was still cool. Does anyone know why? I am hoping the anti-freeze circulated through out the system.

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Excuse me, does this smell like chloroform to you?

20 minutes of idling probably didn't get the motor hot enough to open the thermostat. Without the thermostat opening coolant will not be circulating through the radiator. The thermostat will prevent any circulation except coolant through the block to aid in warm up.

Make sure to get the car up to operating temperature and then let it cool to recheck your coolant with a refractometer.

I am pretty sure the thermostat opened up. I was in the car revving the engine for a while. I saw the temp gauge moving through its normal course. I should note that it is an automatic. The trans lines go into the bottom of the rad. I did not drive the car, so the trans would not have gotten warm, right? The heater was working fine, it was nice and warm in the car while this was going on.

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Excuse me, does this smell like chloroform to you?

Well, if you drained the radiator from the bottem, of course the coolent will be cool! Just means you have either a cool thermostat or an effeceint cooling system. I use a 195 degree T-stat in winter and when I put it in a couple of weeks ago, I also drained about a gallon and it didn't get any warm water until the container was almost full. I also have an auxilary trans cooler, but it still runs through the bottem of the radiator so that dosn't make a difference.

I never thought of that, Eric. I assumed I had a problem, a fear of the rad being blocked with ice. Makes sense. Thanks for the replys. Russ.

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Excuse me, does this smell like chloroform to you?