refilling after coolant change

[BarnabyWilde]

Hello fellow Valk riders. Just joined the club so this is my first post/ question. After draining old coolant and flushing the system I have refilled the radiator and the res. and was prepared to put in 5 qts of new stuff(as the manual states). The radiator is topped up to where I can just see it and the reservoir level is at the LOWER mark. I've only put in 3 qts plus a fraction from a 4th qt. I can't see another quart and most of a fifth going in to the res.up to the UPPER mark. I have run her up to temp and let it cool again with no change in the res level. Did I miss a step?

[Willow]

A couple of questions come to mind.

Are you certain that you drained all the coolant?

Did you run the engine long enough to "burp" the cooling system after you filled it?

[..]

You ran it with the radiator cap removed after refilling?

[Robert]

You did not say where you drained it from either. Its almost impossible to drain all the coolant from the water jackets around the cylinders. I also hope you kept a eye on the coolant level in the radiator and ran the thing till the thermostat opened.

[cookiedough]

I thought it was near 4 qts. capacity, not 5?

If I recollect, I was almost a full 4 qts. when I did mine about 4 years ago by removing that small bolt at the bottom. 

I did recently though take off the left side cover after a few years and I know I added the coolant in the reserve tank up to low mark about 4 years ago.   It is now all gone some 3-4 years later only in the reserve tank.  Where did it all go to, evaporate???

[Patrick]

These monsters get air-bound very easily. Fill the system very slowly and then run the engine while giving the engine throttle a blip once in awhile to burp the system.
I know the radiator cap has been removed, but, be careful as they come with a set screw. Many a neck has been damaged over the years.

[Chrisj CMA]

This is a common concern for new Valk owners or first time changing coolant.  It always takes me less than a gallon